Priebus: Same-sex marriage isn't a civil rights issue

[MindMover]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) – Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday said the Republican Party stands by dignity and respect for gay Americans, but that those sentiments do not change his opposition to same-sex marriage.

"People in this country, no matter straight or gay, deserve dignity and respect. However, that doesn't mean it carries on to marriage," Priebus said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Although Priebus said he supports equal rights for gay Americans, including fair treatment in the workplace and hospital visitations, he pushed back against the suggestion that same-sex marriage falls in the same "civil rights" category.

"I don't think it's a matter of civil rights. I think it's just a matter of whether or not we're going to adhere to something that's been historical and religious and legal in this country for many, many years," Priebus said. "I mean, marriage has to have a definition, and we just happen to believe it's between a man and woman."

He also sought to contrast Jim Crow laws, which enforced segregation, with bans on same-sex marriage, a comparison some have made following the president's announcement Wednesday that he now supports such unions.

"I think there's a big difference between people that have been murdered and everything else that has come with Jim Crow, than marriage between a man and man and a woman and a woman," he said.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/13/priebus-same-sex-marriage-isnt-a-civil-rights-issue/

[Faygo Kid]

1. Or as a FReeper put it, "In the closet, or in the crosshairs."

Let there be no doubt about what underlays the GOP's wink and a nod.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Actually, Priebus, people have been murdered over this, too.

And it most definitely is about civil rights.

Pathetic little man.

[tabatha]

3. Useless caterpillar reply from a priebus-adolescent.

[Ilsa]

4. "...and we just happen to believe..."

So what you believe is what everyone else has to live with, Reince? What if my neighbor believed that women couldn't own land? Does that mean I'd have to sell him my farm?

This has EVERYTHING to do with civil rights.

[freshwest]

8. +1,000

[lunatica]

5. He's on the wrong side of history and he'll live to see it.

Nothing could be more karmically just.

[MindMover]

6. Civil Rights.....

"Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression..

Civil rights include the ensuring of peoples' physical integrity and safety; protection from discrimination on grounds such as physical or mental disability, gender, religion, race, national origin, age, status as a member of the uniformed services, sexual orientation, or gender identity;[1][2][3] and individual rights such as privacy, the freedoms of thought and conscience, speech and expression, religion, the press, and movement."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_and_political_rights

[freshwest]

7. There you go raining on the GOP parade with facts again.

[OKNancy]

9. I can't stand that sniveling little creep

Not only is he an ass, but he is ignorant as hell.

[NoMittens]

10. Preibus is wrong

Everyone who wants to prove him wrong will vote in November AGAINST MITTENS!

[Iliyah]

11. What the f**k?

Shit they said the same damn thing about blacks. Heck, blacks were not even considered human beings but property. Interracial marriage was considered against God's teachings.

These people are anti-civil rights. Heck look at what they are doing by taking about women's rights, voter rights, worker rights.

[pinto]

12. Mathew Shepard...

Think about it Priebus.

[firehorse]

13. He sounds like the kind of guy who would oppose whites marrying african americans.

Of course its a civil liberties issue.

[secondwind]

14. "We just happen to believe it's between a man and a woman........"

AND MILLIONS OF MEN AND WOMEN "JUST HAPPEN" TO BE GAY, YOU MORON!!

[Swede Atlanta]

15. I must respectfully disagree.............

As a gay man my priorities are in the following order:
(1) Eliminate discrimination in the workplace
(2) Eliminate discrimination in housing (really should be tied with #1)
(3) Enact legislation and policy actions to address bullying against LGBT and other targeted groups, especially among adolescents
(4) Enact legislation and policy actions to address crimes directed at LGBT persons
(5) Marriage equality

While I support marriage equality the items 1-4 on my list are much more important to the broader LGBT community. Marriage equality is important all of us but only directly to those in committed relationships that are ready to take that next step.

Again, I am a full supporter of marriage equality but I think there are things with higher priority that seem to be missing from the public discourse.

[JohnnyRingo]

16. Reince Priebus has always had his finger on the pulse....

of his bigoted voter base.

Ever the spokesman, he doesn't open his mouth without polling the Tea Party first. Priebus isn't a statesman, he's a walking talking mirror for the wack-a-doodle right wing of the party.

What a coincidence his name sounds like a star witness in the Nuremberg trials.

[yellerpup]

17. Priebus thinks birth control

is all about religious freedom, too. Wrong about everything.

[sakabatou]

18. Please explain why we had to change the law for interracial marriages then.

[struggle4progress]

19. I never see his name without remembering what DU taught me about it:

drop the vowels and it's RNC PR BS

We should just call him that: RNC PR BS

[DallasNE]

20. Dignity And Respect

Begins with equal treatment under the law. They don't exist in some parallel universe as Priebus contends here. Apparently Priebus hasn't heard of the Shepard case in Wyoming otherwise he wouldn't have said some of the completely stupid things he said. And why didn't Gregory call him out on his complete distortion of fact. Oh, that's right. Gregory is the keynote speaker at a Republican event. It's all starting to come together now. Both Fox and NBC "news" divisions are official Republican mouthpieces.

[BlueIris]

21. Pathetic.

Homophobia and really weak misdirection are a sad combination.

[blkmusclmachine]

22. The GOP: a wart on the ass of humanity.

[BamaFanLee]

23. Of course it is a civil right.

IMO, even voting against gay marriage is a hate crime. Keeping someone from exercising their civil rights for reasons of bigotry is a hate crime, and those who commit it should be led away in handcuffs.

[Jamaal510]

24. Can we please ship Rinse Peenus and the rest of the GOP to another land

so they can stop standing in the way between our country and fairness? None of their regressive policies have contributed anything beneficial to society, so why are they still relevant?

[cstanleytech]

25. I guess he never read the Declaration of Independance because if he had then

he might have recalled this

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. "

[humbled_opinion]

26. Yep that's their take

I discuss this with the Teaheads where I work and I even bring up that their hero Cheney has the same position that Obama has evolved too....

They claim to equate this issue with civil rights is nonsense because a persons sexuality is not an immediately apparent trait. Imposing the views of the gay people on the straight people by allowing them to redefine traditional marriage is the sticky wicket with them. The action of the couple to try and get married is what brings the question into play. Everyone of the ones I talk to claim they support legal unions and full legal authority as is given to spouses with marriage, they don't see why for gay people this isn't good enough, but what they will refuse to do is change the definition of what their idea of their marriage is and that is one man and one woman.

[truth2power]

27. Who is the "we" that

"just happen to believe it's between a man and woman."

[Volaris]

28. He's ignoring 2 facts...

Marriage as an an institution has been a LEGAL one longer than it has been a Christian Spiritual (Sacramental) one; second, the idea that AS a Sacrament this is about procreation, is defied by the fact that there are societal and secular benefits (rather than just Church benefits) that re-down to those who ARE married, even IF that couple is, for whatever reason, incapable of producing offspring.

They would be so much easier for me to put up with if they AT LEAST started using arguments that actually supported their position, rather than one's that help destroy it. At least the one's who say they believe that this is about God (and America as God's Most Favored Nation) really believe they don't have to work at this kind of thing and are, therefore, considered to be religiously nuts, easily dismissed, and don't get to go on national television...This poor bastard isn't allowed to say it, so he gets to keep shooting himself in the foot.

Too bad for him, I guess =)

The above poster is correct, though...the Times they are a'changing, and they WILL live to see it happen.

[ruggerson]

29. I've heard the exact same arguments right here at DU

n/t

[Politicalboi]

30. Hey Rinse Penis

Have you ever heard of Mathew Sheppard?