Florida Sen. Marco Rubio flexed his political and diplomatic muscle this weekend, wading into the Arizona debate that pitted gay rights versus religious freedoms to issue a rather wishy-washy summary: We’ve got to do something.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mr. Rubio spoke about Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s recent veto of legislation that would have given businesses the right to refuse service to gays for religious reasons.
“The notion that someone, because they are gay, would be denied service at a restaurant is something that Americans don’t support, conservatives don’t support,” Mr. Rubio said. “The other side of the equation is, imagine now if you’re a Southern Baptist or a Catholic or evangelical photographer, who does not believe, because of your faith, in gay marriage. And because of that, you don’t want to provide photographic services to a gay marriage. Should you be sanctioned by the state for refusing to do so?”
Mr. Rubio answered his own question, saying that gays should not be turned away from restaurants or hotels, but that caterers or photographers with religious beliefs shouldn’t be punished if they don’t want to provide service to gays at wedding ceremonies.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to protect that as well,” he said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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