Former President Jimmy Carter said the federal government really doesn’t have a role in ruling on gay marriage — that the issue should actually be left to the states to decide.
“I’m kind of inclined to let the states decide individually,” Mr. Carter said, during a WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth interview. “As you see, more and more states on deciding on gay marriage every year. If Texas doesn’t want to have gay marriage, then I think that’s a right for Texas people to decide.”
In 2013, Mr. Carter actually said that he supported nationwide gay marriage, Newsmax reported.
Now, he says: “I don’t think that the government ought to ever have the right to tell a church to marry people if the church doesn’t want to. I’m Baptist and the congregation of our church will decide whether we have a man or a woman as pastor, and whether we’ll marry gay people or not,” Newsmax reported.
So far, gay marriage is legal in 32 states — a number that was quickly reached after the Supreme Court refused to hear any appeals on same-sex marriage.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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