Former President George W. Bush
Former President George W. Bush refused to answer a question about same-sex marriage during his recent trip to Africa. He said he is retired from politics.
Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, both Dallas residents, were in Zambia last week to open a clinic that will screen women for cervical cancer. They spent several days helping to renovate the clinic before its reopening.
The Zambian clinic is not the first Bush foray into the health of people in Africa. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, was signed into law 10 years ago during the Bush administration and continues to provide medications for persons living with AIDS in Africa.
While he was in Zambia, a local reporter asked Bush whether same-sex marriage was compatible with Christian values.
He answered by referencing a parable.
“I shouldn’t be taking a speck out of somebody else’s eye when I have a log in my own,” Bush said.
He was asked again about same-sex marriage on the ABC Sunday morning news show, This Week.
Bush said he was out of politics and wasn’t going to answer.
“I meant that I’m not going to answer the question then and I’m not going to answer it now in terms of the political question about whether or not, I just don’t want to weigh back in the debate,” he said. “I’m out of politics. But I meant it’s very important for people not to be overly critical of someone else until you’ve examined your own heart.”
The host again asked if his values have “evolved,” but Bush persisted that he wasn’t going to answer.
“The only way I can really make news is either criticize the president, which I don’t want to do, criticize my own party or weigh in on a controversial issue,” he said.
Laura Bush has danced around her position on same-sex marriage. In her 2010 memoir, she wrote that she urged her husband not to make same-sex marriage a wedge issue in the 2004 presidential race. In an interview with Texas Tribune, she said she supported same-sex marriage, but didn’t see public support as part of her role. This year, she requested to be removed from a marriage equality ad.
In the ABC interview with her husband, she remained silent on the topic.
