For those who’ve been watching the GOP presidential debates on TV and wishing they could attend one in person, here’s your chance. Well, sorta. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the Texas Libertarian Party will host a presidential debate in Grapevine on Feb. 25. The debate is open to the public, and among the candidates who’ve confirmed their participation is former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.
Johnson dropped out of the Republican race last month and filed as a libertarian. And, unlike some other so-called libertarians who are still seeking the GOP nomination, Johnson actually supports same-sex marriage. In fact, Johnson sent out a press release just the other day in which he managed to slam both President Barack Obama and anti-gay GOP candidate Rick Santorum for their positions on LGBT equality (alas, “at least [Santorum] is consistent”). We’re not sure why Johnson left out Ron Paul, but here’s an excerpt:
“Rick Santorum’s position is unconstitutional. The Constitution requires that all citizens be treated equally and makes no reference to gender in assuring those equal rights,” said Johnson. “By any fair measure, equal access to marriage for all Americans is a right — guaranteed by the Constitution. Senator Santorum’s claim that legally recognizing gay marriage would be no different than legalizing polygamy, child molestation or bestiality is repugnant and insulting to millions of gay Americans,” said the former New Mexico Governor.
Johnson had equally harsh criticism for President Barack Obama. “The New York Times reports that while President Obama gives lip service to gay equality, the President will not support gay marriage before the election because of the opposition of African Americans, as reflected in his polling, and the need to assure maximum support from African American voters in November,” said Johnson. “Instead the President sends out surrogates to imply that he will support gay marriage in a second term.
“President Obama did the same kind of dance around the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’. He promised to repeal it in his campaign, then dragged his feet on repealing it as President, even sending the Justice Department’s lawyers into court to defend it. Then when ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was finally repealed by Congress, he claimed victory and a promise fulfilled.
“As for Rick Santorum, at least he is consistent. He not only opposed the repeal of DADT, he has promised to return our military to the Dark Ages and reinstate it, and claims that repealing such a discriminatory policy has somehow been ‘detrimental’ to gays.
“I, for one, am tired of seeing candidates for president – including the President himself, play political games with people’s lives and happiness. Perhaps it’s time for a president who leads based upon principle instead of polls,” he said.
We’re fortunate to have Gary Johnson’s voice remaining in the debate on where the country is going to go, and in this case, what sort of country do we want it to be. It’s a challenge to live up to what the Founding Fathers might have hoped the country would grow to be; from the seed they planted known as the Constitution. Former governor of New Mexico is up to that challenge.
The problem with Gov. Johnson and all the other “libertarians” is, while they are elected as Republicans, they don’t favor or push forth any legislation good for LGBTQ citizens. While he was Gov, he was actually against gay marriage, how do you think he got elected as a republican in the first place? So, he can’t criticize elected officials who are trying to get reelected when he did the same thing as all the other republicans. The truth is, our rights will only come with continued hard work within the two main stream parties. And quite frankly, the Democrats are moving much faster towards full gay marriage than the republicans.
Gary Johnson needs to step back and endorse RP. They’re policies are next to identical, RP needs all the support he can get.. and GJ running on a seperate ticket will only divide (albeit to a tiny extent) the true liberatarian vote. Get behind Ron Paul.
Hey Zac, maybe Ron Paul should endorse Gary Johnson. He will soon lose to Romney.
While I can’t speak to during his time as Governor, until recently he was for Civil Unions for Everybody. The word Marriage would be left to the States/Religion/Society. He was for marriage equality, he just preferred a different wording.
During his chat with GOProud, he announced his shift from supporting Civil Unions to Marriage. His stance is still essentially the same. Once you get through his rhetoric, his change is based on the logistics and expense of going into every lawbook the references Federal marriage and changing the wording to civil union. Which is consistant with his message of cost-benefit analysis applies to government.
Abdicating to the state solves nothing.
Thanks for your article. For information on how people are working on voluntary solutions worldwide, please see https://www.LibertarianInternational.org the non-partisan Libertarian International Organization.
First, Nathan, while I support your right to speak your mind, I no not support your choice to LIE. Gary Johnson NEVER was opposed to gay marriage – rather, his views were, and are consistant with that of the Libertarian Party, which is to say that the government has no Constitutional authority over marriage. This is exactly Ron Paul’s view as well. Which is to say that while Ron Paul is not a LGBTQ advocate, and Gary Johnson is, the both fight for the right of us ALL to be free from government meddling in private personal relationships (as things were pre-civil war).
As for strategy Zac and Eric; no, things are as they ought to be. If Paul wins the nomination (not likely), I suspect that either Johnson will drop, or 50% +1 of the LP deligates will vote for NOTA at the Convention in Las Vegas, effectively throwing the LP support behind dr. Paul. If Paul fails to gain the nomination (likely), I suspect that dr. Paul will throw is endorsement to Johnson, put regardless Paul supporters will still have someone to vote for in the general election.
Lets all be real
Does anyone really think this guy is going to win? Or Paul? Come on
You will have 2 to pick from, a Dem and a Rep
Who do you pic?
I think being real is important, and I think being REALLY real is even more important. You should vote for who you REALLY believe in, or else democracy ceases to function as its supposed to and we end up with a garbage liberal/conservative system like we’ve got now. I believe, and correct me if I’m wrong, that if the libertarian party gains at least 5% of the popular vote, they are entitled to equal federal funding during the next election, and a three-party system would be better than what we have now.
Why would GJ slam Ron Paul? Gary believes in state regulation of relationships, RP doesn’t believe the state has any role in regulating relationships. His position on marriage is as pro-gay as they come.