Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump refused to answer a question about same-sex marriage during a press conference Saturday night, following his electoral split of four primary and caucus states with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
DailyMail.com asked Trump to say whether or not he favors marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, and whether U.S. Supreme Court justices he might appoint would be expected to work toward overturning ‘Obergefell v. Hodges,’ the 2015 decision that legalized such unions nationwide.
‘We have policy on it. And I’ve said it very, very strongly,’ Trump replied, without saying what that policy is.
‘And I think you know it. And it’s all done and, you know, in a campaign how many times do I have to say it?’
Trump has addressed the question in the past, albeit ambiguously. The Daily Mail points out that in January he told Fox News “that he wished the high court had left the issue to the states to resolve, and concluded that he ‘would strongly consider’ appointing justices to overturn the ‘surprising’ Obergefell decision.” But in August, Trump told The Hollywood Reporter, “Some people have hopes of passing amendments, but it’s not going to happen. . . . Congress can’t pass simple things, let alone that. So anybody that’s making that an issue is doing it for political reasons. The Supreme Court ruled on it.”
When pressed by The Daily Mail for comment on the issue, Trump merely promised to talk more in depth on the subject at a later date:
As Trump worked his way through a crowd of well-wishers after the event, DailyMail.com asked him pointedly whether or not he agrees with the Obergefell ruling.
‘I’ve answered this question a bunch of different times,’ he replied.
Informed that he hadn’t in fact answered that question in the past, Trump promised a telephone interview – ‘a long conversation’ about the subject on Sunday.
‘I’ve answered that question so many times,’ Trump protested. ‘Call me tomorrow.’
Brittany Klein is the co-author of Jephthah’s Daughters: Innocent Casualties in the War for Family ‘Equality’ and serves on the board and academic council of the International Children’s Rights Institute.
