Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry applaud Gingrich’s comments on marriage

December 20, 2012

Today, in a piece published by The Huffington Post, Republican politician Newt Gingrich said that the Republican Party must heed public opinion and acknowledge the support that the freedom to marry has seen in recent years. He commented on the momentum that the marriage movement has experienced recently, saying:

It is in every family. It is in every community. The momentum is clearly now in the direction in finding some way to ... accommodate and deal with reality. And the reality is going to be that in a number of American states - and it will be more after 2014 - gay relationships will be legal, period.

Gingrich served as Speaker of the House in the U.S. Congress from 1995 until 1999. His comments are especially notable because he helped to pass the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, the anti-gay federal law that restricts marriage to different-sex couples. 

The leadership committee from Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, a coalition of young conservatives who support ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, applauded Gingrich's statement today. The coalition said:

Newt Gingrich's new position shows that when conservatives truly examine their core values - family, individual freedom and limited government - we see that the freedom to marry is fundamentally in line with those beliefs.

Our party must keep pace with the American people if it is to remain relevant in the political process, and as we saw in the recent election, we have some changes to make. Mr. Gingrich's call for Republicans to acknowledge widespread support for equal treatment of all loving, committed couples, is a good start. We hope other leading Republicans will follow suit.

Learn more about Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry here.