'Society's Changing': Is Rand Paul Softening His Position on Gay Marriage?

EDGE READ TIME: 2 MIN.

Is Rand Paul's position on same sex marriage evolving? Yes? No? Huh?

Realizing that he'll never be a favorite among the hard right wing of his party after last week's Values Voter Summit, which placed him in sixth place with 7 percent of the vote for potential 2016 presidential nominees, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) appears to be bucking the party line and possibly softening his stance on same-sex marriage, CNN reports.

During an appearance at the College of Charleston, in South Carolina, CNN vlogger Peter Hamby asked Paul about his position on a variety of social issues ranging from abortion rights to the legalization of marijuana and marriage equality.

On the topic of same-sex marriage that 80 percent of young voters are in favor of, according to a 2014 gallup poll, Paul said:

"Society's changing, I mean, people change their minds all the time on this issue, and even within the Republican Party, there are people whose child turns out to be gay and they're like, oh well maybe I want to rethink this issue. So it's been rethought. The President's rethought the issue. So I mean, a lot of people have rethought the issue."

Hamby noted that it sounded, for a moment, as if Paul was hinting that he, too, could change his thinking about marriage.

"The bottom line is, I'm old fashioned, I'm a traditionalist," he said. "I believe in old-fashioned traditional marriage. But, I don't really think the government needs to be too involved with this, and I think that the Republican Party can have people on both sides of the issue."

When asked by Hamby if he too could re-think the issue, he shrugged, and gave a half-grimace.


by EDGE

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