Rubio's comments reflect the GOP’s struggle to find a position. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Rubio dives into gay marriage debate

Marco Rubio jumped head first into the culture wars on Wednesday to blast what he sees as “growing intolerance” against those who oppose same-sex marriage.

In a speech on family values at the Catholic University of America in Washington, Rubio lamented the backlash that companies like Chick fil A and Mozilla often face when their executives express public support for keeping marriage between a man and woman. He said that supporting that definition doesn’t make someone “anti-gay” but rather “pro-traditional marriage.”


“There is a growing intolerance on this issue, intolerance of those who continue to support traditional marriage,” the Florida Republican senator and potential 2016 presidential contender told a standing-room only crowd. “Even before this speech is over, I’ll be attacked as a hater or bigot. Or someone who’s anti-gay. This intolerance in the name of tolerance is hypocrisy. Supporting the definition of marriage as one man and one woman, is not anti-gay. It is pro-traditional marriage.”

Rubio reminded the audience that President Barack Obama was among those who didn’t support gay marriage — at least publicly — until the months leading up to his re-election.

“If support for traditional marriage is bigotry, then Barack Obama was a bigot until just before the 2012 election,” he said.

Rubio, who supports marriage between a man and a woman, spent more than five-minutes of half-hour address wading into the thorny issue of same-sex marriage. His comments reflect the GOP’s struggle to find a position on an issue that enjoys growing public support — including from a handful of Republicans in Congress — but often alienates the party’s conservative base.

The 43-year-old senator preached tolerance for gay couples and advocates of gay marriage and spoke about the United States coming a “long way” in its treatments of gays and lesbians. He said all Americans should acknowledge a history of institutional discrimination against gay people and that “many committed gay and lesbian couples feel humiliated by the laws’ failures to recognize their relationship as a marriage.”

But he won’t be joining the ranks of same-sex marriage backers anytime soon. While Rubio said he respects the right of state legislatures to allow gay unions — if that’s what constituents want — he railed against a series of recent lower court decisions that have overturned gay marriage bans in states ranging from purple Florida to bright red Utah, throwing state laws into flux across the country.

“States have always regulated marriage in America. State legislatures have a right, a constitutional right to change those regulations. But that right to define and regulate marriage is a two-way street,” Rubio said. “Americans like myself who support keeping the traditional definition of marriage also have a right to work to keep traditional definition of marriage in our laws without seeing them overturned by a judge.”

Rubio also addressed the divisive issue of abortion, a battle mostly being fought in red states that are seeking to limit abortion rights after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Rubio was originally slated to take the lead on the Senate’s federal 20-week abortion bill, though he eventually deferred to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for the role of lead sponsor.

Graham called Rubio “very solid” on social issues in an interview this week, and Rubio’s remarks on abortion were less equivocal than on gay marriage, where he left wiggle room for states and voters to make their own way. On abortion Rubio cited a “matter of medical science” as backing for his belief in life at conception.

“I know where I stand. An unborn child should be welcomed in life and protected in law. And it seems to me a decent, humane society will find tangible steps to help women with unwanted pregnancy, even as that society defends an unborn child’s right to live,” he said.

In his remarks introducing the senator, CUA President John Garvey threw “cold water” on the idea that government could do much to promote marriage. But Rubio used his speech as a plaform to tout proposals that he believes would go a long way toward promoting marriage and support to single parents, like boosting child tax credits and altering the tax code to remove and punitive provisions for married couples.

And he said politicians have an outsized role to play in promoting those ideas and pointing Americans toward values that favor marriage and a man and a woman raising children.

“Societal breakdown is not a problem that the government alone can solve. But it’s also not one that the government can afford to ignore. We need leaders willing to use the platform of public office to call attention to the impacts that societal breakdowns are having on our nations,” Rubio said. “Having more political leaders publicly recognize the link between our social well-being and our economic well-being would be enormously useful.”

He received a standing ovation from those in the sweltering auditorium as he finished speaking and took a swig of water, playing up the criticism he still receives for his impromptu on-camera hydration in 2013.

“Now I can have some water without people making fun of me,” he cracked.