Polls have shown, not surprisingly, that people with gay family members or close friends are more likely to support gay marriage. This is what accounts for Republican senator Rob Portman’s recent gay-marriage reversal and for Dick Cheney’s long-standing support of gay marriage. But sometimes caring intimately about a gay person who shares half of your DNA just isn’t enough: Arizona congressman Matt Salmon, a Republican, says he doesn’t support gay marriage the gay marriage, even though his own son is gay:
“I don’t support the gay marriage,” the social conservative said. But Salmon emphasized that he loved and respected his son and did not consider homosexuality a choice.
“My son is by far one of the most important people in my life. I love him more than I can say,” an emotional Salmon told 3TV. “It doesn’t mean that I don’t have respect, it doesn’t mean that I don’t sympathize with some of the issues. It just means I haven’t evolved to that stage.”
On the plus side, Salmon’s son has said that his dad had “never called me any slurs or anything like that,” so give that man Father of the Year.
