US: Anti-gay leader calls Senator who now supports equal marriage ‘A very troubled man’
The leader of an anti-equal marriage group in the US has spoken out against Senator Rob Portman, who changed his stance in support of equal marriage, following his son coming out as gay.
Phil Burress of the Ohio group Citizens for Community Values, has already spoken out to say that he thought Portman was “a very troubled man”, and suggested that he was “distraught” over his son coming out.
He said: “I just have a feeling that his son was pushing him into this for political reasons,” Burress said, speaking to American Family News. “But Rob did tell me that he would not campaign for the same-sex marriage issue if it got on the ballot in Ohio. He would not be their spokesman or participate in their campaign.”
Speaking about an interview Portman gave to CNN, when he said he had been deliberating on the issue since his son came out to him as gay two years ago, Burress said he was contradicting what he had said previously.
“Now I’m seeing some of his remarks that he gave the news last night about repealing DOMA, and it seems contrary to what he told me [in our conversation] last night,” he continued.
“So I think he’s a very troubled man right now. I think he’s distraught over what’s happening with his son.”
Burress went on to say that his organisation’s political action committee would not be able to support Portman, given his changed stance on the issue, reports RightWingWatch.
“CCV has what we call non-negotiable issues; if you’re wrong on any of these issues, we cannot support you for public office – and two of those issues are abortion and same-sex marriage,” he continued. “So therefore Rob cannot receive our endorsement for his next election.”
