Republican John Kasich breaks from party to rule out ‘overturning’ same-sex marriage
Republican Presidential hopeful John Kasich has stood firm on same-sex marriage – despite nearly all his rival candidates planning to overturn it.
Of the remaining six Republican Presidential candidates, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio have all pledged to overturn the Supreme Court’s rulings on same-sex marriage, after Rubio proposed a plan to appoint new ultra-conservative justices.
In a bid to appease evangelicals, Donald Trump also signalled that he would “consider” overturning the ruling, in a drastic U-turn from his previous stance.
However, Ohio Governor John Kasich – considered one of the last remaining moderates in the race – broke from the pack to affirm the status quo.
Speaking to a Democratic voter at a college in Michigan, Kasich ruled out the proposals to overturn equal marriage and repeal Barack Obama’s executive orders on LGBT rights.
According to NBC, he said: “If I see discrimination in anything, like I said earlier, I’m willing to do what I can.
“Whether it’s executive order or legislation. That’s fine with me. As for marriage equality – let me be clear I’m for traditional marriage but I’ve been to my first gay wedding.
“A friend of mine is gay and got married. I went home and said to my wife, we’ve been invited to Steve’s wedding and you know, said this is going to be unusual for us.
“She said, well I’m going. Are you going? And I went. And I had a great time. And there was great champagne.”
Governor Kasich has trailed in national polls, but enjoyed a boost after coming second in New Hampshire, picking up 15.8% of the vote.
However, he has been criticized for being quite generic (could you pick him out of a line-up? Try below)
Jeb Bush is the only other remaining moderate in the race – though Mr Bush has not clarified his stance on LGBT rights in months.
