Home Feature Pawlenty: ‘Never agree’ that same-sex couples are like married couples

Pawlenty: ‘Never agree’ that same-sex couples are like married couples

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Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty started the week by claiming that same-sex couples should not have marriage rights and that the nation needs more God. In a speech to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group founded by religious right leader Ralph Reed, Pawlenty said that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman and on Fox News he said that even relationships such as civil unions and domestic partnerships should not be granted the same rights as marriage.

“We have people in Washington, D.C., who believe the unborn do not have a right to life. Yes, they do,” he said in Iowa. “We have people in Washington, D.C., who say marriage will be defined however we feel like defining it. No it won’t. It should be defined as between a man and a woman.”

“Our freedoms and our privileges are are grant, a blessing from our creator and we need to make sure we remember that,” he added. “And our constitution guarantees that they will continue.”

The Constitution was designed “to protect people of faith from government, not government from people of faith,” he said. “We need to be a country that turns toward God, not a country that turns away from God.”

In an interview with Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, Pawlenty said he will never agree to rights for same sex couples.

VAN SUSTEREN: One big issue is gay marriage. Are you for or against equipment? — are you for or against gay marriage?

PAWLENTY: I’m a supporter of traditional marriage, Greta. I think it should be defined as between a man and a woman, and that’s been my position in Minnesota and it continues to be my position now.

VAN SUSTEREN: What do you tell gay citizens that you can’t be married you can’t have this formal contract with someone?

PAWLENTY: What I say is a marital relationship between a man and woman is unique and has had and should continue to have an elevated position in our society for obvious reasons. I will never be at the point where I say all domestic relationship are the same as traditional marriage. They are not. I want to preserve traditional marriage.

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Andy Birkey has written for a number of Minnesota and national publications. He founded Eleventh Avenue South which ran from 2002-2011, wrote for the Minnesota Independent from 2006-2011, the American Independent from 2010-2013. His writing has appeared in The Advocate, The Star Tribune, The Huffington Post, Salon, Cagle News Service, Twin Cities Daily Planet, TheUptake, Vita.mn and much more. His writing on LGBT issues, the religious right and social justice has won awards including Best Beat Reporting by the Online News Association, Best Series by the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and an honorable mention by the Sex-Positive Journalism awards.