Marco Rubio: Not 'Open' on Same-Sex Marriage

Sen. Marco Rubio, who may be under consideration as Mitt Romney's running mate (depending on the day and whom you ask), has reiterated his opposition to marriage equality in an interview with evangelical magazine Christianity Today.

Rubio, who represents Florida in the U.S. Senate, toldChristianity Today interviewer Sarah Pulliam Bailey, "In terms of the Bible's interpretation of marriage, what our faith teaches is pretty straightforward. There's not much debate about that. The debate is about what society should tolerate, and what society should allow our laws to be. I believe marriage is a unique and specific institution that is the result of thousands of years of wisdom, which concluded that the ideal -- not the only way but certainly the ideal -- situation to raise children to become productive and healthy humans is in a home with a father and mother married to each other. Does that mean people who are not in that circumstance cannot be successful? Of course not. It's not a discriminatory thing. I'm not angry at anyone because of it, but I also have to be honest about what I believe marriage should be in our laws."

The interview led USA Today blogger Cathy Lynn Grossman, in a Tuesday post, to call the Republican senator "open" to consideration of equal marriage rights. Not so, says Rubio spokesman Alex Conant, who responded to Grossman today. "Senator Rubio believes that the union of one man and one woman is the ideal setting to raise a strong family and why our laws should recognize the institution of marriage as a union of one man and one woman," Conant said. "He recognizes that children raised in other settings, such as those raised by single parents, can and do succeed as well. But the ideal setting to raise children is by a married man and woman. To characterize his views on gay marriage as 'open' is not accurate."