Marco Rubio: Immigration Reform Shouldn't Include Gay Couples

A provision establishing rights for same-sex partners 'kills the bill,' the Florida senator says.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

June 13 2013 2:47 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Sen. Marco Rubio has reiterated that he won't support an immigration reform bill that includes rights for same-sex couples, and he predicts such a provision will kill the bill.

"If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill," the Florida Republican told conservative radio host Andrea Tantaros on her show today. "I'm gone, I'm off it, and I've said that repeatedly. And I don't think that's going to happen, and it shouldn't happen. This is already a difficult enough issue as it is."

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont Tuesday introduced an amendment to the comprehensive immigration reform bill that would allow citizens to sponsor foreign same-sex spouses for permanent residency in the U.S., just as citizens with opposite-sex foreign spouses can now. Leahy, a Democrat, had withdrawn the amendment last month "with a heavy heart," as he put it, but he decided to try again.

Rubio, a rising star in the Republican Party, also told Tantaros any immigration bill he would support must also provide for improved border security.

Listen to the interview here; Rubio comes on at about the 58-minute mark, and the remark about gay couples around the one-hour, five-minute mark.