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Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, said he favors same-sex marriage, but not a state-by-state approach to legalizing it.
Speaking with Chuck Todd on Daily Rundown this morning, he said: “If we consider this to be a civil right, and I do, I don’t think civil rights ought to be left up to a state-by-state approach. We should have a national policy on this.”
The Congressman’s view differs from that of President Obama who endorsed same-sex marriage last week but said he believes it is a state issue.
Clyburn, who has served in Congress since 1993, explained that like the president, his views on gay marriage had to evolve after a fundamentalist Christian upbringing. He spoke about the importance of continued evolution in society, including within religion, and noted that some states made it “illegal for black and white couples to get married” earlier in his lifetime. “Sometimes it takes the federal government to…solve these issues,” he concluded.
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