On Marriage Equality: Yes for Warner. No for Gillespie.

In their first, and perhaps only, debate held in West Virginia on July 25, 2014, with about 800 live stream viewers, Democratic Senator Mark Warner and his Republican challenger, Ed Gillespie, discussed most of the current hot button political issues, including immigration, climate change, and health care reform. They also, briefly, discussed marriage equality. It was the last question of the debate.

The question given to each candidate was straightforward: “Do you believe the Commonwealth of Virginia should join the nineteen other states that have recognized same-sex marriage are legal? Yes, or no.”

Gillespie talked around the direct question for a bit, and even tried to make the excuse that as a United States Senator, it wouldn’t be his role to legislate on marriage, as it’s a state issue. When pressed further about whether he believe same-sex marriage should be legal in Virginia, he answered, “My vote would be no…I do not believe in government sanction of same-sex marriage. I believe marriage is between one man and one woman.”

Senator Warner answered, “I support marriage equality. I think it’s the right thing to do, the fair thing to do. I also believe that it’s a smart business thing to do.”

Here is the video – jump to the 01:17:20 mark: