Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Saturday he supports allowing same-sex couples to wed but will continue defending his state’s 2004 ban on gay marriages in court.
McDaniel, a Democrat serving his final year as the state’s top attorney, became the first statewide elected official in Arkansas to back same-sex marriage.
One of McDaniel’s predecessors in the office, former President Bill Clinton, announced his support for gay marriage in 2009.
McDaniel revealed his stance while speaking at the Associated Press Managing Editors convention in Little Rock.
“I want to tell you I do support marriage equality, and I do believe Arkansans should have the right to be equal in the eyes of the law,” McDaniel told the journalists.
Voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, but that ban and others nationwide are facing legal challenges.
Seventeen states allow gay marriage, and federal judges have struck down bans in Michigan, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia. An Arkansas judge is expected to rule by Friday in a lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ ban.
In an interview later Saturday with the Democrat-Gazette, McDaniel said that his personal views on the subject won’t affect his efforts as attorney general to keep gays from marrying in Arkansas.
“I made it clear earlier and I think it’s extremely important now that I do everything that I can to defend our constitutional definition of marriage because it is the law,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel didn’t say whether he believes Arkansas’ ban on gay marriage violates the U.S. constitution.
“The United States Supreme Court has never handed down a decision saying that a state definition [of marriage] is in violation of the United States constitution. Unless or until that happens, I think that attorneys general have an obligation to defend their state definitions of marriage.”
McDaniel said during a question-and-answer session with editors that there wasn’t any single incident that changed his mind about gay marriage.
“It’s become more and more difficult for me to accept the idea of anyone being treated as a second class citizen,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel voiced support for civil unions when he ran for attorney general in 2006, but said then he believed marriage was between a man and a woman. McDaniel ran briefly for governor but dropped out early last year after admitting to an inappropriate relationship with a Hot Springs attorney.
McDaniel said after his speech that he considered backing marriage equality during that brief bid for the state’s top office.
“Even when I was running for governor, there were times when I was like, ‘Don’t you think it’s time that I just say this and be done with it?’” McDaniel said. “It’s controversial. There are some people who are going to think it was a great thing that I made this statement while in office, and there are going to be some people who are going to be deeply offended and angry. It really came down to why not today?”
McDaniel said he was not calling on any other statewide officials or candidates to support gay marriage, and said he would not campaign for ending the ban while serving as attorney general.
The head of the group that campaigned for the ban in 2004 said he was surprised by McDaniel’s comments but still had faith in McDaniel’s office to defend the amendment.
“I’m disappointed because he didn’t have to take a position one way or the other. It is disappointing that he has taken this position,” said Jerry Cox, president of the Arkansas Family Council. “However, I do not doubt the ability of his staff to adequately defend the Arkansas marriage amendment because I believe the people on his staff are very capable lawyers and I have seen them work very capably on other issues.”
The head of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, praised McDaniel for his comments.
“Today Attorney General McDaniel adds his voice to an ever-growing chorus of Americans from across the country that are standing up for the right of all couples to marry-and there is no turning back that tide,” Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, an Arkansas native, said in a statement released by the group. “As a proud Arkansan, I know it’s only a matter of time before committed and loving gay and lesbian couples in my home state get to enjoy all the rights and benefits that come with civil marriage.”
Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway defended that state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage, but after a federal judge declared it unconstitutional, Conway announced in March that he would not appeal the decision.
Conway, a Democrat and potential 2015 candidate for Kentucky governor, said he had done his “duty as a attorney general” by initially defending the amendment in federal court.
But the federal ruling striking down the law was unlikely to be overturned, and Conway said he could no longer, in good conscience, defend the amendment.
“I came to the inescapable conclusion that if I did so, I would be defending discrimination. That I will not do,” he said. “As attorney general I must draw the line when it comes to discrimination. The United States constitution is designed to protect everyone’s rights, both the majority and the minority groups.”
At a press conference, his voice breaking at times, Conway said, “For those who disagree, I can only say that I’m doing what I think is right. In the final analysis, I had to make a decision I could be proud of - for me now and for my daughter’s judgment in the future.”
Due to Conway’s decision, Kentucky officials said they would hire an outside lawyer to pursue the appeal.
At the time, The New York Times said Conway was the seventh state attorney general who had declined to defend same-sex marriage bans. All are Democrats.
McDaniel told the Democrat-Gazette he disagrees with that approach. “I don’t think that any attorney general, Republican or Democrat, should decide for himself or herself which laws of their state that they enforce or defend,” he said.
Information for this article was contributed by Andrew DeMillo of The Associated Press and Frank Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 05/04/2014