Kasich at debate: Gay people deserve love and respect

Ohio Gov. John Kasich defended his attending a same-sex wedding in July and said he would love and respect friends and family who are gay.

{mosads}At Thursday night’s GOP presidential debate, Kasich said he is “an old-fashioned person” who happens “to believe in traditional marriage.”

But he said he has accepted the Supreme Court’s June ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide and noted that he attended a friend’s same-sex wedding last month.

“Because somebody doesn’t think the way I do doesn’t mean I can’t care about them or can’t love them,” he said. “If one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. That’s what we’re taught when we have strong faith.”

Kasich and his wife attended the July 2 wedding of Steve George and Jeff Gatwood less than a week after the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down bans against same-sex marriage around the U.S. 

Rick Hodges, the director of the Ohio Department of Health who was the named defendant in that case, also attended the wedding.

Kasich’s answer on marriage got a strong response from the crowd at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, which cheered when he said he would accept family members who are gay. He later cast the issue of gay marriage as one meant to divide candidates and said that everyone deserves respect. 

“We need to give everybody the chance, treat everybody with respect and let them share in this great American dream that we have,” he said. 

“I’m going to love my daughters, I’m going to love them no matter what they do. Because you know what, God gives me unconditional love, I’m going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me.”