Snyder Says Schuette Going Against Trend

NEW YORK CITY – Politico reported today that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he will follow however a federal judge rules on the legality of same-sex marriages in his state. Snyder made the comments at a Bloomberg View forum with reporters in Manhattan, as same-sex couples who married March 22 await clarity after a federal judge put a temporary hold on a ruling overturning Michigan's ban on gay marriage.
"If a federal judge changes the law…then I'm going to follow what's been redefined as the law," Snyder said. "So I am not spending time [on] the issue itself…hopefully the Court of Appeals and their stay or something can clarify the status [of weddings that took place in the interim. Those couples are in] a tough spot. So I want to get some clarity," Snyder told Politico.
Snyder also told the reporter that he generally doesn't take positions on social issues. However, while campaigning for governor in 2000 Snyder said he supported Michigan's marriage ban. Last month Snyder told a Republican gathering in Oakland County that he strongly supports the ban and the Michigan Supreme Court's decision to expand its definition to not allow public employers to extend healthcare benefits to the same-sex partners of LGBT public employees.
Within minutes of Snyder's remarks being tweeted, the Democratic Governors Association posted video from a gubernatorial debate in 2010 in which Snyder said he considered marriage to be "between a man and a woman."
When a Politico reporter pressed Snyder at the Bloomberg View event about whether Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who had been defending the state's ban on gay marriage, was swimming against a changing social tide, Snyder replied, "If you look at it you could say, again, the trend is generally toward changing those rules….[the AG is] going contrary to that."