By Melissa Jenco, Monique Garcia
and Rick Pearson
June 02, 2014
As Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn commemorated the same-sex marriage law he signed by visiting a gay wedding ceremony Monday, Republican challenger Bruce Rauner said he’d be open to repealing it if that’s what Illinois voters wanted.
Rauner has struggled with the issue, telling voters last year that he would follow the results of an advisory referendum to settle the gay marriage question if one were held. Later, after lawmakers approved same-sex marriage bill, Rauner said he would veto the bill if he were governor.
On Monday, Rauner tried to steer away from the hot-button social issue, telling reporters once again that he had no “social issues agenda” but declining to express his personal beliefs on same-sex marriage. “I have many gay friends and if they choose to marry I hope they have great lives together,” said Rauner after a speech to the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.
But Rauner also opened the door to the idea of a new advisory referendum asking voters whether the gay marriage law should be repealed.
“Now it’s passed, it’s the law, I don’t have any agenda to change it and the only way I’d change it is if it were done in a referendum — the voters said that they’d want to change it,” Rauner said.
During the primary campaign, Rauner came under fire from some social conservatives who form a core of the state Republican Party for his support of abortion rights. Rauner, however, repeatedly has hedged on the same-sex marriage issue — something he called being “consistent.”