Even Orrin Hatch Opposes Mitt Romney’s Push For Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment

In an interview with SiriusXM’s Michelangelo Signorile, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said that while he opposes same-sex marriage, he believes the question should be left up to the states. When told that this put him at odd’s with Mitt Romney’s position, Hatch expressed disbelief.

Romney, who as Governor actively sought to take away the right of same-sex couples to marry in Massachusetts, has signed the National Organization for Marriage’s anti-marriage equality pledge to push for a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as “the union of one man and one woman.” He has proposed a three-tier system to allow already-married same-sex couples to remain married, but preventing any state from offering same-sex marriage licenses henceforth.

Hatch told Signorile that he’s a “believer that the states should be able to make their own determination” and that he’s no longer even thinking about a constitutional amendment to take that right away.

HATCH: There are about, what, six states that have done it? They’ve chosen to do that. I don’t agree with that, because I believe in the sanctity of the marriage covenant and the traditional definition, but the states have a right to do it.

SIGNORILE: But Mitt Romney wants to pass a federal amendment though that would stop those states?

HATCH: I’ve never heard that — never heard him say that. I don’t think that’s his position. But I don’t know.

Hatch previously had co-sponsored constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.