If you thought you could pin actor/director Clint Eastwood down simply by labeling him a stuck-in-a-rut conservative, you might want to rethink that. According to a Breitbart report on Feb. 28, the legendary Hollywood icon joined over 100 conservative leaders and politicians in signing an amicus brief, a "friend of the court" petition, designed to sway the looming Supreme Court decision with regard to challenges to the voter-approved ban against same-sex marriage in California, Proposition 8. The signatories are hoping the Supreme Court rules against the ban.
Eastwood joins top officials from the George W. Bush administration, including ex-deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz and ex-homeland security secretary Tom Ridge; officials from the Bush, Mitt Romney, and John McCain campaigns; and former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman in signing the brief, which was organized by the American Foundation for Equal Rights.
Noting that many of the signatories had previously opposed same-sex marriage, the brief stated, in part, that they "like many Americans, have reexamined the evidence and their own positions and have concluded that there is no legitimate, fact-based reason for denying same-sex couples the same recognition in law that is available to opposite-sex couples."
But it isn't as if Eastwood has evolved in his thinking on same-sex marriage. He's supported allowing gays to marry for years and stated so publicly, but found it exasperating that politicians were making it a divisive political issue.
When asked about the issue in 2011 by GQ magazine, Eastwood said he didn't "give a f*** about who wants to get married to anybody else." He added that debating the issue was a waste of time.
And on "The Ellen Degeneres Show" last year, he told the openly gay host that his views followed the Libertarian principle of "leave everybody alone."
The Libertarian political platform has called for the rescinding of the federal ban against same-sex marriage for years, unlike the GOP platform, which openly embraced the strict adherence to marriage as being between a male and female in 2012.
But as can be seen, all Republicans and/or conservatives do not agree with that particular political stance. And, like Eastwood, they are willing to add their collective weight to the argument in support of same-sex unions.
Former Utah governor and 2012 presidential candidate Jon Huntsman has also backed civil unions in the past, but he came out in favor of same-sex marriage in an Op-Ed for the The American Conservative on Feb. 21.
Huntsman wrote: "Conservatives should start to lead again and push their states to join the nine others that allow all their citizens to marry. There is nothing conservative about denying other Americans the ability to forge that same relationship with the person they love."
The Justice Department declared the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional last week, setting up the argument to be heard by the Supreme Court in March. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli stated: "Moral opposition to homosexuality, though it may reflect deeply held personal views, is not a legitimate policy objective that can justify unequal treatment of gay and lesbian people..."
Couldn't have been said better by a Libertarian. Ask Clint Eastwood.
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