Republican presidential candidate Ben
Carson said Friday that Congress had failed to block the Supreme
Court's ruling striking down gay marriage bans nationwide as it
relates to religious objectors.
The former neurosurgeon turned
Christian celebrity made his comments at the Presidential Family
Forum in Des Moines, Iowa. Seven Republican presidential candidates
attended the event, which took place at the Community Choice Credit
Union Convention Center. Event co-sponsors included The Family
Leader Foundation, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and
the Alliance for Defending Freedom.
Carson said that America's system of
checks and balances had failed because Congress had “checked out”
on the issue as it relates to protecting the rights of Christians who
oppose marriage equality.
The U.S. Constitution provides for
equal rights, Carson said, not “extra rights,” which he defined
as getting to “redefine everything for everybody else and impact
upon their lives.”
“This separation of the powers,
checks and balances is one of the fundamental things that makes our
government work. And what has happened, particularly with the
Supreme Court judgment that we're talking about, is that one of the
branches … has checked out,” Carson said.
“We should have had a law already in
place to protect the religious liberty of people who believe that
marriage is between one man and one woman. They should have known
that that was coming. It's still not too late. They have a
responsibility to weigh in now and check the Supreme Court, because
if we don't do that they will just continue down the same road,” he
added.
Other candidates who appeared at the
forum included Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Governor Mike
Huckabee, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, former Pennsylvania Senator
Rick Santorum, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Kentucky Senator Rand
Paul.
Cruz told those attending that out
actress Ellen
Page attacked him with accusations of hating gays while grilling
pork chops at the Iowa State Fair, while Rubio said that marriage
equality was not about discrimination.
(Related: Marco
Rubio: Gay marriage is not about discrimination.)