Republican presidential candidate Ted
Cruz on Thursday targeted the Supreme Court's June finding that gay
and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry, saying that
it “will not stand.”
Speaking at the Carolina Values Summit
at Winthrop University, Cruz called the decision “lawless,” and
took aim at his GOP rivals.
Without naming Donald Trump and Florida
Senator Marco Rubio by name but as his top two challengers, Cruz
suggested that their opposition to marriage equality was weak.
Both candidates have said that they
would like to see the high court's ruling overturned but that they
would abide by the “law of the land.”
“Those are the talking points of
Barack Obama,” Cruz
told the crowd.
Cruz and Rubio have pledged to push for
passage of the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), which seeks to bar
federal “discriminatory action” against people who oppose gay
couples marrying based on a “religious belief or moral conviction.”
(Related: Donald
Trump won't say how appointing judges opposed to gay marriage would
unify Americans.)