Bloomberg said that Pennsylvania will probably be the next US state who has concede defeat on a ruling that struck down the state gay marriage ban. State Governor Tom Corbett has already acknowledged that his office will not be defending the ban after court rulings. The news outlet noted that Corbett, who is a Republican running for re-election this year, followed the latest steps of fellow party members New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval to abandon the defense of marriage bans.
In a statement released yesterday, Corbett said, "As a Roman Catholic, the traditional teaching of my faith has not wavered. I continue to maintain the belief that marriage is between one man and one woman."
Corbett's latest response was to the recent strikedown of the same-sex marriage ban in Pennsylvania, which makes the state the 25th in the US to declare gay marriage legal. The latest court decision has evenly dividing the nation around a year after the US Supreme Court overturned a portion of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act regarding recognition of heterosexual marriages.
Corbett was not singing the same song in October last year. The state governor was criticized by gay rights advocates for his comparison of gay marriage to incest. When he was asked for his opinion about same-sex marriage likened to marriage between children in a television interview, Corbett said that a well-suited analogy would be between brother and sister. Bloomberg said Corbett later said that he has no intention to offend anyone.
Nonetheless, supporters of the gay marriage ban did not like Corbett's decision. President Brian Brown of the Washington-based National Organization for Marriage said that it was obvious that Corbett had chosen his political aspirations over a "unique public good."
Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion Director Chris Borick in Allentown, Pennsylvania said that although Corbett might have cost him some precious conservative votes, he is clearly thinking about the broader population who are in favor of same-sex marriage.
"This year he's trying fairly hard to make some appeals to the middle of the road Pennsylvania voters," Borick said.
