2014 SD Senate debate: on Civil Rights

Gordon Howie: Government shouldn't redefine marriage

Howie: Strongly Agree

Gordon Howie: Gays and lesbians choose to live outside the laws of God

Howie is running on a socially conservative platform to bring God back into public life, and believes homosexuality is immoral. But the candidate who regularly bashes Republican nominee Mike Rounds for being insufficiently conservative is actually to Rounds' left on one particular question of gay rights.

Howie supports civil unions for same-sex couples, while Rounds said he doesn't.

Gordon Howie: Civil unions and equal rights for gays, but not marriage

"I think it's silly not to allow those kind of things," Howie said of letting same-sex couples file taxes jointly, have hospital visitation rights and other privileges currently limited to married couples.

Rounds, like Howie, said he believes "marriage is between a man and a woman." Beyond that, Rounds said romantic partners can enter into contracts to do things that already are legal but opposes changing the law to allow same-sex couples privileges currently reserved for married couples.

[One pundit noted], "Very conservative people could come to endorse civil unions by breaking it up and looking at the legal elements of it and saying, okay, we're not going to discriminate against them, and this is a different status, but that doesn't mean they're married."

Larry Pressler: Filed legal brief to overturn S.D.'s gay marriage ban

South Dakota law restricts marriage to opposite-sex couples, but that law is being challenged in federal court by several same-sex couples. Pressler filed a brief supporting that lawsuit trying to overturn South Dakota's gay marriage ban. "This court should protect the fundamental right of civil marriage in South Dakota by ensuring that it is available to same-sex couples," Pressler wrote.

Weiland also supports same-sex marriage, though his campaign has focused on fiscal policy and government reform.

[One pundit noted], "Very conservative people could come to endorse civil unions by breaking it up and looking at the legal elements of it and saying, okay, we're not going to discriminate against them, and this is a different status, but that doesn't mean they're married."

Mike Rounds: Legal contracts for gay couples, but not marriage

Rounds, like Howie, said he believes "marriage is between a man and a woman." Beyond that, Rounds said romantic partners can enter into contracts to do things that already are legal but opposes changing the law to allow same-sex couples privileges currently reserved for married couples.

"If two individuals, or 3 or 4 or 12 individuals, want to contract with one another, as long as those contracts are legal, I have no problem with those folks contracting with one another to do what is a lawful activity," Rounds said. As to what constitutes a lawful contract, Rounds said the courts, not lawmakers, will decide. "We'll have opportunities in the future to address questions of what are legal contracts," Rounds said.

Larry Pressler: Supports gay marriage

Larry Pressler: I was wrong to support 1996 Defense of Marriage Act

Rick Weiland: Favors same-sex marriage

Weiland has the support of his onetime boss, Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader (also a South Dakota Democrat), and of the party's more liberal base. But his candidacy has upset some in the Democratic establishment. Many South Dakota Democrats are hoping for a centrist to compete in a state where the number of registered independents has increased over the past five years. Daschle said he believed that Weiland would be able to earn the establishment's support. "I've been through this hundreds of times--a candidate has to prove himself or herself before they get support of the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]. I believe Rick will be able to do that."