Rudy Giuliani On Gay Marriage: Republican Party Should 'Get The Heck Out Of People's Bedrooms'

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani warned the Republican party to "move on" from its opposition to gay marriage in an interview with Candy Crowley on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.

"I think that marriage should be between a man and woman," Giuliani said, "but I think that the Republican Party would be well advised to get the heck out of people's bedrooms and let these things get decided by states."

Giuliani said he thinks the decision by the New York state Senate to allow same-sex marriages was "wrong," but he said "there are other things that I think are wrong that get decided by democratic vote."

"And now," he said, "we should move on."

"I don't know what the heck the Republican Party wants to do getting involved in people's sexual lives and personal lives so much for," Giuliani continued. "Stay out of it. And I think we'd be a much more successful political party if we stuck to our economic, conservative roots and our idea of a strong, assertive America that is not embarrassed to be the leader of the world."

WATCH:

Comments

[CharlesCT]

04:27 PM on 07/24/2011

Guess Rudy isn't running for President.

[BassguyGG]

10:05 AM on 07/20/2011

Oh? What's that? Oh, you're still around? Here's a hint - ten years after 9-11, your mantle of "America's Mayor" is wayyyyyy past its shelf life. Nobody cares.

[FlareGunSuicide]

08:02 PM on 07/19/2011

...unless of course you need to appeal to the evangelicals during a primary in order to get the nomination. Right, Rudy?

[Roybe]

05:15 PM on 07/19/2011

Apparently, it not Rudy's Republican Party anymore either.

[jakielewis]

05:00 PM on 07/19/2011

Finally -- a Republican that has a brain. Take note GOP -- Get out of our bedrooms and sex lives and reproductive lives.

[nnealj1]

04:23 PM on 07/19/2011

Coming from a Republican, Guiliani's observation was downright perceptive...the party seems to be operating with blinders, these days, very much wanting to bring us all back to much earlier times, when the New Deal hadn't been imagined yet, when Roe vs. Wade hadn't yet been decided, when separate but equal was okay, when the government operated in laissez-faire fashion and the robber barons grew extremely wealthy on the backs of everyday Americans.
Yup, it's downright surprising to see, and hear, a Republican that can actually see reality and point it out to his fellow party members, not that they're going to pay attention to him, for even one minute.

[Nelle]

03:11 PM on 07/19/2011

Ahh, advice about the definition of marriage from a man who married his cousin and divorced his second wife for a woman he'd carried a public affair with, real nice!

[truth be told again]

01:13 PM on 07/19/2011

Get "out of the nation's bedroom"??? What a concept. One that Pierre Elliott Trudeau created - oh, about FORTY YEARS AGO.

Catch UP, America!

[jerabaub]

08:15 AM on 07/19/2011

This observation has more to do with the Republican Party's obsession over abortion rather than gay rights, but it still resonates since both obsessions deal with placing the snout of big government into the personal affairs of Americans.

Reacting to the Florida GOP legislature's efforts to implement restrictions over abortion, a Democrat state legislator floated the idea on the floor of the Florida legislature to incorporate a woman's uterus..to have the legislature authorize a woman's uterus to become a corporation.

He did this because the GOP legislators, while restricting abortion rights, were simultaneously enacting legislation to remove regulations on corporations.

It was a farcical and very funny spoof on his part to incorporate a woman's uterus as a bonafide corporation, thereby putting into play this idiotic, this moronic, obsession by the GOP to gut regulation of corporations..if her uterus were a corporation these govt restrictions on abortions could not proceed(since corporations(according to GOP dogma)are sacrosanct, are immune from odious govt regulation).

[truth be told again]

01:15 PM on 07/19/2011

How come, for Republicans, the government can/should be so "small" it can fit in the bedrooms of the nation???

[Janicot]

02:36 PM on 07/19/2011

Smaller still when they're trying to get into wombs and...other parts...

[CharlesCT]

04:30 PM on 07/24/2011

Its because GOPpers know Best and have a direct line to a Higher Power. Many think they are born that way.

[SteveHansen]

04:46 AM on 07/19/2011

"States Rights" was the argument FOR SLAVERY.

"States Rights" was the argument AGAINST the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT.

Now, "States Rights" is the argument against "equal rights" for gay people.

What's wrong with respecting our Constitution, which guarantees "equal rights" to all people, including gay people?

[cwebster]

10:32 AM on 07/19/2011

...because treating everyone equally would be sensible and decent? Those two things appear to be anathema to some.

[truth be told again]

01:16 PM on 07/19/2011

Only to Teathuglicans.

[Janicot]

02:46 PM on 07/19/2011

There is a sizeable percentage of our population who feel that their religious beliefs take precedence over the civil rights of other sizeable percentages of our population. In as much as they appear to worship the Constitution (in some form other than as written and interpreted judicially for at least the last century) it actually takes a back seat in their eyes to "Biblical" law, which has nothing to do with equality and everything to do with tribal exclusivity.

[OldGent]

04:21 AM on 07/19/2011

Coming from you Rudy, how many times did you change wives?. You really can't say too much, except to Newt Gingrich. Sorry folks for this stuff, but the Republicans are the gift that keeps on giving. Maybe if it wasn't so profitable though. A Republican, Newt Gingrich had 4(?) marriages and gets $2-Million credit at Tiffany's. To who else in America could this happen? Must be an answer to the Economy, turn Republican, get divorced and remarried, sign a Marriage Vow Pledge, and tell everybody else they need to have better Family Values while it pays off. OK I'll stop-----for now.

[Shozen]

06:37 AM on 07/19/2011

How many times did he dress in drag?!

His point however was for Republicans to keep out of personal lives.

[OldGent]

04:09 AM on 07/19/2011

Must also say, that the Republican Marriage Vow Pledge would be a step in the right direction, but like all things Republican, it comes with "loopholes"

[truth be told again]

01:18 PM on 07/19/2011

Sorry, but treating legally married same-gender couples differently than from legally married betterosexual couples is anathema to the Constitution. Why on earth would you support something blatantly UN-Constitutional? How on earth is it a "step in the right direction"?

'Splain me this, Lucy.

[OldGent]

04:06 AM on 07/19/2011

Now Rudy be fair. Republican Representative Clarke took it to the Minnesota Airport Washroom.

[Ben Winslow]

01:43 AM on 07/19/2011

He just doesn't want to be found by Republicans in a strange bedroom!

[DaneMuhlig]

01:21 AM on 07/19/2011

God's Word 100% clearly says Homosexuality is sin and homosexuals will not make Heaven...ie they go to Hell. 1 Cor.6:9,10. Romans 1:24-32 calls homosexuality degrading of the body, shameful, indecent and perversion! God does not "stay out of it." Nor should we! With must condemn it and with much love help people out of it!

[SteveHansen]

04:40 AM on 07/19/2011

If you wish to have freedom of religion, you must allow others to have that same freedom. When religious beliefs can be enacted into law, people who do not believe in that particular religion, no longer have freedom of religion. And, neither does anyone else.

[Bettaman]

10:02 AM on 07/19/2011

I'll start respecting what your book of fairytales says when you do the same for mine, deal? Mine is Hustler - any month. 2nd Hottie - Pose 2 calls for car washing to be done only by a busty woman and only while naked except for high heels. And she spaketh "Yeah though I lounge over the hood of a wet car, still it is good and beautiful. Amen." I'll stick with my version of heaven and you can stick with yours, deal?