Utah Rep Defends Stand Against DC Marriage

Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, who has vowed to stand in the way Washington, D.C.'s marriage equality law when it goes to Congress for approval, tried to explain and defend his position in a Tuesday morning interview with Utah public radio station KCPW.

During the interview Chaffetz said he's had conversations with Jared Polis and Tammy Baldwin, two gay members of Congress, and that they respect his antigay position. "I'm not trying to attack gay marriage per se," he told KCPW's Jeff Robinson, "I'm just trying to affirm my positive view that I believe in traditional marriage. I just do. That's the way I'm going to vote. That's the way I believe it ought to go. It's not in any way, shape, or form a personal attack."

Chaffetz conceded that he had "little to no chance" of blocking the law when it comes before Congress in the next few weeks, but he added that there were "other avenues" he and others were pursuing to protect "traditional marriage" in Washington, D.C.

Hear the whole radio interview here.