During a "Meet the Candidate" event in Coral Gables, Fla., hosted by Spanish-language channel Univision, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney
told
a crowd that if he had a gay grandchild, he would want that person to be happy, but not legally married.
Responding to a question about how he would react if one of his children were gay and wanted to get married, the former Massachusetts governor opened by affirming his sons' heterosexuality, saying, "Well, all my children are married, so I'd be very surprised," to laughter and tepid applause from the audience.
But then Romney, who has signed a pledge to ban same-sex marriage via an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, got into the meat of his argument:
"I love my children, and I love my grandchildren, and of course I'd want them to be happy. My view is this: individuals should be able to pursue a relationship of love and respect and raise a family as they would choose. I would like to have the term 'marriage' continue to be associated with a relationship between one man and one woman, and that certainly doesn't prevent two people of the same gender living in a loving relationship together, having domestic partnership, if you will. I can see rights, such as hospital visitation rights, and similar types of things being provided to those individuals, but marriage for me continues to be between a man and a woman."
Watch video of the moment below:
