Why won’t Pennsylvania’s Republican governor candidate say she supports marriage equality?

Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the Republican nominee for governor, has repeatedly declined to say whether she supports marriage equality, drawing criticism from Democrats as she campaigns to lead one of the nation's most important battleground states. The state's Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, who is running for reelection, is an LGBTQ+ ally.

Garrity's most direct comments on the issue came during a 2025 interview with WPMT, a Fox affiliate, when she was asked about the future of same-sex couples’ ability to get married if the U.S. Supreme Court were to revisit Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 decision that legalized marriage equality nationwide.

"I don't really want to talk about hypotheticals," Garrity said. "To be honest, I haven't even given it much thought at all."

The Advocate contacted Garrity's campaign on Friday to seek clarification on whether she supports marriage equality, the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, and whether she would support preserving marriage rights for same-sex couples in Pennsylvania if the issue returned to the states. The campaign did not respond.

Garrity's comments are part of a broader pattern of declining to answer questions about LGBTQ+ rights.

In a 2024 candidate questionnaire published by WPSU, Pennsylvania's public media station serving central Pennsylvania, Garrity answered questions on economic policy, retirement savings, higher education, and other issues. However, when asked, "What is your position on LGBTQ rights?" the questionnaire listed "No response."

The questionnaire also showed no responses to questions concerning abortion, healthcare access, immigration, housing, and gun policy. While Garrity has not publicly stated whether she supports marriage equality, she has taken conservative positions on LGBTQ+ issues in the past.

According to a 2020 Pennsylvania Family Council voter guide completed during her campaign for state treasurer, Garrity opposed requiring wedding service providers to participate in same-sex weddings if doing so conflicted with their religious beliefs. She also opposed requiring Pennsylvania public schools and public facilities to open restrooms and locker rooms regardless of a person’s sex assigned at birth and supported ending state funding for what the questionnaire described as "sex-change surgeries for children."

The Pennsylvania Family Council is a socially conservative advocacy organization that publishes voter guides on issues important to religious conservatives. Democrats say Garrity's refusal to clarify her views on marriage equality raises concerns about how she would govern.

"Stacy Garrity just can't be trusted to stand up for the people of this Commonwealth, and the fact that in 2026 she still won't protect marriage equality is just another one of the many reasons why Pennsylvanians can't trust her to protect our freedoms," Ava Pitruzzello, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, told The Advocate in a statement.

Pitruzzello's criticism comes as marriage equality has reemerged as a flashpoint in conservative politics. Although Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022 and same-sex couples have been able to marry nationwide for more than a decade, opponents of marriage equality continue to pursue legal and political challenges to Obergefell.

Earlier this year, the Greater Than campaign, a coalition of dozens of conservative organizations led by the anti-LGBTQ+ group Them Before Us, launched a national effort urging the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. The campaign argues that legal recognition of same-sex marriage undermines what it describes as children's right to be raised by both a mother and a father and promotes the slogan "children are greater than equal.