Life

Jimmy Carter: Marriage equality for gays is ‘very fine’ with me

Jimmy Carter: Marriage equality for gays is ‘very fine’ with me

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter thinks it’s “very fine” for gays and lesbians to marry.

“In all of [Jesus’] teachings about multiple things -– he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies,” Carter told the Huffington Post, in an interview.

“I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I’m a Baptist, and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs,” he said.

“So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis, which my church does by the way, then that is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn’t require them to.”

Carter, 87, served as the 39th U.S. President from January 1977 to January 1981.

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