Clint Eastwood Signs Petition In Support Of Gay Marriage

The media might have you believe Republicans are against gay marriage, but the truth is a very strong segment of Libertarian-leaning members of the GOP are very in favor of the government staying the hell out of people’s personal lives. Earlier this week, more than one hundred of the more vocal and famous members of that contingent got together to sign a petition urging the Supreme Court to vote in favor of gay marriage during the upcoming Proposition 8 trial, and apparently, there was at least one movie star among the group.

According to Breitbart, Clint Eastwood added his name to the petition. He hasn’t spoken publically about his reasons, but given he’s previously identified himself as a Republican with a Libertarian streak, it shouldn’t come as a big shock that he'd involve himself with this cause. In fact, it would be surprising if he didn’t.

Here’s a look at a portion of the petition in question…

”Whether same-sex couples should have access to civil marriage divides thoughtful, concerned citizens. But this Court has long recognized that a belief, no matter how strongly or sincerely held, cannot justify a legal distinction that is unsupported by a factual basis, especially where something as important as civil marriage is concerned. ... Our constitutional tradition requires the judiciary to protect our most cherished liberties against overreaching by the legislature or the electorate, and that principle, no less than our commitment to democratic self-government, is necessary to individual freedom and limited government. It is precisely at moments like this-when discriminatory laws appear to reflect unexamined, unfounded, or unwarranted assumptions rather than facts and evidence, and the rights of one group of citizens hangs in the balance-that this Court's intervention is most needed.”

Right now, the majority of Republican leaders are definitely anti-gay marriage, but with the younger generations supporting same-sex marriage by a large margin, it’s likely the party itself will eventually move to the center on the issue. As for whether that will happen anytime soon, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

We’ll let you know if Clint decides to speak out on this issue in the coming weeks or months.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.