Justice

George Takei Just Revealed Donald Trump's Hypocrisy on Same-Sex Marriage

July 1st 2015

Speaking to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Monday night, LGBT activist George Takei divulged some interesting information about Donald Trump's views on same-sex marriage. Though Trump has voiced opposition to marriage equality, he told Takei two years ago that he'd just attended a gay wedding. Naturally, this made Takei wonder how Trump could attend a same-sex ceremony yet speak out against the practice.

"I challenged him to have lunch with me so that we can discuss marriage equality," said Takei, who appeared on Trump's show Celebrity Apprentice. "He did accept, and we had that lunch. When I again met him, he said, 'You know what, George? I just came from a gay marriage' — he had come from a wedding of a very important Broadway personality, Jordan Roth [who married Richie Jackson] ... He told me, 'They're good friends of mine. It was a beautiful marriage. They're wonderful friends.'"

Trump told Takei he couldn't fully get behind same-sex marriage, however, because of his traditional values.

"He said, 'Well, I'm for traditional marriage,' and we had a long discussion over lunch," Takei continued. "We finally agreed to disagree — he was for traditional marriage, despite the fact that he'd been married three times. That is not traditional. I approve of his three-time marriage because you want to find the person that you love, but the important thing here is to understand that our democracy is a dynamic democracy, and our Constitution is a living document, it's not carved in stone."

Takei also doubts Trump even truly supports "traditional marriage" as he defines it at public events.

"I think Donald Trump's interpretation of marriage is something that he himself doesn't really believe in," he said. "'Traditional marriage' is where two people love each other, commit to each other, care for each other over the years. It is a meaningful ceremony, and his interpretation of that is not recognizing what real marriage is."

When Trump did an interview with Howard Stern two years ago, Stern mentioned their mutual buddy Takei's sexual orientation (Takei is gay) and asked Trump to come out and endorse same-sex marriage. Trump wouldn't show support for same-sex marriage, but acknowledged that “public opinion is changing.”

Stern seemed to seriously question whether Trump is actually against same-sex marriage, saying, “If I was alone in a room with you, and you and I were just having a drink, I don’t think you care about gay marriage. I think you’re all for it. I know you. You’re for people being happy.”

Trump, who is running for president, is not the first candidate to encounter the question of attending same-sex weddings. Check out to see what other candidates have said about whether they would go to a same-sex wedding:

 

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