There has been a garden industry erupting among GOP presidential contenders over whether or not they would attend a homosexual wedding… as a guest.

Scott Walker (via CNN)

“Even though my position on marriage is still that its defined as between a man and a woman, and I support the constitution of the state but for someone I love, we’ve been to a reception,” he said at the end of the GOP Summit in New Hampshire.

Walker was asked if he would attend a same-sex wedding after finishing his remarks at a dinner in Nashua, New Hampshire — a key primary state in the upcoming presidential election.

Walker responded by saying it is a “personal issue” and cited the fact that the reception he went to was for a family member.

Marco Rubio (via Politico)

Marco Rubio says he would attend the wedding of a same-sex couple, even though the Republican Florida senator and newly minted presidential candidate has said he believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

Fusion host Jorge Ramos pressed Rubio on Wednesday about whether he would go to the same-sex ceremony of someone in his family or someone on his staff who happens to be gay.

John Kasich (via CNN)

“I went home and I said to my wife, ‘My friend’s getting married. What do you think? You wanna go?’ She goes, ‘Oh, I’m absolutely going,’ Kasich, who opposes same-sex marriages, said. “My friend knows how I feel about the issue, but I’m not here to have a war with him. I care about my friend, and so it’s pretty simple for me.”

Rick Santorum (via USA Today)

Santorum, who is Catholic, said he would not attend such a wedding of a friend or relative. “That would be something that would be a violation of my faith,” he told Hewitt. “I would love them and support them, but I would not participate in that ceremony.”

[mc_name name=’Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001098′ ] (via Daily Caller)

“Well, I will tell you, I haven’t faced that circumstance. I have not had a loved one go to a, have a gay wedding,” Cruz told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who asked the senator if he would go to a gay wedding (Marco Rubio said yesterday that he would go to one).

There are more guys out there, some of them might have been asked but I think we all know where Jeb Bush comes down on this.

This is not a hard question. Do you support homosexual marriage or not? This is a binary question. Rubio, Walker, and Kasich all recycled the answer pro-abort politicians give while claiming to be pro-life: well, I’m personally opposed to abortion but it is a personal decision and if someone I loved wanted to kill their offspring I’d be totally down for that. To see how much sense their statements make insert “KKK Rally” everywhere “homosexual wedding” is mentioned.

Ted Cruz gave a non-answer phrased as refusing to play a media gotcha game but this is only a gotcha if you don’t want to say you support traditional marriage.

I wouldn’t attend a homosexual wedding because to attend is to give public credence to the bastardization of marriage. I feel the same way about remarriage of people who are divorced. In Catholic theology, and this, by the way is shared by virtually all Protestant denominations, there is the idea of “scandal”. I fall back her on the Catechism because it best articulates the issue.

2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. the person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”85 Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep’s clothing.86

2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.

Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to “social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible.”87 This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger,88 or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.

2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. “Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!”89

This is not an indictment of homosexual marriage alone. A father (I point my finger at men, in particular, here) who doesn’t go to Church leads his kids away from God, is guilty of scandal, and their lack of religious formation falls on him. But as you go up in power or social status the obligation becomes greater. What lesson does someone take away — assuming they are influenced by such things — by a Governor Walker or [mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ] or Governor Kasich at a homosexual wedding? Is it, gee, I know he’s against homosexual marriage but he’s just supporting someone he loves? Or is it, he went to a homosexual wedding so he’s fine with it. What was the takeaway from Pope Francis’s statement about “who am I to judge?” Was it “if a homosexual person is living a righteous life, I don’t care if he has homosexual inclinations?” (this is what he actually said in full context) or was it “don’t judge homosexuality?” (which it wasn’t).

These men can’t have it both ways. You can’t oppose what is happening to marriage and, at the same time, go to a homosexual wedding. If you support homosexual marriage then, by all means attend. I’m told they throw killer receptions. But don’t pretend that your attendance isn’t tacit endorsement. And don’t tell me that you oppose it and then say you would attend one. That is insulting to everyone who hears it.