Alaska GOP Leaders Laugh Off Recognizing Gay Unions

State Republican lawmakers in Alaska laughed off the idea of recognizing the relationships of gay and lesbian couples.

When Mark Miller of the Juneau Empire asked members of the GOP House majority about gay couples, the response was a laugh.

“I'm looking at a recent Public Policy Polling survey of Alaska that found that only 30 percent of respondents believe there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship in Alaska,” Miller said during a videotaped press conference. “I was just curious. Would the caucus support the idea of having domestic partnerships or civil unions open to same-sex couples?”

Once the laughter died down, Rep. Lance Pruitt, a Republican from East Anchorage, said recognition of gay couples wasn't a “guiding principle” of the House GOP caucus.

“Your discussion on that? We didn't talk about that. And I'll be straight. We didn't talk about that particular issue,” Pruitt answered. “That was not something that we said, 'We're going to make that one of our guiding principles.' It wasn't something that came up in our discussions.”