Anti-affirmative-action movement leader Ward Connerly told the Arizona Republic on Sunday that it was “a very easy call” for him to back a movement to provide domestic partner benefits for gay couples. For Connerly, in a question-and-answer article in the Republic, the issue came down to his definition of being conservative.

Continued – “The government shouldn’t be making distinctions about people on the basis of what they do in the privacy of their bedrooms,” Connerly said. “And those within my party that try to inject the government into that, they’re not the conservative; I’m the conservative. I’m saying, keep government small, keep government out of people’s personal lives. If you’re going to give benefits to people who happen to be straight, give the same benefits to people who are gay. That to me was a very easy call.”

Connerly, who has sponsored successful ballot initiatives in California, Michigan and Washington to repeal affirmative action programs for public employers and institutions, is a black Republican. He is currently leading a charge to eliminate affirmative action in Arizona. The state is also facing a marriage amendment in November to amend its constitution to ban recognition of any union but that of one man and one woman.

“I grew up in a time when I was forbidden from marrying people who were not of my race,” he said. “In 1962, when my wife and I got married, in some parts of the country, we would have been breaking the law. It wasn’t until 1967, when the Supreme Court in the Loving (v. Virginia) case, said that that’s unconstitutional. So I feel very strongly that the government shouldn’t be treating people differently just because they are gay.”

Connerly admitted in the interview that racism still remains in America, but said the country has taken giant strides toward equality between the races. He also said he was troubled by white nationalists hitching their wagon to his train, but in the end, he said if they supported the principles he did, he was OK with their support.