The View's Elisabeth Hasselbeck tries to clear up some misconceptions about her in an interview with Fancast:
"I am not ultra-ultra-conservative on every issue. I actually support gay marriage.
I think the gay marriage thing would definitely surprise people. I mean, for some people, it will surprise them to the point that they won't want to hear it. 'No, that can't be, I really want to have this sort of idea of her in my head,' so I sort of rain on their parade there. I am a person that does believe that life begins at conception, but I also don't believe that the government should tell women what to do with their bodies. So I'm torn there in terms of supporting laws [for or against abortion]. I always say I would rather change a heart than a law. I think it has to start there. Always trying to mandate, mandate, mandate this or that is not the way that I believe this country should run."
In December 2008, Hasselbeck irked Melissa Etheridge on The View with regard to Prop 8, arguing that the majority should be allowed to vote on the rights of the minority. Hasselbeck also seemed to struggle with the concept of marriage equality in a discussion with Portia de Rossi a year later, asking "Take men and women. Women want all the rights of men, but they're not asking to be called men. Do you think…is the word [marriage] more important than the rights?"
