OREGON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says his 19-year-old son’s decision to be a witness at a relative’s same-sex marriage isn’t a policy statement.

The potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate was asked Tuesday about his son Alex’s decision to be a witness to the June 9 wedding in Waukesha County. The marriage was between the first cousin of Walker’s wife Tonette and her female partner.

Walker says he was aware that his son was attending the wedding, but Walker himself was in New York at the time of the ceremony. Walker says of Alex’s decision to be a witness, “He doesn’t need my blessing to do anything he does.”

Walker is a longtime opponent of same-sex marriages and is defending the state’s ban that a federal court judge last has ruled unconstitutional.

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