Gays and lbians owe thanks to Print Gee W. Bh and Jtice Slia - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• GEE W. BH'S FOTTEN GAY-RIGHTS HISTORY
• GEE H.W. BH: I HAVE 'MELLOWED' ON GAY MARRIAGE
• GEE W. BH ON GAY MARRIAGE, IMMIGRATN, AND WHY OBAMA KEPT HIS TERRORISM POLICI
• GEE W. BH QUOT ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE
• BH BACKS BAN CONSTUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE
• GEE W. BH ON WHY HE WON'T DISCS GAY MARRIAGE: 'I'M OUT OF POLICS'
• THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE; URGED BY RIGHT, BH TAK ON GAY MARRIAG
• PROMENT GAY REPUBLINS HELPED SMOOTH THE WAY FOR MARRIAGE BILL
• BH’S DGHTER, A BREAK, ENDORS GAY MARRIAGE
• BH ON GAY RIGHTS ISSU
• GAYS AND LBIANS OWE THANKS TO PRINT GEE W. BH AND JTICE SLIA

GEE W. BH'S FOTTEN GAY-RIGHTS HISTORY

"I meant 's very important for people not to be overly cril of someone else until you've examed your own heart, " Bh told story went on to note that "As print, Bh opposed gay marriage, and Republins phed ballot measur to ban at the state level.

GEE H.W. BH: I HAVE 'MELLOWED' ON GAY MARRIAGE

''As Republins seek to fd a new way forward the wake of the Supreme Court cisn strikg down DOMA, 's worth rellg that one equently discsed proposed path -- backg civil unns but not full marriage equaly -- would jt take the GOP back to where s succsful printial ndidate was , the more nservative ndidate who lost where Bh won, opposed both gay marriage and civil unns picture wh Bh was hardly one of straightforward support for gay unns, of urse. And tight rac, those voters -- who historilly have leaned heavily Republin -- may have tipped the now Bh, rponse to a journalist Zambia askg about whether gay marriage is agast Christian valu, said, "I shouldn't be takg a speck out of someone else's eye when I have a log my own.

Bh's wife Lra Bh said she urged the print to drop the issue out of rpect for their gay issue of same-sex marriage is once aga a printial mpaign issue, given that the Supreme Court next month is expected to say whether or not gay upl have a nstutnal right to marry.

GEE W. BH ON GAY MARRIAGE, IMMIGRATN, AND WHY OBAMA KEPT HIS TERRORISM POLICI

The print said he cid to endorse an amendment bee of the Massachetts Supreme Judicial Court's recent cisn grantg marriage rights to same-sex upl, and San Francis Mayor Gav Newsom's cisn two weeks ago to beg givg marriage licens to gay and lbian upl. The lear of the natn's largt gay and lbian polil anizatn lled Bh's support for such an amendment a sperate attempt to help his re-electn bid and acced him of wantg to bash gay and lbian fai. 24 — Print Bh said today he supported a nstutnal amendment banng gay marriage, clarg that such a measure was the only way to protect the stat of marriage between man and woman, which he lled "the most fundamental stutn of civilizatn.

Bh did not suggt specific wordg for an amendment, but his remarks were immediately weled by his nservative backers, many of whom had been urgg him to speak out, and nounced by gay-rights supporters.

"Not sce the days of Jim Crow segregatn has our natn faced the prospect of discrimatn wrten to law such a shameful way, " said David Tseng, executive director of Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays.

GEE W. BH QUOT ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE

"The amendment before Congrs not only would fe marriage, would jeopardize civil unns and would potentially even jeopardize domtic partnership legislatn, " said Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the Log Cab Republins, a group of gay party members.

" The print, perhaps tacly acknowledgg the emotn that has acpanied the bate over gay marriage, closed by sayg: "We should also nduct this difficult bate a manner worthy of our untry, whout bterns or anger. They were honeymoong overseas and didn't immediately rpond to an email seekg ment marriage beme legal Mae was the Whe Hoe when gay marriage wasn't as big a polil issue as is today.

In a speech June, he told the Fah & Freedom Coaln the natn needs to be supportive of non-tradnal Associated PrsRelated:Same-sex marriage supporters cheer 'Cralla moment'GOP fds self a tighter spot on gay marriage after lgsGay troops prep for September marriage spree.

BH BACKS BAN CONSTUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE

Like dozens of other gay lleagu the Bh Whe Hoe, many of them closeted, Leve had been sure that Bh himself was personally tolerant even if the GOP was not—and unfortable wh gay-bashg as a way to w electns.

But this was also the print who had ma batg AIDS Ai a personal e (later, at Leve’s urgg, he would even rate the Whe Hoe North Porti wh a giant red ribbon to mark World AIDS Day), who had met wh prevly ostracized gay Republin lears and whose hard-le nservative vice print had an openly gay dghter. Evertz says Bh’s polil gu, Karl Rove, for a time would only give him clearance for public appearanc if he promised not to be billed as the first openly gay appotee a Republin admistratn.

In recent months, I’ve reported extensively on life the closet of the Bh Whe Hoe, and a number of his former ais are quoted on the rerd this story for the first time about their experienc as gay Republins an admistratn that was perhaps the last of the era when stutnalized discrimatn agast gays and lbians was still legal, if creasgly owned upon. At the time, seemed to be great polics for Bh: Comg out agast gay marriage, as Rove bragged his 2010 book, Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative the Fight, “benefed my ndidate” and “helped reelect him” 2004. But sce a Supreme Court cisn last year, 19 stat and the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage, jt the oute that Bh and his team fought to prevent, and a clear majory of Amerins—a rerd high of 55 percent this year—now tell pollsters they support this right.

GAY MARRIAGE

In retirement Texas, Bh himself has remaed largely silent about this polil sea change—even as his wife, Lra, exprsed support for same-sex marriage a televisn terview, his dghter Barbara taped a vio  support of legalizg gay marriage New York and even his father, the first Print Bh, served as a wns at a same-sex marriage. For some of his gay ais, was a stggle to rencile the cency they ually saw up close wh the equent remrs, both large and small, that theirs was a party very publicly mted to the view that they were not entled to the same legal protectns as other Amerins. But for all his public regrets, there rema many gay Republins who rent Mehlman’s failure, as the hight-rankg gay person the Bh Whe Hoe, to speak out at the time he uld have ma a difference.

GEE W. BH ON WHY HE WON'T DISCS GAY MARRIAGE: 'I'M OUT OF POLICS'

Bh started out as perhaps the most gay-iendly Republin print ever, an astonishg fact when you nsir that, his first year office, 71 percent of Republins thought homosexual behavr was morally wrong, acrdg to Gallup. ” The party’s platform that year might have talked about the sancty of tradnal marriage as a foundatn of Amerin mocracy, but this was nohels a print who, a few months before nailg down his party’s nomatn 2000, met At wh a dozen gay Republin lears, proclaimg afterward, “I am a better person for the meetg.

” Berkowz says that when he was “outed” by blogger Michael Rogers, whose mpaign to publicize what he saw as the hypocrisy of gay Republin operativ was chronicled the 2009 documentary Outrage, Bh staffers flocked to show their support. Although former staffers say they never believed Bh personally had anythg agast gay people, many still experienced episos of gnive dissonance, pecially when the print went to mpaign mo—and all of sudn started phg for the nstutnal amendment banng gay marriage.

THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE; URGED BY RIGHT, BH TAK ON GAY MARRIAG

So a flier was drafted that clud an image of one man kneelg to propose to another and verbiage to the effect that if nservative voters didn’t turn out, gay marriage would be “allowed” while the Bible would be “banned.

The nventnal wisdom among Bh’s crics, and even some supporters, is that the print phed the nstutnal amendment to ban gay marriage ls om eply held prciple than as part of Karl Rove’s strategy to rile up the Republin base at tim of polil weakns: Early the 2004 reelectn mpaign, when Bh was weighed down by the Iraq telligence disaster, and then June 2006, when ntrol of Congrs was slippg away the midterm electns.

Still, Rove sists, “Neher Bh nor I regret his stand on gay marriage, ” which he argu was an effort to block the “social revolutnary act” of overturng the time-honored fn of marriage. A few days after the 2012 printial mpaign, durg which Barack Obama beme the first print to publicly support gay marriage and Mt Romney held firm to his party’s opposn to , I received an email om Chris Edwards, who had e out while workg the Bh Whe Hoe.

PROMENT GAY REPUBLINS HELPED SMOOTH THE WAY FOR MARRIAGE BILL

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups. Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years.

In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch. Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs.

BH’S DGHTER, A BREAK, ENDORS GAY MARRIAGE

That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S. Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v.

Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire.

BH ON GAY RIGHTS ISSU

Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal. Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000.

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTTHE 2004 CAMPAIGN: SAME-SEX MARRIAGEJuly 12, 2004Two weeks before the Democratic nventn and unr prsure om nservativ, Print Bh is latg his support for a nstutnal amendment banng gay marriage, movg the issue to the foreont of the mpaign and unrsrg what his ais said was a cril difference between the print and Senator John Bh champned the amendment his rad addrs this weekend as fellow Republins the Senate said they would seek to force a vote on on Wednday. Bh to champn the ban and some Republins ncerned that the issue uld alienate uncid morate terviews, nservative lears said they had plaed to the Whe Hoe that the mpaign was blockg opponents of gay marriage om prime-time speakg slots at the Republin Natnal Conventn.

Bh's nservative base clearly supports the amendment, but polls have shown that while a majory of uncid voters oppose gay marriage, there is ltle enthiasm among them for amendg the Constutn to ban analysts suggted that might acunt for the tentativens wh which the Whe Hoe has approached this issue this year, as seeks to turn out the evangelil voters that advisers have scribed as cril to Mr.

GAYS AND LBIANS OWE THANKS TO PRINT GEE W. BH AND JTICE SLIA

Bh's advisers, discsg the print's remarks, said the print was seekg to e across as opposg gay marriage but not as Goeas, a Republin pollster, said there was a danger advotg the amendment ''if you are perceived as overreachg, '' but he said that Mr. ''I always got the sense that he felt like he was beg put the posn of havg to do this bee people were aggrsively tryg to ph gay marriage, and this was a last rort rather than a first choice, '' Mr.

11, 2022WASHINGTON — When the Senate passed landmark legislatn last month to mandate feral regnn for same-sex marriag, the vote was ld as a rare moment of bipartisanship at a time of ep polil polarizatn the the narrow aln of 12 Republins that joed every Democrat support of the measure — which cleared Congrs on Thursday wh fal passage the Hoe, sendg to Print Bin — did not sprg up spontaneoly a groundswell of cross-party the scen, a group of fluential Republin donors and operativ, cludg some of the party’s most proment gay lears wh long experience proddg their party to embrace L.

Senators that backg would give them a polil quiet work helps expla how a bill to ensure regnn of same-sex marriag across the untry went om beg the subject of an electn-season polil manver that few expected to be enacted to an iative embraced by a cisive majory of senators, and an unexpected victory for the gay rights movement that will be one of the fal acts of the Democratic-ntrolled Congrs. Bh’s mpaign manager 2004 and a former chairman of the Republin Natnal Commtee who me out as gay 2010, and Centerle Actn, a centrist nonprof fund by him and Regald Brown, a lawyer Mr.