Hillary Clton had the chance to make gay rights history. She refed. - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• HILLARY CLTON’S GLOBAL LEGACY ON GAY RIGHTS
• HILLARY CLTON CLAR 'GAY RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS'
• HILLARY CLTON’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN
• HILLARY CLTON'S GAY-MARRIAGE PROBLEM
• STATEMENT OM HILLARY CLTON ON GAY & LBIAN PRI MONTH
• HILLARY CLTON'S VIEWS EVOLVE ON GAY MARRIAGE, JT TIME FOR PRINTIAL MPAIGN
• REMEMBER WHEN HILLARY CLTON WAS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE?
• HILLARY CLTON HAD THE CHANCE TO MAKE GAY RIGHTS HISTORY. SHE REFED.
• HILLARY CLTON SHOULD BE A GAY RIGHTS IN—SO WHY ISN’T SHE?

HILLARY CLTON’S GLOBAL LEGACY ON GAY RIGHTS

As secretary of state, Hillary advanced LGBT rights abroad and enforced stronger anti-discrimatn regulatns wh the State Department, clarg on the global stage that “gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights. October 2006: Clton told a group of gay elected officials that she would support same-sex marriage New York if a future ernor and Legislature chose to enact such a law. Augt 2007: In a Democratic primary bate sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign and LOGO Network (a gay-oriented TV statn) Clton was asked "What is at the heart of your opposn to same-sex marriage?

Pence was cril of the Obama admistratn's directive on transgenr bathroom accs and supported Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the policy that prohibed soldiers om openly intifyg as gay until was end 2011. Clton said, "This morng, they all cried the Supreme Court's lg upholdg marriage equaly—we even heard them ll for a nstutnal amendment to strip away the right to equaly om our gay brothers and sisters.

As Hillary Clton mak a whirlwd round of appearanc her last days as secretary of state, one groundbreakg aspect of her work serv a moment the spotlight: In a bold parture wh tradn, Clton ma the promotn of equaly for gay people a re value of U.

HILLARY CLTON CLAR 'GAY RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS'

That, however, is not how Clton explaed 14 months ago, when she stood before the Human Rights Council Geneva, ont of an dience filled wh reprentativ om Arab and Ain untri, om plac where homosexualy is a crime, even one punishable by ath, and clared that gay rights and human rights “are one and the same. ” But by proclaimg, whout veat or qualifitn, the Amerin stance on the issue, she sent a signal to the rt of the world that, while equaly for gay people is far om reached, the rightns of the goal is beyond bate, much like is wh equal rights for women or for racial mori. Valu, mt speak up for the rights of dividuals experiencg persecutn on the basis of their sexual orientatn, as when a uple were sentenced Cameroon for “lookg” gay.

HILLARY CLTON’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN

Clton also noted that “beg gay is not a Wtern ventn; is a human realy, ” and noted natns that have enacted protectns for their gay cizens, cludg South Ai, Colombia and Argenta. It was a rebe to that tragiic moment 2007, when Iranian Print Mahmoud Ahmadejad told an dience New York, “In Iran, we do not have homosexuals like you do your untry, ” promptg an explosn of lghter om the crowd.

Media ptn, Hillary Clton: "Beg gay is not a wtern ventn, is a human realy"The US has publicly clared will fight discrimatn agast gays and lbians abroad by g foreign aid and diplomacy to enurage reform. "It should never be a crime to be gay, " Mrs Clton said at the Uned Natns Geneva, addg that a untry's cultural or relig tradns was no exce for discrimatn. Her dience clud reprentativ om untri where homosexualy is a crimal ambassadors shed out of the room as soon as Mrs Clton fished speakg, the Associated Prs news agency October, UK Prime Mister David Cameron's suggtn that aid uld be cut to untri that did not regnise gay rights was nmned by several Ain untri where homosexual acts are banned, cludg Ghana, Uganda and week Nigeria beme the latt Ain untry attemptg to tighten homosexualy laws, wh the Senate passg a bill banng same-sex marriag.

'Human realy'The announcement, scribed by the Whe Hoe as the "first US ernment strategy to bat human rights ab agast gays and lbians abroad", is also beg seen as part of the Obama admistratn's outreach to gays and lbians ahead of the 2012 official memorandum do not outle nsequenc for untri wh poor rerds on gay rights.

HILLARY CLTON'S GAY-MARRIAGE PROBLEM

"Corrponnts say the new policy uld pose awkward qutns for US officials formulatg policy towards some regular alli and regnal 2011, the state partment's annual human rights report ced ab agast gay people Sdi Arabia, an ally of the US that bans homosexualy outright. Afghanistan also prohibs homosexual activy, and the same report found that thori "sporadilly" enforced the the US, Republin printial ndidat cricised the admistratn's cisn, wh Texas Governor Rick Perry sayg a statement that "promotg special rights for gays foreign untri is not Ameri's terts and not worth a dime of taxpayers' money". Earlier this year Print Barack Obama signed to law a bill repealg the "don't ask don't tell" law and allowg homosexuals to serve openly the US on this storyRelated Inter LksThe BBC is not rponsible for the ntent of external s.

STATEMENT OM HILLARY CLTON ON GAY & LBIAN PRI MONTH

On the ternatnal stage, however, and keepg wh the tle of her memoir, Hard Choic, Clton boldly asserted Geneva 2011: "Gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights. But there are others who clare that homosexualy is an afont to civilizatn, that children mt be protected om s perceived rptive force and that homosexualy should be a punishable, crimal offense. In Rsia, Print Vladmir Put passed the anti-gay propaganda law a year ago this month, makg a crime to publicly support gay rights or acknowledge same-sex relatnships to a mor.

In Uganda, Print Yoweri Mevi passed the far worse Anti-Homosexualy Act Febary of this year, makg homosexualy such an egreg crime (mandg life imprisonment some s) that anyone found "aidg and abettg" a homosexual (as rentg them an apartment), knowgly performg a same-sex marriage or not reportg a gay person to the thori is mtg a crime as well. When she was Secretary of State, Clton heard foreign lears exprs beliefs that children were beg "erced" to homosexualy and "they didn't want children beg abed. “You lerally brought tears to my ey when you said gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights, ” said a stylish man whe jeans who greeted the former first lady wh his partner ’s a sentiment often exprsed as gay voters mull what Mrs.

HILLARY CLTON'S VIEWS EVOLVE ON GAY MARRIAGE, JT TIME FOR PRINTIAL MPAIGN

In her four years at the State Department, she prrized ternatnal gay rights, cludg a 2011 speech Geneva which she urged untri to accept gays and lbians. Clton so long to get on ’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 measure Print Clton signed to law that barred feral regnn of same-sex marriag, are wily viewed as among the most signifint setbacks the gay rights movement has enuntered. Clton, has signed up tens of thoands of supporters and sold “Out and Ready for Hillary” rabow T-shirts at booths at 28 gay pri ftivals and on llege mp natnwi.

While gay activists said there was still much work to be done on makg same-sex marriage legal all 50 stat, safeguardg agast workplace discrimatn and advancg transgenr issu, they were hopeful that by 2016 both parti’ nome would accept, if not wholeheartedly endorse, same-sex marriage. Next year, the Supreme Court is expected to ci the nstutnaly of the same-sex marriage bans that exist 31 year 1996 “is ancient history, ” said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic means Democrats n no longer rely on the built- support of gay voters. Freedom to Marry, a nonpartisan group, is workg to rec young Republins who support same-sex marriage to bee legat and help “get anti-gay language out of the platform 2016, ” said Evan Wolfson, s print.

REMEMBER WHEN HILLARY CLTON WAS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE?

Muny is, some rpects, very fivg, ” said Sarah Kate Ellis, print of Glaad, a nonprof anizatn (formerly known as the Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn) that do not endorse ndidat. Clton believed the 1990s, most activists terviewed said she had emerged as a forceful advote at the State Department, visg polici to help gays and lbians abroad and the Foreign Service. Hillary Clton didn't rea om supportg same-sex marriage for polil reasons—before last year, she earntly believed that marriage equaly should be nied to gays and lbians.

* The d tensn stemmed om persistent qutng as Clton obfted on an issue that uld damage her chanc a 2016 primary but is relatively unlikely to hurt her a ntt agast a Republin, given that her aln is so much stronger on gay rights than the opposn. Would the subset of Democrats who thought 2008 opposn to gay marriage should prevent a man om beg CEO 2013 really support the 2015 printial mpaign of a woman who openly opposed gay marriage until last year?

HILLARY CLTON HAD THE CHANCE TO MAKE GAY RIGHTS HISTORY. SHE REFED.

Dog so would seem to show nsistency, yet there's a strong argument to be ma that Clton's anti-gay-marriage past shouldn't drive cisns to support or oppose her. There is also rentment om gays who feel that the Cltons wronged them the Sullivan's perspective is stctive:She was the send most powerful person an admistratn a cril era for gay rights. Clton also left gay service-members the lurch, doublg the rate of their discharg om the ary, and signed DOMA, the high watermark of anti-gay legislatn Amerin history.

I was edor of TNR for five years of the Cltons, aggrsively wrg and publishg articl favor of marriage equaly and ary service, and saw the Cltons’ irratn wh and hostily to gay activists up close. Fally, there is wispread amnia among Democrats more broadly, who reflexively assume that Hillary Clton has of urse supported gay marriage her heart of hearts for years. "So what's like when you're office and you have to do all the polil lculatns to not be able to support somethg like gay marriage that you actually believe ?

HILLARY CLTON SHOULD BE A GAY RIGHTS IN—SO WHY ISN’T SHE?

In liberal circl, now seems impossible to have red eply about human rights, to have red about gay rights, and to have objected to gay marriage, even though that was the exact posn of almost all liberals very recently. Those who only joed the ph for gay marriage 2013 after spendg years fendg DOMA were, que obvly, "ls mted" to gay equaly than those who spent years or s urgg marriage equaly. GROSS: You know, I'm sayg, I'm sorry, I jt want to clarify what I was sayg, I was sayg that you maybe really believed this all along, you know, believed gay marriage all along, but felt for polil reasons Ameri wasn't ready yet and you uldn't say .

This was an credibly new and important ia that people on the ont l of the gay rights movement began to talk about and slowly but surely nvced others of the rightns of that posn. "As we celebrate Gay and Lbian Pri Month, I want to mend the LGBT muny on a historic year that brought our untry closer to equaly and closer to endg discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Amerins.