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

Contents:

• REMEMBER WHEN HILLARY CLTON WAS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE?
• HILLARY CLTON'S GAY-MARRIAGE PROBLEM
• HILLARY CLTON’S GLOBAL LEGACY ON GAY RIGHTS
• TIMELE: BILL CLTON'S EVOLUTN ON GAY RIGHTS
• HILLARY CLTON SHOULD BE A GAY RIGHTS IN—SO WHY ISN’T SHE?
• HILLARY CLTON’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN
• HILLARY CLTON'S VIEWS EVOLVE ON GAY MARRIAGE, JT TIME FOR PRINTIAL MPAIGN
• HILLARY CLTON: DON'T TWIST MY POSN ON GAY MARRIAGE
• HILLARY CLTON HAD THE CHANCE TO MAKE GAY RIGHTS HISTORY. SHE REFED.

REMEMBER WHEN HILLARY CLTON WAS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE?

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.

HILLARY CLTON'S GAY-MARRIAGE PROBLEM

December 1999: Clton told a group of gay ntributors at a fundraiser that she was agast the "don't ask, don't tell" ary policy signed by her hband. But I also believe that people mted gay marriag, as they believe them to be, should be given rights unr the law that regnize and rpect their relatnship.

HILLARY CLTON’S GLOBAL LEGACY ON 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?

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.

TIMELE: BILL CLTON'S EVOLUTN ON GAY RIGHTS

Sce the passage of the Anti-Homosexualy Act, vlence agast gays and lbians has exponentially creased -- more than 750 percent om reported asslts 2013. Clton exprsed to Terry Gross her tratn wh lears who nied the existence of homosexualy their untri and clared "all an ventn and export om the Wt.

So ’s fair to say that Hillary Clton has had a longstandg opposn to gay marriage—eher that, or she was too aaid to speak tthfully about her nvictns for polil reasons, which is really jt as bad. 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. Most famoly, the Silin Valley left forced the oter of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich for a 2008 donatn he ma to an anti-gay-marriage ballot iative.

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

If she is to be believed, she also opposed gay marriage as recently as 2013, long after a majory of Amerins already held a more gay-iendly posn. 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? 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, however, a vol segment of the left that is vted likeng people who opposed gay marriage to racists who opposed terracial marriage. 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.

HILLARY CLTON’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN

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.

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

"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 ?

" The NPR host is seemgly unable to nceive of the fact than an inic Democrat like Clton uld have really, tly opposed gay equaly all those years. 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 .

HILLARY CLTON: DON'T TWIST MY POSN ON GAY MARRIAGE

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. So aga, acrdg to Clton, she did not favor gay marriage her heart prr to 2013 and reaed om sayg so bee Amerins weren't yet ready for that posn. 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 HAD THE CHANCE TO MAKE GAY RIGHTS HISTORY. SHE REFED.

The way ernments treat their LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr) cizens n tell much about their overall approach to human rights and mocracy.

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.