Gee H.W. Bh opposed gay marriage, until he was a wns to one | PkNews

Contents:

• GEE W. BH'S FOTTEN GAY-RIGHTS HISTORY
• GEE H.W. BH OPPOSED GAY MARRIAGE, UNTIL HE WAS A WNS TO ONE
• GEORGE BUSH: "I'M GAY"
• GEE H.W. BH: I HAVE 'MELLOWED' ON GAY MARRIAGE
• GEE H.W. BH ‘UNSUPPORTIVE’ ON GAY RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS
• GAY USA: GEE H. W. BH'S RERD ON LGBT & AIDS ISSU
• BH ON GAY RIGHTS ISSU
• GEE W. BH ON GAY RIGHTS
• BH BACKS BAN CONSTUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE

GEE W. BH'S FOTTEN GAY-RIGHTS HISTORY

" Bh had wad to the revalized same-sex marriage bate last week -- if only barely -- a ment to a reporter Zambia, who asked whether gay marriage nflicts wh Christian valu.

"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.

''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. The law required the Attorney General to llect data on crim mted bee of the victim’s race, relign, disabily, sexual orientatn, or ethnicy—but also specified that “the Amerin fay life is the foundatn of Amerin Society” and “nothg this Act shall be nsted, nor shall any funds appropriated to rry out the purpose of the Act be ed, to promote or enurage homosexualy.

GEE H.W. BH OPPOSED GAY MARRIAGE, UNTIL HE WAS A WNS TO ONE

While the issue of same-sex marriage was not a foc of LGBT+ activists at the time of Bh’s princy, The New York Tim reported that, gearg up for his 1988 mpaign, Bh said his d diary that Amerins “don’t want homosexual marriag dified. Challenged to the Republin nomatn by former Reagan munitns director Pat Buchanan, who had lled AIDS “nature’s revenge on gay men, ” Bh felt the prsure to adopt more nservative posns on civil rights, fendg so-lled “fay valu.

"Hoover thought many left-leang Amerins posed a threat to the natn, and he thought the same of gay people -- even though there's reason to believe Hoover was gay himself and a long-term relatnship wh ai Cly Tolson. "Many loyal Amerins, by reason of stabily, alholism, homosexualy, or prev tennci to associate wh Communist-ont groups, are untentnally secury risks, " Ike himself wrote, although he also admted feelg guilty over his treatment of Vannberg.

Civil Service Commissn lifted the orr 1975, and the Department of Defense, which had ed to ny secury clearanc to gays and lbians, gradually ceased s "tensive qutng of gays... JohnsonKennedy and Johnson may have never thought their civil rights law would be terpreted as protectg LGBT people, but Kennedy, at least, would probably approve -- his bt iend was a gay man, Lem Billgs. " Its Office of Civil Rights will therefore vtigate such claims, offerg a means of relief for transgenr and, to some extent, lbian, gay, and bisexual CarterCarter, who intifi as a "born-aga" Christian, is proof that ep relig fah need not go hand hand wh homophobia.

GEORGE BUSH: "I'M GAY"

In 1976, as a ndidate, he had ma clear he would sign a gay rights bill, and 1977, durg his princy, the first-ever gay and lbian legatn vised the Whe Hoe to discs policy issu wh admistratn officials.

He has famoly said, "I never knew of any word or actn of J Christ that discrimated agast anyone, " and has endorsed marriage ReaganReagan's greatt effect on the gay populatn was undoubtedly his rponse, or lack thereof, to a disease that took the liv of many gay men.

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

Although the former actor was apparently personally fortable wh gay people, he drew much of his support om the antigay relig right, such as Jerry Falwell and his so-lled Moral Majory, and officials his admistratn clud such notor homophob as Gary Ber and Pat Buchanan. Frank also said Bh refed to roll back ary’s ban on gay service members, which was admistrative and not statutory the days before the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law of 1993. Frank said Thomas — who dissented every major gay rights cisn, cludg the Obergefell cisn 2015 extendg marriage equaly natnwi — has been “totally negative.

In 1992, Buchanan livered a fiery speech at the Republin Natnal Conventn llg for a culture war, mockg Democratic printial ndidate Bill Clton for beg lled pro-gay by “a ant lear of the homosexual rights movement” and urgg followers to stand wh Bh on the “amoral ia that gay and lbian upl should have the same standg law as married men and women. The other pro-gay law was the Immigratn Act of 1990, which clud a repeal of the ban on “homosexuals or sex perverts, ” or LGBT people, om enterg the Uned Stat. “I was on the immigratn submtee and I had enough support om other Democrats to say that if they did not agree to clu the repeal of the anti-gay stuff, I uld feat the bill, ” Frank said.

What we were up agast were the really profound negative homophobic attus upled wh a right-wg that was…growg power that the people had got elected through, panrg to that right-wg. Bh’s legacy on LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS stands ntrast to that of his wife, former first lady Barbara Bh, who died earlier this year and was remembered for beg a gay ally who fought to dispel AIDS stigma. In 2004, Bh ma anti-gay posns a rnerstone of his re-electn mpaign, makg a Feral Marriage Amendment that would have barred same-sex marriage natnwi a central plank.

GEE H.W. BH ‘UNSUPPORTIVE’ ON GAY RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS

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.

GAY USA: GEE H. W. BH'S RERD ON LGBT & AIDS ISSU

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.

BH ON GAY RIGHTS ISSU

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. 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. Mehlman me out publicly 2010 and renounced his past work agast gay marriage; he went on to help the group that sponsored one of last year’s gay rights s the Supreme Court.

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 GAY RIGHTS

“He was the only one the room wh the print and Karl [Rove]” when strategi for stokg anti-gay marriage sentiment were oked up, a former RNC staffer told me. 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.

BH BACKS BAN CONSTUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE

And even when his own reelectn was on the le four years later, he went out of his way to endorse civil unns—though he omted the fact when mpaigng agast gay marriage.

“When you say, ‘I don’t re if you’re gay, ’ you’re basilly sayg, ‘I don’t re about somethg you are or the sence of who you are, ’” Bh was told, acrdg to Evertz.