The Tale of the Tape: Hillary Clton's Gay Marriage Evolutn | WNYC | New York Public Rad, Podsts, Live Streamg Rad, News

Contents:

• REMEMBER WHEN HILLARY CLTON WAS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE?
• HILLARY CLTON'S GAY-MARRIAGE PROBLEM
• CLTON’S LEGACY ON GAY RIGHTS
• HILLARY CLTON’S CLAIM THAT DOMA HAD TO BE ENACTED TO STOP AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTUTN
• HILLARY CLTON CLAR 'GAY RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS'
• HILLARY CLTON’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN

REMEMBER WHEN HILLARY CLTON WAS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE?

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.

* 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'S GAY-MARRIAGE PROBLEM

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.

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.

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. 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.

CLTON’S LEGACY ON GAY RIGHTS

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? It is fair to say that whout Clton’s efforts, the global stggle for equaly for gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people would not have proceed as fast as has the past several years, nor would the Uned Stat be seen today as a global lear that stggle. At the heart of the efforts was the 2011 Uned Natns Human Rights Council Rolutn on Sexual Orientatn and Genr Inty, otherwise known as the UNHRC Gay Rights Rolutn, an ternatnal agreement whose draftg and signg Clton oversaw.

Wh that document, and a sister UNHRC rolutn of 2014 nmng anti-LGBT vlence and discrimatn, the UN has formally regnized gay rights as part of the ternatnal human rights Clton’s thorny history wh the LGBT muny, her role as a global gay rights csar is surprisg and richly ironic.

Mike Blake / Rters A RADICAL MAKEOVERClton’s gay rights csa began wh the State Department, which she transformed to one of the most—if not the most—gay-iendly burecraci Washgton, both terms of s polici and s admistratn.

HILLARY CLTON’S CLAIM THAT DOMA HAD TO BE ENACTED TO STOP AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTUTN

As print, Bh endorsed an amendment to the feral nstutn banng same-sex marriage, and his polil managers ed same-sex marriage as a wedge issue durg his reelectn mpaign 2004 wh the tentn of mobilizg so-lled valu voters swg stat like she arrived at Foggy Bottom, Clton extend a host of benefs to LGBT employe, cludg fay leave and diplomatic passports and medil verage for gay employe’ partners and their children. The steps paved the way for a big ph Obama’s send term to diversify the Uned Stat’ foreign service, cludg the appotment of six openly gay ambassadors to untri as diverse as Vietnam, Spa, and Denmark, and the creatn of the post of gay czar to oversee ternatnal LGBT policy wh the State GAY RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTSBrgg the world muny around to the 2011 rolutn assertg the human rights of LGBT people was an uphill stggle. That same year, Rsia enacted an anti-gay propaganda law that for all tents and purpos crimaliz homosexual behavr by banng gay symbols, gay pri paras, and even an acknowledgement of one’s homosexualy unls ma a negative light.

In 2008, the Bh admistratn blocked by allyg wh Rsia, most of Ai, and the Arab world argug that the rolutn would impge on the abily of dividual stat to enact whatever polici they em appropriate regardg homosexualy. Policy to promote the rights of LGBT people everywhere, cludg by speakg out about LGBT rights, nontg lol polici and practic that harm the gay muny, and promotg transnatnal ti among gay rights activists.

Sce s ceptn wh the Bure of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor December 2011, the Global Equaly Fund has spent more than $20 ln on a wi range of activi, cludg enhancg the pacy that gay rights anizatns to monor the human rights vlatns of LGBT people, tnal mpaigns to fight homophobia, and HIV/AIDS preventn programs, makg one of the most important players ternatnal LGBT activism. A man rri a sign supportg both the Orlando shootg victims and Democratic printial ndidate Hillary Clton at the 46th annual Los Angel Gay Pri Para Wt Hollywood, California, followg the shootg at a gay nightclub Orlando, Florida U.

HILLARY CLTON CLAR 'GAY RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS'

As First Lady of the Uned Stat, om 1992 to 2000, Clton supported many of her hband’s polici that are today nsired unhelpful at bt by LGBT Amerins and downright homophobic at worst. Two polici stand out: the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, legislatn that barred the feral ernment om regnizg same-sex marriag; and “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT), the promise that allowed gays to serve the ary as long as they kept their homosexualy a secret.

Durg her 2000 Senate n om her adopted state of New York, and aga 2008, durg her first n for the Whe Hoe, she opposed same-sex marriage wh arguments typil of fo of the gay muny, such as the Natnal Organizatn for Marriage.

In a vio announcement for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights anizatn, she noted that she supported same-sex marriage bee “Ameri is bt when we champn the eedom and digny of every human beg. Former Print Bill Clton had done so (along wh issug an apology to the gay muny for DOMA), as had Obama, Vice Print Joe Bin, and New York Governor Mar Cuomo, who signed New York’s same-sex marriage law 2010. There is no reference to sexual orientatn the 1948 Universal Declaratn of Human Rights, and for s human rights anizatns have kept the gay rights movement at arm’s length, fearg that an associatn wh homosexualy would be trimental to their e, a e tradnally foced on fightg polil, not sexual, opprsn.

HILLARY CLTON’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN

It is tellg that Amnty Internatnal began to foc on the plight of gay people only 1995, when published Breakg the Silence, an overview of anti-gay vlence around the the onslght of cricism leveled at Clton’s gay rights csa suggts that the issue of gay rights diplomacy is far om settled. On the right, Clton has been acced of promotg what the nservative thk tank the Fay Rearch Council lled the “radil iology of the sexual revolutn”; of alienatg alli Ai and the Mlim world and drivg them to the eager arms of the Che, who place no mands whatsoever on gay rights; of puttg human rights ahead of natnal secury; and of obssg over gay rights while ignorg what some nsir more prsg moral issu, such the persecutn of Christians across the Middle East. Purportedly tend “to protect the tradnal fay om ternal and external threats, ” Uganda’s Anti-Homosexualy Act sought to expand the crimalizatn of homosexualy by grantg lifetime prison sentenc to those nvicted of “the offense of homosexualy” and by makg “aggravated homosexualy” a crime worthy of the ath penalty.