Hillary Clton's views evolve on gay marriage, jt time for printial mpaign | Hillary Clton | The Guardian

Contents:

• HAVE THE CLTONS AND GAY ACTIVISTS MA UP?
• GAY MARRIAGE
• BILL CLTON SAYS ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW HE SIGNED SHOULD BE OVERTURNED
• HILLARY CLTON HAD THE CHANCE TO MAKE GAY RIGHTS HISTORY. SHE REFED.
• HILLARY CLTON’S CLAIM THAT DOMA HAD TO BE ENACTED TO STOP AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTUTN
• HILLARY CLTON'S VIEWS EVOLVE ON GAY MARRIAGE, JT TIME FOR PRINTIAL MPAIGN
• BILL CLTON WARNED ABOUT HILLARY’S ‘DISFORT’ WH GAY RIGHTS DURG 2000 SENATE RACE

HAVE THE CLTONS AND GAY ACTIVISTS MA UP?

Andrew Cuomo has said that legalizg gay marriage is a prry for his admistratn, though the current Republin majory the state Senate is largely opposed to , along wh some nservative Democrats. On May 23, 1996, as DOMA began s rapid journey through Congrs, the New York Tim reported:Gee Stephanopoulos, a senr Printial adviser who has overseen the issue, said: “It’s wrong for people to e this issue to monize gays and lbians and ’s pretty clear that that was the tent tryg to create a buzz on this issue. My advice to the people who arranged for the thgs was to get done and out of the way as quickly as possible; he signed late at night one eveng after returng om a day-long mpaign Defense of Marriage Act beme law, and Print Clton was reëlected, aga wh overwhelmg support om gay Amerins.

GAY MARRIAGE

In fact, many believe that was the Bh mpaign’s very strategic placement of anti-gay-marriage state nstutnal ballot iativ throughout morate and nservative leang stat (like Oh) which brought out nservative Bh voters and rried the day for him that electn. A DOMA veto would likely have been overridn anyway, and so even if Print Clton had been reëlected, we would still have had the Defense of Marriage his reëlectn, Print Clton beme nsirably bolr on gay-rights issu. Lee tried and failed to attach chang to the bill that he said would more strongly protect relig Colls phed back, notg that the bill had received strong backg om fah-based groups, cludg the Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats, which historilly has aggrsively opposed gay rights.

The rerds released by the Natnal Archiv at the Clton Library here Thursday monstrate that Hillary Clton’s staff took a progrsive stand on other gay-rights issu and helped ph to torpedo anti-gay-rights legislatn. The fil show several of her staffers lobbied actively on behalf of the gay muny durg her hband Bill’s Whe Hoe tenure, while printial ais bated how to posn him on key issu given his personal opposn to same-sex unns.

BILL CLTON SAYS ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW HE SIGNED SHOULD BE OVERTURNED

Most natnal-level Democratic policians now fully embrace gay marriage rights, and the Supreme Court is set to hear a se later this month that uld guarantee regnn of same-sex marriag natnwi.

But back 1996, Bill Clton’s ais wrtled at length over the issue before he signed DOMA, the law banng gay upl om receivg feral benefs and clarg that stat did not have to regnize same-sex marriag om other stat. The rerds show the legislatn ed polil heartburn for the Clton Whe Hoe, which was ught between the print’s stated opposn to same-sex marriage and a sire to keep his gay and lbian supporters enthiastic about his unfoldg re-electn mpaign. The talkg pots — sent to the Oval Office for clearance rponse to a requt om a gay magaze, The Advote — note that Clton “has prevly said that he do not personally support same-sex marriag.

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

However, one prevly-undisclosed memo put out by the library on Thursday shows that two Whe Hoe ais who served as liaisons to the gay and lbian muny, Deputy Director of Printial Personnel Marsha Stt and domtic policy ai Richard Soris, urged Clton to publicly oppose the GOP bill. “We have been extremely succsful rebuildg our relatnships to our iends the gay and lbian muni spe the fias of gays the ary, the disjoted handlg of the Colorado se [at the Supreme Court over an anti-gay-rights measure], and the Print’s stated personal opposn to gay marriage, ” Stt and Soris wrote a May 1996 memo addrsed to Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ick.

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

“Given your stated and longstandg opposn to gay marriage, we believe there would not be a substantive basis for you not to sign the proposed legislatn if were to be adopted by Congrs, ” Whe Hoe Counsel Jack Qun, Communitns Adviser Gee Stephanopoulo and Stt sent to Clton May 1996. “The Print has long opposed gay marriage based on his belief that the stutn of marriage should be rerved for unns between one man and one woman, ” says a statement bearg Clton’s check mark and a “THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN” stamp.

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

The pots go on to say that Clton strongly oppos “unfair discrimatn… he do not believe that the feral ernment should promote gay marriag [and] do not believe is appropriate for feral rourc to be voted to providg spoal benefs to partners gay and lbian relatnships. The documents also show that senr printial ais ma a seri of nfg and ntradictory statements about gay marriage as the issue tensified late 1995 and early 1996, wh brewg legal fights and a Republin plan to prs for passage of DOMA.

BILL CLTON WARNED ABOUT HILLARY’S ‘DISFORT’ WH GAY RIGHTS DURG 2000 SENATE RACE

Some the Whe Hoe also flagged ments by Stt, who told a gay dience early 1996 that the admistratn was lookg “for ways to ensure that those of you lovg, long-term and mted relatnships n enjoy all the same benefs that [heterosexual upl] are entled to unr the law.