Gay Marriage - DOMA, 14th Amendment & Supreme Court | HISTORY

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.

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. 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.

GAY MARRIAGE

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. 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.

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

“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.

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.

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

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. 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.

As public support for gay marriage has evolved, Clton has st his signg of DOMA as a kd of fensive measure taken the face of overwhelmg opposn to same-sex marriage Congrs and the likelihood of an overri or even a nstutnal amendment if he vetoed the legislatn. However, among gay activists, the episo has long ntributed to an ambivalence about Clton, who took historic steps as print on behalf of the gay muny but sometim seemed to be triangulatg on the issue. And I cid I was our society has an tert herence and strength and mment and mutually rercg loyalti, then if gay upl want to ll their unn marriage and a state agre, and several have now, or a relig body will sanctn , and I don't thk a state should be able to stop a relig body om sayg , I don't thk the rt of should get the way of .

March 20, 2013— -- For the Cltons, 's been a big month gay the Supreme Court set to take up gay marriage, former secretary of State Hillary Clton offered her public support for gay marriage for the first time a six-mute YouTube vio posted by Human Rights Campaign, the most tablished gay-rights polil group the U. "Bill Clton publicly endorsed gay marriage a 2009 terview wh Anrson Cooper, but a rift wh some the gay polil muny has been slow to heal, as proment advot still remember him as the print who banned gay marriage unr feral law.

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

Elizabeth Birch, who head Human Rights Campaign when Clton signed Doma, wrote that she didn't feel grateful for his reversal bee the law was always while anger at Bill Clton has simmered or fizzled, Hillary Clton do not appear to be sufferg the ill effects of her hband's troubled relatnship wh gay activists. "As a secretary she took very strong posns and was a strong advote and spoke all over the world, and I actually thk that people see her as her own person, " Lambda Legal Executive Director Kev Cathrt told ABC News, referencg Clton's work to promote gay rights ternatnally as Secretary of State. He matas Hillary Clton has rved out her own polil inty on gay-rights issu and that Bill Clton's signg of DOMA is not an issue for gay activists, donors, or voters when to Hillary Clton's polil future.

Rob Portman, who announced his opn has changed after experienc wh his gay acrdg to Cathrt and Soris, gay-rights supporters unrstand that Clton rtraed herself om mentg on gay marriage while servg as secretary of State. Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years. In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

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

Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs. That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S. Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v.

Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire.

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

Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal. Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000.

State then regnized gay marriage, although some were movg that directn, he feral lawmakers then batg var rpons, “some que dranian, ” many supporters of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, believed s passage would fe mov to ph for a nstutnal amendment banng same-sex marriage, Clton that the Supreme Court will hear arguments on March 27 challengg the nstutnaly of DOMA, Clton wrote the jtic “mt ci whether is nsistent wh the prcipl of a natn that honors eedom, equaly and jtice above all, and is therefore nstutnal. Durg her first n for print 2008, Hillary Clton had an opportuny to bee an undisputed lear the gay rights she prepared for a fom on the gay-oriented Logo work, she reached out to her iend Hilary Rosen, a polil nsultant who is a lbian. Clton and her hband, Bill, had stood out as beg among the first to actively urt the gay muny as an tert group and donor base — and yet they were unwillg to stand wh the muny on one of s biggt civil rights issu.

The muny had a straed relatnship wh the prev Democratic nomee, Michael Dakis, whom activists heckled at a mpaign event when he said he didn’t see the need to issue an orr banng discrimatn agast gays the feral Clton sought to clu the muny as a part of his aln. “I have a visn and you’re a part of , ” Bill Clton told the crowd, relled Richard Soris, who advised the Clton Whe Hoe on lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr spoke about creasg fundg for AIDS rearch and endg discrimatn agast gay men and lbians. The rult was the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which allowed gay men and women to serve the ary as long as they were not open about their sexual who spoke to Hillary Clton at the time said she enuraged her hband to fd more support Congrs to avoid the promise.