Sen. Harry Reid's Gay Rights, Immigratn Boomerang? : It's All Polics : NPR

Contents:

• HARRY REID SAYS HE SUPPORTS GAY MARRIAGE
• REID CHANG STANCE, BACKS GAY MARRIAGE
• EASTENRS GAY KISS: HARRY REID 'UPSET' AT HOMOPHOBIC REACTN TO BEN MCHELL AND PL COKER SCENE
• SEN. HARRY REID'S GAY RIGHTS, IMMIGRATN BOOMERANG?
• HARRY REID SAYS HIS NIECE IS GAY, RAISG HOP FOR ENDA
• SEN. HARRY REID'S GAY RIGHTS, IMMIGRATN BOOMERANG?

HARRY REID SAYS HE SUPPORTS GAY MARRIAGE

When Republins blocked a vote on Obama’s feral judicial nome, cludg an openly gay nomee, Reid simply forced the vote.

The srerd rat members of Congrs on their posns on LGBT-related Human Rights Campaign is Ameri’s largt civil rights anizatn workg to achieve lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr equaly. Amid the crowd of some 1, 400 people gathered at the California Science Center was a handful of activists om a recently formed pro-LGBT direct actn group lled group’s members were trated wh the Whe Hoe’s foot-draggg on gay issu, particularly after the many promis Obama had ma to LGBT Amerins on the mpaign trail 2008.

Repealg the ary’s ban on openly lbian and gay service members, a 17-year-old law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell, ” was foremost on their mds.

REID CHANG STANCE, BACKS GAY MARRIAGE

Obama, flummoxed, stepped away om the podium and out of ame om the meras entirely to privately ask Boxer how she had voted on the gay ban the early ’90s. Natnal Democrats need gay support both at the ballot box and to le their fundraisg ffers, but they had also grown wary of hot-button LGBT issu that had given Republins a divisive cudgel to wield the last several electn cycl.

For that reason, natnal Democrats had veloped a hab of urtg gay voters durg electn season while liverg next to nothg for them once the vot were unted.

EASTENRS GAY KISS: HARRY REID 'UPSET' AT HOMOPHOBIC REACTN TO BEN MCHELL AND PL COKER SCENE

But wh the benef of hdsight, ’s difficult to image the high urt liverg that cisn whout at least some monstratn of pro-gay polil will servg as a down payment on those eedoms.

From Bill Clton’s ial handlg of the ary’s gay ban to John Kerry’s bungled handlg of the 2004 state gay marriage bans and his subsequent loss the printial race, Democrats perceived polil battl over gay rights as stg them a lot wh ltle to no payoff.

Not long after Obama’s guratn, the Whe Hoe announced planned to work wh the ary to study the issue of repealg “don’t ask, don’t tell, ” which purportedly allowed gays to serve as long as they hid their sexualy. Whatever might happen on the gay ban, wasn’t gog to happen quickly and probably not for a year or even more.

SEN. HARRY REID'S GAY RIGHTS, IMMIGRATN BOOMERANG?

In fact, the issue had been studied repeatedly over the last several s wh the bulk of the rearch potg to one ncln: Allowg openly gay service members would not signifintly harm ary reads and un hn and might even improve expected, the Obama admistratn’s movement on repeal languished 2009 followg the Whe Hoe’s stated tent to study the issue.

”But what the Whe Hoe, Democratic lawmakers and even gay Beltway advot never unted on was havg rage om the streets arrive at Washgton’s doorstep after California voters passed Proposn 8, which halted gay marriag the state by amendg the California Constutn. Several tim that year, lbian, gay and transgenr veterans handcuffed themselv to the fence surroundg the Whe Hoe, g the spectacle to alert the ubiquo Whe Hoe prs rps and the natn that a key Democratic nstuency was losg patience wh Dan Choi (center) and others handcuff themselv to the fence outsi the Whe Hoe on Nov.

HARRY REID SAYS HIS NIECE IS GAY, RAISG HOP FOR ENDA

In fact, Gat would also wre his memoir that repealg the gay ban was “the only ary matter” on which he “ever sensed ep passn” om Obama. Gat sudnly unrstood: If Congrs didn’t repeal the gay ban legislatively, the urts were gog to overturn , and likely sooner rather than later. “Gat sudnly unrstood: If Congrs didn’t repeal the gay ban legislatively, the urts were gog to overturn , and likely sooner rather than later.

Her g out had jt the kd of polil effect pneerg gay rights activist Harvey Milk had promised would s ago. Advot had managed to build enough support for endg the gay ban to pass repeal on s own mers and yet the Whe Hoe seemed ntent to let the clock n out and Republins take ntrol of the Hoe.

SEN. HARRY REID'S GAY RIGHTS, IMMIGRATN BOOMERANG?

Top Whe Hoe adviser David Axelrod would later wre his memoir, “Believer: My Forty Years Polics, ” that Obama had gotten nearly everythg “on his list” durg the lame-duck ssn, cludg START, among other bills, and “to our d surprise and great relief, ” the repeal of the ary’s gay to the 111th Congrs, not a sgle piece of major pro-LGBT legislatn had ever been enacted. After , the words “lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr” had been entered to the U.

Co for the very first time wh the expansn of the hate crim law and explic ernment-sanctned discrimatn of lbians and gays riskg their liv to protect Ameri’s eedoms would e to an, no, people didn’t march the streets followg the mise of “don’t ask, don’t tell, ” as the Rahm Emanuels of Washgton had feared. In that rpect, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal — which had stck fear the hearts of many Democrats — marked a profound change momentum on gay and transgenr issu Washgton.

As one Whe Hoe ai would later observe, every new w on gay issu jt got easier and easier. In September, Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young ma news when he urged tolerance and acceptance of the LGBT muny at a nference for gay acrdg to The New York Tim, Hatch cid to support ENDA part through nversatns wh former Sen. Washgton • Senate Majory Lear Harry Reid says gay Amerins should be able to get married, a new posn that shows Print Barack Obama isn't the only polician whose views are evolvg.