March 18th, 2013
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her support for gay marriage Monday, putting her in line with other potential Democratic presidential candidates on a social issue that is rapidly gaining public approval.
Clinton made the announcement in an online video released Monday morning by the gay rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign. She says in the six-minute video that gays and lesbians are “full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship.”
“That includes marriage,” she says, adding that she backs gay marriage both “personally and as a matter of policy and law.”
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Ryan
March 18th, 2013
More than a little late there, Mrs. Clinton. But oh well. Welcome. And let me be the first to congratulate you on your DNC Presidential nomination.
Josh
March 18th, 2013
More than a little late there Ryan, I doubt you’re her first congratulator ;)
MattNYC
March 19th, 2013
I was slightly critical of her change the other day–being late and doing it for political reasons–and my partner reminded me that while all the Democratic “politicians” had a chance to change over the past two years, she was Secretary of State and was precluded — by tradition — from taking a stance on a domestic policy matter.
I do think that’s a fair cop. Especially since she DID push very hard on promoting equality for LGBT people around the world using her position.
Robert
March 19th, 2013
MattNYC,
I think your partner got it right, and as Secretary of State she implemented (and I’d suggest, went further than expected) LGBT rights in the Federal Government. She extended a lot of rights, housing stuff and benefits as Obama began taking a more Equality minded position.
I also think it’s about time, but did understand that as Secretary of State she really couldn’t do as much political stuff as she could have as private citizen.
LAte to the formal party, but she has had action that supports her new public position on the matter.
Timothy Kincaid
March 19th, 2013
I don’t think that there was anything about her position that explicitly or implicitly prohibited Hillary Clinton from expressing her agreement with the domestic policy of the President and his administration or the constitutional interpretation of the Attorney General.
There may have been foreign positioning concerns, but as the world’s interpretation was that President Obama supports marriage equality, I think that the international community placed little distinction on the fact that Secretary Clinton had not made such a declaration.
Her decision to not announce her support prior to this time may have been motivated by a host of reasons. But I very much doubt that any sense of traditional preclusion for agreeing with the administration was one of them.
Robert
March 19th, 2013
Timothy-
It’s been historicly the norm for Secretary of States to refrain from any political activity while in that office. She didn’t opin on much of anything other than the issues directly in front of her during her tenure. She implemented and expanded on the policies of the President in regards to LGBT rights, in her official capacity, but she didn’t speak out about those issues in a domestic setting.
I believe the only real mention she made was in regards to the Uganda kill the bills legislation.
I also do not recall any Secretary of State in my lifetime engaging in political activity outside their job, while in office.
Her entire political carrer as Senator and as Secretary of State has been very by the book, theres nothing to suggest she would not stand on the historic standards of the Office.
Neon Genesis
March 23rd, 2013
Hillary Clinton’s history on gay rights seems to be similar to Obama’s. She supported civil unions while opposing gay marriage but she supported gay rights on just about every other issue. She also opposed a federal amendment to the constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman and supported the repeal of DADT. She seems to have followed in Obama’s footsteps in “evolving” on gay marriage though I suspect her previous opposition to civil unions was out of political pragmatism rather than some tradition about the Secretary of State not speaking out on political issues. But I’m curious if she still believes marriage should be left up to the states or if she believes it should be handled at a federal level?
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