Sen. Hilary Clinton: "The best evidence of what I will do as president is what I have already done." - Chance Browning/Dallas Voice

In an interview with LGBT press, the former first lady defends her stance on gay marriage, promises to back LGBT community on ENDA, hate crimes, more

Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton this week pledged, if elected, to “work tirelessly to see that federal benefits are extended to same-sex couples that meet certain standards of commitment, regardless of the state in which they reside.”

Clinton, speaking during a conference call Wednesday, Feb. 27, with reporters from Dallas Voice and two other LGBT newspapers in Ohio, also took the opportunity to recount her past support for LGBT rights.

Sen. Barack Obama, the other Democratic contender for the White House, did not respond to repeated requests for an interview with Dallas Voice.

Clinton pointed out that she has been a “proud” sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the Matthew Shephard Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the Domestic Partnerships Benefits and Obligations Act, and that she authored the Early Treatment for HIV Act and fought to “fully fund” the Ryan White CARE Act.

“We have so much work to do, and when I am president, I will work with you to make sure that Americans in committed relationships have equal benefits, and that nothing stands in the way of those who want to adopt children in need,” Clinton said. “We’re going to expand federal hate crimes legislation and pass ENDA, and make sure that both are fully inclusive of all people. And finally, we will put an end to the failed policy of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’”

She also said she believes that the country’s attitude toward the LGBT community is changing.

“I have traveled our country now for more than a year, and what I have sensed in my heart has been confirmed,” she said. “America is embracing its LGBT sons and daughters with an acceptance and understanding as never before. …

“For seven long years, the Bush administration has tried to divide us. They have only seen the people who matter to them … And no community has been more invisible to this administration than the LGBT community, I will change that,” Clinton said. “The best evidence of what I will do as president is what I have already done.”


The marriage issue
Clinton acknowledged that civil union laws like the one enacted last year in New Jersey are flawed, and that they fall short of offering rights and benefits equal to those that come with marriage.

But the senator from New York insisted that “civil unions, if implemented well … are the best way to achieve that.”

When the New Jersey Legislature passed the law creating legal civil unions, they included a provision creating a commission to review the law’s effectiveness in extending benefits to same-sex couples equal to those offered through marriage.

That commission released its first report last week, declaring that civil unions do not work and do, in fact, create a kind of “second-class status” for same-sex couples.

Clinton said Wednesday that from what she understands about the report, “the biggest problem … is with federal benefits, which states really can’t do much about. And that’s why I want to change the law to extend federal benefits.”

The first step toward that goal, she said, would be for Congress to pass the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act. The bill, which Clinton has co-sponsored in the Senate, would extend the same benefits, including health insurance, to the domestic partners of federal employees.

“As some of you may know,” Clinton said, “after [the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001], I lobbied very hard to get the administration to extend federal benefits under the Victims Compensation Fund to the partners of those who had perished. That was the first time we were ever able to do that, and guess what the sky didn’t fall.

“I have been pushing that very hard, to extend all federal benefits, and I intend to make that a high priority,” she said.

Clinton has come under fire from LGBT activists for supporting repeal of only part of the Defense of Marriage Act, a measure signed into law by her husband, then-President Bill Clinton, in 1996, that allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions enacted in another state, and which prohibits the federal government from recognizing or extending benefits to same-sex couples. The senator has said she supports repeal of the second portion of the bill, but not the first part.

“My position really does reflect my experience in fighting the [federal marriage amendment banning same-sex marriage],” Clinton said, adding that the section of DOMA that enables states to make their own decisions on marriage helped defeat that amendment.

“I was able to use section one of DOMA to explain to senators that, as had been the tradition in America, that marriage would be up to the states. That was critical in defeating the amendment.”

But, Clinton added, “the heart of what we’re trying to achieve” could be accomplished by repealing the part of DOMA that prevents federal recognition of same-sex couples.

“I think my strategy in actually moving us to equal access to benefits and the rights being generally available is the one most likely to work,” she said. “I will say, as I have said many times, that marriage is left to the states. States get to determine the laws. I think that is … a historic and sensible approach for us to take. There does need to be a concerted and renewed effort to make sure that when states recognize the legality of same-sex marriage, that all benefits be extended. I believe that can be achieved.”

Although much of the roughly 15-minute-long interview was devoted to the issue of same-sex marriage, Sen. Clinton also spoke briefly about her plan to increase funding for HIV/AIDS services, and her intent to include LGBT people in all levels of her administration, if she is elected.


HIV/AIDS policies
Clinton described herself as “the sole voice trying to prevent the re-allocation of funding” under the Ryan White CARE Act, a move by the Republican-controlled Congress that requires most federal dollars to go directly to medical services, leaving many support services scrambling for money, and would have, in its original form, moved large sums of federal funds from established AIDS service organizations in larger urban areas to rural areas where the rates of infection have been rising.

“It was not because I didn’t believe that other communities didn’t deserve to have the funding to deal with HIV and AIDS, but because I didn’t want to undermine the work that has been built up for years, and that really is a model,” Clinton said. “So I advocated for expanding the funding for Ryan White, and that’s what I would try to do as president.”

Clinton said the Bush administration’s flat-funding of the Ryan White CARE Act is “deeply regrettable,” and that it makes it “impossible to expand coverage where we should. That’s one of the reasons I have been pushing very hard to open up Medicaid earlier to people diagnosed with HIV, so they can get the services they need.”

Clinton said she has also “been fighting against the narrow definition of services, because … what the Bush administration has tried to do is focus on medical services and we know that meals and transportation and other types of services are critical to sustaining people.

“This is a cause I feel very deeply about, and I am going to continue doing everything I can as a senator, and certainly as president, to try to change those priorities,” she said.

In a statement posted on her Web site, www.HillaryClinton.com, the senator pledged to develop a national AIDS strategy, to guarantee health insurance for people with HIV and AIDS, to doubling the U.S. contribution toward research to find a vaccine and increasing the country’s commitments to research.

She also pledges in the statement to increase funding for “evidence-based” AIDS prevention and end the Bush administration’s policy of funding only abstinence-based education and prevention efforts, to address high-risk behaviors and improve substance abuse treatment and address the rising infection rate among African-Americans and Latinos.

Clinton has said she would increase funding for AIDS globally to at least $50 billion by 2013.


LGBT staff and appointments
Clinton said on Wednesday that she “absolutely” would appoint LGBT people to positions within her administration if she wins the White House.

“I think I was the first campaign to have such an outreach position, and I am obviously always looking to do more, and include people in my campaign and then in my administration who will certainly make a contribution to the country and represent the diversity of our nation,” she said.

“I have been blessed with a very deep bench of people who have supported me and would be part of my administration at all levels,” she continued. “It’s very meaningful to me that [openly-gay U.S. Reps.] Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank are among my strongest supporters, because they understand exactly what my positions and my values are, and they know that the people supporting me from the LGBT community are leaders and would have positions of visibility and importance in my White House and my Cabinet and my administration.”


What if?
Clinton said Wednesday that even if she is not elected president, she will continue to be “a leader and an outspoken advocate” for LGBT rights.

“I am very proud of my long commitment to these issues, and I hope that I will be the president who can see a lot of them accomplished,” she said.

E-mail nash@dallasvoice.com



This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition February 29, 2008.