Former Gen. Wesley Clark, one of eight Democratic presidential candidates in
a ‘Rock the Vote’ debate on Tuesday, said he would ask armed service
leaders to reexamine openly gay soldiers and sailors. (File photo)
No vote in GOP-controlled Senate this session
Historic outcome preserves same-sex unions in Bay State
Gay mayoral candidate loses race in Dallas
Accused teens invoke ‘gay panic’ defense
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Gay
By BRIAN MOYLAN
Friday, November 07, 2003
BOSTON — Gay civil rights issues took a front
seat on Tuesday when eight of the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination
for president attended a town hall-style debate sponsored by Rock the Vote,
a group that strives to engage young Americans in the political process.
Aired live in CNN, the questions were posed by young voters both in the audience
and via e-mail. The program was moderated by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who
has in the past publicly acknowledged that he is gay.
Gay issues were raised early in the evening when former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean
defended his controversial plea to be the candidate for Southern whites who
have Confederate flags on their pickup trucks.
“I am tired of being divided by race in this country. I’m tired of being divided
by abortion, by gay rights,” he said.
“I understand that the Confederate flag is a loathsome symbol, just as I understood
that all the anti-gay slurs that I had to put up with in Vermont after I signed
the bill [legalizing civil unions] were loathsome symbols. If we don’t reach
out to every single American, we can’t win.”
The subject was raised again when an audience member asked retired Gen. Wesley
Clark about his comfort level with gay men and lesbians.
“I do have gay friends, and there are gays who serve in the United States
armed forces, and they do a very good job. … I think everybody deserves the
right to serve,” he responded.
However, he waffled on the issue of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy
toward gay service members, which was enacted during the Clinton administration.
“I don’t think [‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’] works everywhere,” he said. “I’ve
seen it work in some units, but I get a lot of reports where it doesn’t work. … Let
the armed forces leadership go back through it and give us a better policy
so that every American who desires to serve can.”
The candidates also took turns answering a question about what rights they
would bestow, as president, to gay men and lesbians looking to start a family.
“I am for partnership rights. I am for civil unions,” said Sen. John Kerry
(D-Mass.), who like all but three of the other candidates is on record opposing
legalized gay marriage.
“I am for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. I am for hate crimes legislation.
Because in America, we’re going to have a country where everybody has a right
to be who they are, period,” Kerry said.
Clark said he explains his on gay rights position by asking people to imagine
if they had a gay son or daughter and whether they would love them the same
and want them to have the same rights as every other American. He assumes most
people’s answer would be yes.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) went a step further than Kerry and said, “Gays,
lesbians, bisexual, transgender people under my administration would have full
participation, and they would also have the right to marry.”
Rev. Al Shapton and former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun have also backed
full marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Dean, who signed the first civil union bill in the nation, said he learned
more about gays after signing the bill.
“The single-most important act in helping gays and lesbians get the same rights
as everybody else is not my signing the civil unions bill, it’s people who
are gay and lesbian standing up and being proud of who they are and saying
so,” Dean said. “And that way, Americans get to understand them as human beings,
which is the process I went through and every heterosexual goes through.”
Moseley Braun, who served as an ambassador to two countries under President
Clinton, likened being gay to being black and female.
“At the end of the day, it really is about discrimination and allowing people
to contribute to the whole of the society based on what they have inside, what
the content of their character, the capacity of their intellect, the energy
that they have to bring to bear,” she said.
Sharpton and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) did not answer the question,
though Lieberman later went on record opposing the Bush administration’s support
for “abstinence only” sex education and HIV prevention.
Congressman Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), who has a lesbian daughter, skipped the
debate due in favor of a previous engagement in Iowa.
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