I fully support Hamilton cast taking Pence to task over equality, but why didn’t any Broadway stars lecture Hillary and Obama when THEY were bigots?

• e-mail

I’ve no problem with the cast of Hamilton’s treatment of Mike Pence.

The Vice President-elect has vehemently opposed gay rights equality for his entire political career and fully deserved the words of advice he received, delivered by gay actor Brandon Dixon.

‘There’s nothing to boo here, we’re all sharing a story of love,’ Dixon said at the end of the performance on Friday night. ‘We welcome you and truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton: An American Musical – we really do. We are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values, and work on behalf of ALL of us. We truly thank you for sharing this show – this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men, women, of different colors, creeds and orientations.’

Mike Pence has vehemently opposed gay rights equality for his entire political career and fully deserved the words of advice he received from gay actor Brandon Dixon

President-elect Donald Trump was wrong to say this short, powerful speech was ‘very rude’, that the cast were guilty of ‘terrible behaviour’, and to demand an apology.

In fact, Dixon’s address could hardly have been more respectful or polite in its tone or delivery.

I don’t like actors banging on about politics, but I absolutely defend their right to do it.

Just as I also defend Trump’s right to say he found it thoroughly objectionable and to stick up for his mate.

And, for that matter, Trump’s right to tweet his opinions, however unpalatable at times – especially as those celebrity and media types who scream loudest at him about those opinions tend to be just as opinionated themselves.

That’s what freedom of speech actually means, folks – the freedom to speak, as protected by the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution.

Or the freedom to imitate people, as we saw from Gigi Hadid’s amusing impersonation of Melania Trump at the last night’s AMAs, which the PC police instantly and stupidly branded ‘racist’.

Pence must have expected some kind of reaction when he chose to attend Hamilton.

Pence must have expected some kind of reaction when he chose to attend Hamilton. The cast is packed with many gay actors and one is openly HIV-positive. They were hardly going to break out into applause at the sight of a man who’s spent his life discriminating against them

The cast is not just incredibly diverse, it is also packed with many gay actors, and its star, Javier Muñoz, is openly HIV-positive.

They were hardly going to break out into wild applause at the sight of a man who’s spent his entire life discriminating against them.

Particularly when you consider his precise record.

In 2000, Pence, while running for Congress, said: ‘Congress should oppose any effort to put gay and lesbian relationships on an equal legal status with heterosexual marriage.’

Pence further suggested that federal money being used to fund research HIV/AIDS should instead be diverted to ‘provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behaviour.’ This is the so-called ‘conversion therapy’ that seeks to change sexual preferences of gays and lesbians.

In 2006, he said that being gay was a choice and keeping gays from marrying was not discrimination but an enforcement of ‘God’s choice.’

In 2010, Pence opposed the (successful) repeal of former president Bill Clinton’s ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy aimed at protecting gays in the military, and a new law that ended the long-standing ban on openly-gay people serving their country.

In May this year, Pence opposed an Obama administration federal directive to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. He said it was a ‘state issue’.

So this guy is no friend of the gay community

To his credit though, Pence had no complaint at Dixon’s statement.

‘When we arrived we heard some boos and cheers, and I nudged my kids and reminded them, that’s what freedom sounds like,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t offended by what was said.’

Nor was I.

What I do have a problem with is the stinking hypocrisy of Broadway and those who work in it.

Why?

Well, let’s just go down memory lane and examine two other leading politicians’ history on the question of gay rights and equality, shall we?

In 1999, Hillary supported the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union of one man and a woman. In 2000, she confirmed: ‘I think marriage is as marriage has always been, between a man and a woman’

First, Hillary Clinton.

In 1999, Hillary supported the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union of one man and a woman. She also refused to support her own husband’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. In other words, she opposed gay marriage AND supported a ban on gays in the military.

In 2000, she confirmed: ‘I think marriage is as marriage has always been, between a man and a woman.’

In 2006, Hillary began to change her mind, saying she would not support same-sex marriage in New York if it became state law.

‘I support states making the decision,’ she said.

In 2007, while running for president, she maintained she was ‘opposed’ to same-sex marriage.

In 2013, Hillary announced she was now supporting same-sex marriage, saying she had been on an ‘evolution’.

President Obama’s own ‘evolution’ on this issue is slightly more complicated.

When he ran for Illinois state Senate in 1996, Obama was 100% in favour of gay marriage.

‘I favour legalizing same-sex marriage and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages,’ he declared.

Two years later, in 1998, he was less certain. When asked if he was in favour of legalising gay marriage he replied: ‘Undecided’.

And when asked if he would support a bill to repeal Illinois legislation prohibiting same-sex marriage, he again replied: ‘Undecided’.

By 2004, he’d made up his mind and performed a complete U-turn.

‘I have been very clear on this,’ he said. ‘I am not a supporter of gay marriage. I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman.’

Obama has well documented, complicated history with gay marriage. In 2008 he was still against it

Two years on, in his 2006 autobiography The Audacity of Hope, Obama wasn’t so sure again:

‘I remain open to the possibility that my unwillingness to support gay marriage is misguided and that I may have been infected with society’s prejudices and attributed them to God, and that in years hence I may be seen as someone on the wrong side of history.’

In 2008, he was still against it. ‘I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. I am not in favour of gay marriage.’

Then, in 2012, came Obama’s famous conversion.

‘I’ve concluded that for me, personally, it is important to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couple should be able to get married.’

In other words, he returned to the exact same position he held in 1996.

You’d be hard-pushed to find a more extraordinary sequence of flip-flopping by a top politician on any important issue.

Yet I can still respect the fact he and Hillary have both clearly wrestled with what sexual equality really means, and finally reached the right answer.

If we’re honest, I suspect most of us have.

I was raised as a Catholic, a religion that still actively discriminates against gays in many different ways.

But I have personally evolved and now fully support all gay rights including same-sex marriage.

Nobody booed or lectured me as I did so. I just grew to realise that sexual equality, like racial equality, means full, not partial equality.

Why did nobody on Broadway boo Hillary and Obama during the years when they both discriminated against gays?  Mike Pence holds very unpleasant views towards homosexuals, but they are sincerely held and, based, like Obama’s were, on religious conviction

My irritation is this: why did nobody on Broadway feel inclined to boo or lecture Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during the years when they both openly discriminated against gay rights, both as Senators and Presidential candidates?

Why is it one rule for Democrat ‘bigots’ and another for Republican ‘bigots’?

In my opinion, Mike Pence still holds very unpleasant views towards homosexuals.

But I believe they are sincerely held views, based, like Obama’s, on his religious conviction.

There are many millions of Americans who share them.

The best way to encourage Pence and those who agree with him, and allow them to evolve like Hillary and Obama - and me! - is not to mock and abuse but to engage them in respectful debate and conversation.

What happened on Saturday night was not a bad thing.

It was a good start.

PS Oh, and Donald, you’re wrong to say Hamilton’s ‘overrated’ too. It’s the best musical in the world right now. Go see it. You may learn something.