Jan 09, 2004  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

Steve Elmendorf, a New Jersey native, served as chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) since 1997. He joined Gephardt’s staff in 1992 as an openly gay man.

Now Elmendorf works as chief of staff at Gephardt’s presidential campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C. He shares duties as the campaign’s liaison to the gay community with Chrissy Gephardt, the candidate’s lesbian daughter, and David Mixner, the longtime gay Democratic fund-raiser and business consultant, who serves as co-chair of the Gephardt campaign.

Elmendorf said Gephardt stands apart from his Democratic rivals, in part, because he served as Democratic leader of the House of Representatives for eight years, fighting on the front lines on a wide range of issues, including gay rights legislation.

“He has led the Democrats in fighting for gay issues,” Elmendorf said.

Elmendorf acknowledges Gephardt’s vocal support for gay civil rights began in the late 1980s and early 1990s, considerably later than for many Democratic members of Congress.

“Like most people in his generation, he did not start out as a strong supporter on gay issues, but he has changed,” Elmendorf said.

“He has always had open gays in his office and in positions of authority,” Elmendorf said. “And he has always been strong on civil rights.”

Gephardt backed gay-friendly bills
Since the early 1990s, Gephardt has signed on as a co-sponsor to all major gay civil rights and AIDS related bills. Among them is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, which calls for banning employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Other bills Gephardt has co-sponsored include a hate crimes measure that would give the federal government authority to prosecute anti-gay hate crimes; the Domestic Partnership & Obligations Act, which would provide domestic partner benefits to federal employees; and the Permanent Partners Immigration Act, which would allow American citizens to obtain immigration sponsorship rights for a same-sex partner in the same way a married person can obtain immigration rights for his or her immigrant spouse.

Gephardt, however, joined most of his Democratic colleagues in the House in 1996 to vote for the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage under federal law as a union only between a man and a woman and provides that states may legally refuse to recognize gay marriages from other states.

The act, which President Clinton signed, bars same-sex couples from receiving hundreds of federal rights and benefits associated with marriage, even if states eventually legalize gay marriage or civil unions. In 1993, Gephardt also voted for an immigration amendment that barred people with HIV from entering the United States.

Like five of his eight rival Democratic presidential candidates, Gephardt opposes legal recognition of gay civil marriage but said he supports civil unions. He has said he favors granting federal and state marriage-related rights and benefits to gays in civil unions, including Social Security survivor benefits.

David Mixner is a prominent Democratic Party fund-raiser and gay rights advocate. He is serving as the co-chair of Gephardt’s presidential campaign. (File photo by Clint Steib)

“I believe civil unions are the best way to provide legal recognition to the relationships of same-sex couples and guarantee their rights,” Gephardt said in a candidates’ questionnaire issued by the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay political group.

Gephardt also stated on the HRC questionnaire that he would “ensure gender identity is included in any federal measure designed to outlaw discrimination in the workplace,” indicating he favors adding protection for transgendered people in ENDA.

“He thinks we ought to lift the ban completely on gays in the military,” Elmendorf said. “He thinks ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has been a failure.”

Elmendorf notes that Gephardt strongly opposes a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and has used his role as House Democratic leader to help fend off anti-gay amendments and bills.

Lesbian daughter promises to lobby father
Although his daughter Chrissy’s decision to come out as a lesbian has strengthened Gephardt’s resolve on gay issues, Elmendorf notes that Chrissy Gephardt came out to her parents just two years ago, long after Gephardt became a vocal supporter on gay issues.

Nevertheless, Elmendorf said Chrissy ...