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| ‘[Hillary Clinton is] a complete disappointment and does not deserve an LGBT fundraiser,’ wrote New York gay rights activist Alan Van Capelle, in response to Clinton’s opposition to same-sex marriage rights. |
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As Democratic presidential hopefuls begin to emerge, gay voters will be looking closely at their voting records. Potential 2008 Democratic presidential candidates and some of their positions on gay issues include:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who received an 88 percent score on HRC’s 2004 scorecard, opposes full marriage equality, which caused the New York Empire State Pride Agenda president to refuse to participate in fundraising efforts for her Senate reelection campaign.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who received a 100 percent rating in 2004 from HRC, opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment but backed an anti-gay marriage amendment in his home state. He supports civil unions, he opposes full marriage. He voted against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and opposes the military’s "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" ban. HRC endorsed Kerry’s 2004 presidential bid.
Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who scored a 66 percent rating on HRC’s 2004 scorecard, marked down for not sponsoring the Permanent Partners Immigration Act or adopting a nondiscrimination policy for his own offices. Edwards was Kerry’s running mate in the 2004 presidential election.
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), who received a 63 percent on HRC’s scorecard, did not sponsor the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and did not adopt a nondiscrimination policy for his own offices.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), who scored an 88 percent from HRC, missed a perfect score by not co-sponsoring federal hate crime legislation that would cover sexual orientation and gender identity.
Although not ranked by the HRC, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner opposed but not vigorously challenge the state’s Marriage Affirmation Act, which bans gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships. At the end of Warner’s term in Virginia in 2005, he made it illegal for state agencies to discriminate against workers because of their sexual orientation. He was "always open to have a conversation and dialogue about our issues," said Equality Virginia’s executive director, Dyana Mason.
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG COMMENTS
 
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and her current support for DOMA," wrote Alan Van Capelle, president of the Empire State Pride Agenda, a New York gay rights group. "[Clinton is] a complete disappointment and does not deserve an LGBT fundraiser."
Clinton is widely viewed as the frontrunner among Democrats expected to run for president in 2008. She has said she supports the Defense of Marriage Act and opposes full marriage rights for gays. But she does support civil unions, according to an Associated Press report.
Clinton’s office declined to comment for this story.
So will support for gay marriage be a requirement to win an endorsement from gay rights groups in 2008?
The Empire State Pride Agenda declined to say, but in a published opinion column, Van Capelle wrote, "Before you decide to open up your wallet to support a candidate or dedicate your time to get involved in any political race, ask them what they will do to help us win the right to marry, or to fund organizations that provide us with much needed services, or to protect transgendered New Yorkers from discrimination, or to keep LGBT youth safe in our schools."
At the HRC, the nation’s richest gay lobby group, the only "litmus test" for candidates is whether they oppose a federal constitutional amendment to ban equal marriage rights, according to Samantha Smoot, HRC’s political director.
"If a candidate does not oppose writing discrimination into the Constitution, they’re out," she said. "We don’t consider endorsing them."
Other issues, like anti-discrimination laws and marriage equality, are part of the range of issues considered when HRC decides to endorse a candidate, she said. The issues that HRC weighs have grown as gay rights come more into the mainstream and candidates’ positions evolve, Smoot explained.
When asked to comment on Van Capelle’s views, Smoot said, "HRC supports and raises money for a lot of candidates who aren’t there yet" on marriage. However, she added, a national group like HRC is in a different position from a state organization.
"It’s a different situation for a state organization to look at their two senators and want to hold them accountable, and a national organization that’s looking at 100 senators and wanting to work with all of them," she said.
HRC also looks at candidates’ viability because in some races there may be more than one pro-gay candidate, Smoot said. Incumbents who have been supportive in the past are more likely to receive HRC’s
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