Mar 09, 2007  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

In an unannounced speech before the nation’s largest gay rights group, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington last week said gays “would always have an open door to the White House” if she is elected president.

Clinton, who is ahead in the polls among Democrats running in next year’s election, told more than 400 Human Rights Campaign leaders and volunteers that she supports gay adoption and wants gays to be able to serve openly in the military.

She also told of how she worked closely behind the scenes with HRC and other gay groups to develop the strategy that helped defeat a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

“I want you to know this is exactly the kind of partnership we will have when I am president,” she said, drawing loud applause and cheers.

“I want you to know that just as you always have an open door to my Senate office, you will always have an open door to the White House,” she said. “Together, we will continue our struggle against hatred and our stand for equality.”

Clinton’s March 2 speech before a closed-door gathering of HRC’s board of directors and its various advisory boards and volunteers raised eyebrows among political pundits as well as supporters and opponents in the hotly contested presidential race.

The event took place in a ballroom at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center downtown, which HRC rented for its annual spring meeting. Neither HRC nor Clinton’s staff issued an advance announcement of her appearance.

David Smith, HRC’s vice president for programming, said the event was closed to the media and the public.

But later in the day, HRC posted a video of the Clinton speech and introductory remarks by HRC President Joe Solmonese online. The group also issued a press release announcing the availability of the video and a link to the YouTube site from HRC’s web site.

Smith said HRC invited what the group considers the “top tier” presidential candidates of both parties, who have expressed support for gay civil rights, to speak at the March 2 event. Among those invited in addition to Clinton, Smith said, were Democrats John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina; Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.); and Republican Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York.

He said all three informed HRC they were unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts.

Smith said Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, another presidential contender, was scheduled to speak later this month at an HRC dinner in Los Angeles.

“The Human Rights Campaign has not made any endorsement or taken a position on any potential 2008 presidential candidates,” the group said in its press release. “The Human Rights Campaign has a thorough vetting process for political candidates and when any possible endorsement is made that information will be released publicly.”

In her HRC speech, Clinton recognized officials in the audience by name, referring to some as “longtime friends.” She noted that Mark Walsh, a member of HRC’s board of governors, had just joined her campaign staff.

She made no mention of her opposition to same-sex marriage or her continued support for the Defense of Marriage Act, which passed in Congress in 1996 with the full support of her husband, President Bill Clinton.

The act, known as DOMA, defines marriage under federal law as a union only between a man and a woman and gives states the power to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

“As many of you know, I have long supported civil unions and that’s why I am co-sponsoring the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act, which would grant the same benefits to domestic partners of federal workers as those that are given to legal spouses,” Clinton said.

She vowed to push hard in Congress “to change laws and change hearts because we want to make sure all Americans in committed relationships have equal benefits, from health insurance and life insurance to Social Security and property rights and more.”

In reiterating her longstanding support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, Clinton linked the legislation to public accommodations discrimination, raising the possibility that she may favor broadening the bill beyond its current version. The version expected to be introduced this year would ban discrimination only in the area of employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, a term used to cover transgender persons.

“We also want to pass ENDA to end discrimination in the workplace, in public accommodations and elsewhere,” Clinton said. “Because it is inconceivable to me that in the year 2007, people who work hard and do a good job every day ...