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| Presidential hopeful John Edwards has drawn mixed reactions on gay matters. A comment he allegedly made a decade ago that surfaced last week offended some, yet he was the most vocal of the Democratic White House hopefuls to denounce the controversial comments of Gen. Pace earlier this year on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ (Photo by David Lienemann/AP) |
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: JOSHUA LYNSEN COMMENTS
 
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going to do sort of a side-by-side analysis kind of thing, and then release it.”
But Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois outlined similar stances in documents their campaigns provided the Blade.
“Hillary will work to ensure that all Americans in committed relationships have equal benefits — from health insurance and life insurance, property rights and more,” says a document from her campaign titled “Fighting for the LGBT Community.”
“Barack Obama supports civil unions that give gay couples full rights, including the right to assist their loved ones in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits currently extended to traditional married couples and the same property rights as anyone else,” says a campaign document titled “Barack Obama’s Support for the Gay and Lesbian Community.”
Edwards was the only candidate among the three to address marriage equality in his document.
Edwards also noted he supports “the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act provision that prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex relationships.”
In their documents, neither Clinton nor Obama addressed the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Clinton and Obama noted their support of ENDA and the CARE Act. Both also said gays should be allowed to serve openly in the armed forces. Obama additionally noted he supports equal adoption rights.
‘Tweedledee and Tweedledum’
The similar stances drew some criticism from Pinello, who said the three candidates are doing little to differentiate themselves to gay voters.
“There’s no demonstration of leadership here whatsoever,” he said. “They’ve all become Tweedledee and Tweedledum. There’s nothing that distinguishes any of them in this pack.”
Other experts said each frontrunner must be careful, though, to weigh any appeal to gay voters against the priorities of the general electorate.
“They don’t think gay issues are terribly important and they want their president to focus on things<
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