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That same year, Sanders was asked in a debate during his first run for the Senate about a Massachusetts state court decision that legalized gay marriage. “Not right now, not after what we went through,” he said.
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In 2006, when the Bush White House proposed an amendment to the Constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman, Sanders spoke out against the Republican plan, saying it was “designed to divide the American people.”īut when Sanders was asked by a reporter whether Vermont should legalize same-sex marriage, he said no. “It’s an election year, yet despite the lack of a serious challenger, The Bern’s gut-level paranoia is acting up,” Freyne wrote. Though Sanders was not in the Vermont state legislature at the time, it was a hot topic in his home state at the time. Freyne described repeated attempts to hear Sanders’ views on gay marriage, and the congressman only said he “supports the current process” in the state legislature. “Obtaining Congressman Bernie Sanders’ position on the gay marriage issue was like pulling teeth … from a rhinoceros,” Freyne wrote. Peter Freyne, a locally beloved Vermont writer and opinion writer whom Sanders later lauded as “the best political reporter in the state of Vermont,” accused the then-Congressman of obfuscating on his gay rights position. Many prominent Democrats, including Sanders’ successor as mayor of Burlington and a gubernatorial nominee, spoke out in favor of gay marriage, but Sanders kept mum. Vermont has once again shown itself to be a leader in the struggle for human rights.”īut the court also said that the Vermont legislature should decide the issue. “The Vermont Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that under the Vermont Constitution, all citizens of the state have the same right to the benefits of marriage,” Sanders said at the time. In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that the state had to guarantee protections and benefits to gay couples, a stop short of legalizing gay marriage. “And anything that weakens the Constitution should be (addressed) by a constitutional amendment, not by a law passed by Congress.” We have to follow the Constitution,” Jane Sanders said. His wife and chief of staff Jane Sanders told an Associated Press reporter in July of 1996 that he opposed the law because it weakened the section of the Constitution that says states must respect laws that are made in other states. That wasn’t the answer his staff gave in 1996, however. “I thought then and I think now that people have the right to love those folks that they want to love and get married regardless of their sexual orientation,” he said. When Sanders was asked on Sunday about his vote against the Defense of Marriage Act on CNN, he said that he believed back in 1996 that gay couples had the right to gay marriage. In addition, his reasoning for opposing efforts to restrict gay marriage was much narrower and legalistic than he now makes it seem. That’s still ahead of Clinton, who released a YouTube video announcing her support in 2013, as well as most other Democratic Senators, but not as early as he’s now casting it. While Sanders generally opposed measures to ban gay marriage, he did not speak out in favor of it until 2009. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.īut his record on gay marriage is more complicated than he now makes it sound. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. I was there,” Sanders told the New York Times earlier this year.įor your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. “I’m not evolving when it comes to gay rights. Sanders opposed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in 1993, another President Bill Clinton-era policy, and supported civil unions in Vermont in 2000. He was one of just 67 members in the House of Representatives to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act, a politically tough decision he prides himself on and points to as a key progressive bona fide.
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In 1983, as mayor of Burlington, he signed a Gay Pride Day proclamation calling it a civil rights issue. With both Democratic contenders mostly in agreement on the topic today, the Vermont Senator is criticizing the former Secretary of State’s past positions, attempting to tie them to a broader critique that she does what is politically expedient.īy all measures, Sanders was ahead of his time in supporting gay rights. “That’s not the case! There was a small minority opposed to discriminating against our gay brothers and sisters, and I am proud that I was one of those members!” “Today, some are trying to rewrite history by saying they voted for one anti-gay law to stop something worse,” Sanders told a group of top Democratic organizers, without saying Clinton’s name.