White House Rejects Same-Sex Marriages

Clinton's Gay Constituency Angry

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Sept. 21) -- President Clinton chose the small hours of Saturday to sign a bill denying federal recognition of same-sex marriages, and the stealth treatment was no mistake.

It is not a great political issue for Clinton, and his decision to sign the bill is angering his loyal gay constituency.

There was no attempt to call attention to the signing because the president believes the lawmakers who sponsored it had "dubious" motives, according to White House press secretary Mike McCurry.

Clinton has long been on record as saying he would sign the bill into law, even though he has charged that many of its supporters were just seeking a way to bash gays and lesbians.

Members of the homosexual community already promise a constitutional challenge of the new law, and they charge that Republicans picked this time to raise the issue in order to get the most political impact. The bill's sponsor said just the opposite was true.

"It wasn't really on our agenda at all at the beginning of the year -- it was forced on us by the homosexual extremists," said Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia.

Opponents of the new law say Clinton is wading "into the mud with Bob Dole on this issue."

"We believe what the President has done is very shameful," said David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign. "What he has done is instituted a law, put his name on a law, that creates a second-class status for gay people."

The law leaves it up to each state to decide whether to recognize same-sex marriages. None has to date, but the issue is pending in Hawaii. Clinton said the bill also "clarifies, for purposes of federal law, the operative meaning of the terms 'marriage' and 'spouse.'"

Federal benefits would be denied to same-sex couples under the new law even in a state that ratified such unions.

"It becomes a federal issue in two ways," Barr said. "One, to protect the federal treasury against being raided by the homosexual movement. Secondly, to stop one state from being forced to accept homosexual marriages from another state."

Clinton's stand on the marriage issue, for many gays, marks another disappointment in the same vein as the president's ambiguous 'don't ask, don't tell' military service policy.

But many in the gay constituency believe they realistically have nowhere else to turn politically.

They note the White House has worked hard for them on other fronts, such as pushing for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would extend protection to gays and lesbians in the workplace. It failed in the Senate this year by one vote.

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