Hillary Clinton on LGBT Rights
The Question:
"My parents are lesbians and I, a gay man, grew up in a 1990s household that always viewed the Clintons as allies.
Hillary is pragmatic and she has shifted positions -- not because she's deceitful, but because she wants to be the most effective advocate for the people she represents. If Bill and Hillary were even slightly more pro-gay rights in the 90s, they would not only have been unelectable but would risk the seats of every elected Democrat in the country. The backlash would be disastrous for the Democratic party. Bernie can talk high and mighty about being the gay messiah in the 80s, 90s, and 00s (a lie), but from his gadfly position representing one of the most liberal areas in the country, he had nothing to lose. The Clintons as leaders of the Democratic party had everything to lose.
Bernie supporters like to talk up the virtue of ideological purity, yet they fail to realize that all the liberal gains we've made in the last 25 years are the result of progressive leaders who actually know they have to be electable before they get anything done. Even by the year 2000, as Bill left one office and Hillary entered another, the vast majority of the country (including many gays) were weirded out by the thought of a man saying "my husband," and trans rights weren't seriously considered by even the most liberal of organizations. Any national or major state-wide politician who came out as pro-gay marriage would be unelectable (even in California, New York, or Vermont).
The Clintons' 1992 campaign was hailed as pro-gay rights and explicitly ran on the promise to end the ban on gays in the military. Only when lifting the ban proved a non-starter and the conservative backlash began to rise did the Clintons work out the compromise that became Don't Ask Don't Tell. Similarly, the Defense of Marriage Act was only passed as a way to disincentivize Republicans from pushing for a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage (which was a serious threat).
There's a ridiculous trend of using modern progressive norms to shame politically advantageous stances taken decades ago. As the great Mahatma Gandhi once put it, "[Blacks] are as a rule uncivilised – the convicts even more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live almost like animals."
- /u/avatizer
Notes: Hillary emails also showed she was working for marriage equality behind the scenes before she was publicly for it as well."
= new reply since forum marked as read
