Miers once answered gay rights questionnaire

Harriet Miers, President Bush's pick to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy left by the retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor, once filled out a questionnaire for a gay rights group in which she agreed that gay men and lesbians should have equal rights. But she immediately followed that answer by stating that she did not support the repeal of the Texas sodomy law, which was eventually struck down by the high court.

As part of their endorsement screening process for city council candidates, the Lesbian/Gay Political Coalition of Dallas in 1989 asked then-candidate Miers if she would fill out their standard questionnaire and appear before the coalition to discuss the answers. Miers agreed. “It was not uncommon to get vague or contradictory answers [from candidates],” Louise Young, a member of the coalition at the time, told Advocate.com. “Hers were certainly vague.”

Miers, 60, the current White House council and a former private attorney who has never served as a judge, answered five questions on the coalition's form dealing with gay rights and HIV/AIDS. When asked: “Do you believe that gay men and lesbians should have the same civil rights as non-gay men and women?” Miers wrote, “Yes.” But then when asked: “Do you, as an individual citizen, support the repeal of section 21.06 of the Texas Penal code, which criminalizes the private sexual behavior of consenting adult lesbians and gay men?” Miers wrote, “No.”

Miers said she did support city funding for AIDS services to the level that was needed to combat that “serious total community problem.” When asked if she would support a city ordinance prohibiting discrimination against people with AIDS, Miers said she preferred a “legislative solution” but would be “willing to discuss the need and make an appropriate decision when fully advised.”

The fifth and final question asked of Miers was whether she believed that qualified gays and lesbians should be denied employment by the city of Dallas solely because of their sexual orientation. “I believe that employers should be able to pick the best qualified person for any position to be filled considering all relevant factors,” she wrote.

At the end of the questionnaire, Miers said she was “not seeking the endorsement of LGPC.” She did, however, agree to come to the coalition's “screening session” at the First Unitarian Church in Dallas. “Her campaign manager at the time had brought many candidates before our community screening process, and she wanted Miers to come before us,” Young said.

“At the screening we have open questions from the floor,” Young continued, noting that she couldn't remember what specific questions were asked of Miers. “She didn't give good answers to all of our questions. She didn't seem hostile, but she didn't give a good screening. As I recall [after she won a seat] on the city council, she never went after us in any way. She wasn't what we call a right-wing nut. My impression was that she was not one to be rabid against us.”

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