Richardson asks to speak with The Advocate to clarify his positions

After a performance in Thursday night's HRC/Logo presidential forum in Los Angeles that was universally panned by media outlets including NPR and The New York Times, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson requested an interview with The Advocate to explain what he was thinking when he said that being gay was a "choice" versus a biological predisposition.

Richardson clearly wanted to make amends with the gays and lesbians, but he seemed beleaguered after a long day of trying to heal the wounds left by last night's forum. Perhaps the most illuminating part of our 20-minute interview at The Advocate's offices came at the end, during informal banter as the governor prepared to leave. Referring back to a question I'd asked earlier in the interview about his possible lack of empathy for a fundamental LGBT concern, he asked, "But you think I didn't come across with much empathy [last night]?" It was a rare, humanizing comment from a presidential candidate who was clearly grappling with the chasm between how he sees himself versus how others view him—in this case, gay and lesbian voters.

The Advocate:What happened last night when you were asked whether being gay was a matter of choice or biology and you said that it was the former?
Richardson: I misunderstood the question, and I made a mistake in the way I answered it. I thought it was a trick question. I made a mistake and I apologize.

I've always understood that [being gay is biological], I just haven't thought about that in a very long time. Again, I'm very action-oriented. I deal with getting things done for gay and lesbian people, as I have as a governor. And I fully understand that it's something you're born with and it's not a lifestyle choice. I've always understood that, but when you're flying all night from New Hampshire as I had—we're human too. We flew all night to get here. That shouldn't be an excuse. I am here in a symbolic visit to The Advocate to say I misunderstood the question, I handled it in a bad way, and I caused a lot of confusion. But my main message is that I should be judged by my actions, on what I've done, not words that don't accomplish anything, that had been misunderstood.

You also said that if the New Mexico state legislature passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, you wouldn't sign it. Why?
What I would sign is a civil unions bill with full marriage rights. That's what I would sign. But that's not the issue. The issue is, what can I get done in my legislature. I was unable in a special session to get done a domestic-partnership bill, and we lost by one vote in the regular session. But then I called special session a few days later to deal with the full domestic-partnership bill. No other governor has ever done that. It failed, so I'm going to bring it up in January again in the new legislative session.

As a purely hypothetical question, if the legislature handed you a marriage bill, would you sign it?
I'm going to answer it hypothetically: It's not going to happen. What I want to emphasize is that I would be a president who recognizes that the country is on a path to full inclusion, and I think what we need to concentrate on is what is doable now. What is doable now is the following: First, repealing [the Defense of Marriage Act], which I said I would do. Secondly, repealing "don't ask, don't tell." I voted to do that in the Congress [Richardson is a former U.S. representative from New Mexico] when I was the chief deputy whip. I felt that was a vote of conscience. Third, repeal No Child Left Behind, which has some diversity provisions that basically discriminate against gay kids.

What I would also do is a full civil unions bill with full marriage rights. I think that is achievable with a combination of Republicans and Democrats. A hate crimes law. I think the country today needs to be brought along on a whole range of these issues.

My message is that I should be judged by my action and not by a word that I misunderstood.

If you were elected president and you could change something immediately for gays and lesbians by executive order, what would you do?
Immediately, in the federal workforce, nondiscrimination, as I did in New Mexico, on the basis of employment, insurance, full partnerships for gays and lesbians in the federal workforce.

So, basically, employment nondiscrimination and partnership benefits for federal employees?
I think that could be done by executive order. Now, unlike [what] Edwards [has said], you can't repeal "don't ask, don't tell" by executive order. You've got to go through the Congress because it was made into a congressional act.

I understand what you're saying about your record on LGBT issues, but I respectfully think you came off last night as lacking a little bit of empathy for gays and lesbians. Even with your record, can you expect the community to get behind you if they perceive you that way?
I became very engaged in gay and lesbian issues when a good friend of mine, who was one of my workers in my congressional campaign [in the early 1980s], by the name of Billy Griego, got involved in helping me, and he then died of AIDS. That's when I felt a real recognition and empathy for gay issues, because of my friendship with him. Years later, with the [state] legislature, I named an initiative that I pursued, which was more funding and a new structure to deal with AIDS at the state level, the Billy Griego HIV Act.

Regarding the maricón comment you made on the Don Imus show, the native Spanish speakers I've asked all say it's a derogatory term for gays. But you've indicated that maricón is just a term for homosexuality and doesn't have a negative connotation. Do you want to clarify?
I also said I shouldn't have used that word. It was at the end of an interview and I was goaded into doing that, and I shouldn't have said it. But in my day, and I'm older than most, there was no such word as faggot. It was more in the sense of being demeaning to someone, more of a pejorative term that was not given the connotation that it has now. But if you look at the transcript of that show, I was goaded into saying it because Imus was trying to stipulate that I'm Hispanic. It was wrong and I apologize.

Any final thoughts, Governor?
I hope the gay and lesbian community supports my candidacy and doesn't judge me on the basis of one silly misunderstanding that I take full responsibility for. They should look at the record and what I've done and what I can potentially bring the country in pursuing equal rights for everybody. I came here today to send this message.

Kerry Eleveld is the news editor of The Advocate.