Tracking Hillary's stance on DOMA, distance from Bill on LGBT issues

Sen. Hillary Clinton went a long way this month toward neutralizing her one lingering Achilles' heel with LGBT voters when she shifted her stance on the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 bill signed into law by her husband that grants state governments the right not to recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions performed in other states.

Clinton’s new stance on DOMA may also be an attempt to establish a separate identity from that of husband Bill Clinton, whose presidency left somewhat of a best-of-times, worst-of-times aftertaste in the mouths of LGBT Americans. While the gay population’s historic role in electing Bill Clinton launched us on to the national political stage, his statutory legacies to us were the military’s antigay “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and DOMA.

Senator Clinton’s change on DOMA came to light when her advisers released the text of her candidate questionnaire for the Human Rights Campaign.

DOMA contains two provisions: one that gives states autonomy on marriage and one that prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages. With the precision of a neurosurgeon, Clinton cut herself free of the second plank of the law while continuing to embrace the first plank, essentially saying that she would let states decide their own destiny on marriage but leave the door open for federal recognition of same-sex unions.

“Senator Clinton believes that each state should make its own decisions regarding marriage or civil unions, but once a state legalizes such relationships, these relationships should receive full federal recognition and benefits,” Ethan Geto, senior national adviser to Senator Clinton on LGBT Issues, explained in an e-mail to The Advocate. “As several states have legalized gay marriage or civil unions, Senator Clinton has come to believe that the restrictions imposed by DOMA on federal government recognition of same-sex relationships are unfair.”

The position represents a marked departure from her comments to a group of about 40 LGBT leaders in New York last October during her Senate reelection campaign, where she stood firm on the strategic importance of DOMA in helping to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have constitutionally denied the right of marriage to gay and lesbian couples.

“One of the strongest arguments we had against the constitutional amendment, which kept Democrats and even some Republicans from voting for it, was DOMA—that [the FMA] was not necessary; marriage has always been the province of states,” Senator Clinton said during that meeting. “I feel very good about the strategy we took on DOMA,” she added.

While cynics may roll their eyes at “strategy,” and many LGBT activists criticized Clinton for not being more outspoken about gay families during the FMA debate, Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, has credited Senator Clinton as a strategic force in defeating the FMA in 2006.

Prior to the vote, Senator Clinton called Solmonese unsolicited and suggested HRC conduct polling about the issue, which ultimately showed that while support for marriage equality had risen, voters were “enraged” that Congress would spend time debating the FMA rather than the Iraq War. Based on that data, HRC advised Democratic congressional leaders to argue during the floor debates that the GOP was ignoring the most pressing issues facing the nation.

Clinton’s advisers also seem keen to further delineate the distinction between Hillary and Bill on gay issues. Her new position on DOMA means that she now stands opposed to the two most damning pieces of legislation that are the legacy of her husband’s presidency.

“It is instructive to know that Hillary Clinton publicly called for repeal of 'don’t ask, don’t tell' in 1999, while President Clinton was still in office, effectively breaking with him over this policy,” Geto wrote in his e-mail. “This is a further manifestation of her personal commitment to equality and fairness as her guiding principles.” (Kerry Eleveld, The Advocate)