April 15, 2015

Hillary Clinton to Supreme Court: Legalize Same-Sex Marriage Nationally

Paul Zinken/ZUMA; <http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-195870644/stock-vector-gay-vector-flag-or-lgbt-vector-flag-sign-isolated-gay-culture-symbol.html?src=vBgSrBPPhAbhSfibN9-Hbw-1-14"> dovla982 </a>/Shutterstock

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Hillary Clinton’s now-official presidential campaign has so far opted for gauzy announcement videos and vague feel good promises over much in the way of policy specifics. But on Wednesday, Clinton’s team clarified one stance she she will take: same-sex marriage is a constitutional right that should be legal in every state.

“Hillary Clinton supports marriage equality and hopes the Supreme Court will come down on the side of same-sex couples being guaranteed that constitutional right,” campaign spokesperson Adrienne Elrod told The Washington Blade, referring to four cases on gay marriage the court is scheduled to hear later this month.

Clinton hasn’t always supported same-sex marriage. In the 2008 Democratic primary, Clinton, like then-Sen. Barack Obama, supported civil unions for LGBT couples but opposed marriage rights. She avoided weighing in on domestic politics while at the State Department and didn’t announce that she supported marriage equality until March, 2013—but maintained that same-sex marriage was up to the states and not a nationwide, constitutional right. Last year, she ducked probing questions from NPR’s Terry Gross about how she had evolved on the issue. Earlier this week, Buzzfeed called out the Clinton campaign for not saying where the presidential candidate stood on the upcoming court case.

Now Clinton seems ready to strike a different tone. Her top campaign operative, Robby Mook, will be the first openly gay presidential campaign manger, as my colleague Andy Kroll and I reported last week. Among the gauzy images in the video she released on Sunday announcing her presidential campaign were scenes of a gay couple discussing their upcoming wedding. And, thanks to her statement today, she’s fully on board with the idea that LGBT couples should enjoy the same constitutionally protected rights as heterosexual couples.

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