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OCR Page 1 of 78REUTERS
May 13, 1996
WHTIE HOUSE SAYS CLINTON OPPOSES SAME SEX MARRIAGE
By Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON - The White House said Monday President Clinton opposes
same-sex marriages, apparently seeking to defuse a Republican effort to make
gay rights a campaign issue.
In stating the position, which officials said Clinton has held since
1992, the White House seemed to be trying to avoid the political beating the
president took in 1993 when he sought to overturn the ban on gays serving in
the military.
Asked if the president would support legislation that would allow states
to decide whether to recognize same-sex marriages, White House spokesman Mike
McCurry replied: "The president's against same-sex marriage. We'll have to
look carefully at the legislation that's under consideration."
McCurry also suggested the president thinks gay marriages undermine
families, saying: ``He believes that this is a time where we need to do
things to strengthen the American family and that's the reason why he has
taken this position."
The position, another in a series that moves Clinton toward
the center, was likely to enrage the gay community, which had strongly backed
him as a candidate in 1992.
McCurry declined to elaborate on why such unions might not promote
families, saying he would ask Clinton for further details on his views.
Last week Republicans introduced a bill in Congress that would prevent
states from being forced to recognize same-sex marriages as a result of a
pending legal case in Hawaii that may result in that state legally
acknowledging such unions.
Under the Constitution, the other 49 states would have to accept those
marriages as legal and valid.
The bill introduced last week says each state may decide for itself
whether to acknowledge gay marriages and defines marriage under federal law
as the legal union between one man and one woman.
Gay rights activists have criticized the bill.
``The eagerness of the House leadership to push this bill just proves
this is a calculated election-year strategy to force the issue onto the
national agenda," said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human
Rights Campaign group.
"This is a political trap set by the Republican Party to snare President
Clinton and any other fair-minded Democrat," she added.
In his first week in office in 1993, Clinton ordered the Pentagon to
review its policy of banning homosexuals from serving in the U.S. military.
His action, which fulfilled a campaign promise to the gay community,
sparked a political firestorm as conservatives in the military and Congress