Women's Issues in the Debate
Vice Presidential Debate Excerpt: Gay and Lesbian Issues
The complete transcript of the Vice Presidential debate is available from the The Commission on Presidential Debates
Bernard Shaw:
Senator, sexual orientation. Should a male who loves a male and a female
who loves a female have all -- all the constitutional rights enjoyed by
every American citizen?
I have been an original
co-sponsor of the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act
|
Joe Leiberman
Very current and difficult question. I've been thinking about it. I
want to explain what my thoughts have been. Maybe I should begin this
answer by going back to the beginning of the country and the Declaration
of Independence which says there at the outset that all of us are created
equal and that we're endowed not by any bunch of politicians and
philosophers, but by our Creator, with those rights of life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness. At the beginning of our history, that promise
and ideal was not realized or experienced by all Americans, but over time
since then we have extended the orbit of that promise. In our time at
the frontier of that effort is extending those kinds of rights to gay and
lesbian Americans who are citizens of this country and children of the
same awesome God just as much as any of the rest of us are. That's why I
have been an original co-sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
which aims to prevent gay and lesbian Americans who are otherwise
qualified from being discriminated against in the workplace. And I've
sponsored other pieces of legislation and taken other actions that carry
out that ideal. The question you pose is a difficult one for this
reason. It confronts or challenges the traditional notion of marriage as
being limited to a heterosexual couple, which I support. I must say I'm
thinking about this, because I have friends who are in gay and lesbian
partnerships who said to me, isn't it fair. We don't have legal rights
to inheritance, visitation when one partner is ill, to health care
benefits. That's why I'm thinking about it. My mind is open to taking
some action that will address those elements of unfairness while
respecting the traditional religious and civil institution of marriage.
That matter is regulated by
the states. ... I don't think
there should necessarily be a
federal policy in this area.
|
Dick Cheney
This is a tough one, Bernie. The fact of the matter is we live in a
free society, and freedom means freedom for everybody. We shouldn't be
able to choose and say you get to live free and you don't. That means
people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to
enter into. It's no one's business in terms of regulating behavior in
that regard. The next step then, of course, is the question you ask of
whether or not there ought to be some kind of official sanction of the
relationships or if they should be treated the same as a traditional
marriage. That's a tougher problem. That's not a slam dunk. The fact
of the matter is that matter is regulated by the states. I think
different states are likely to come to different conclusions, and that's
appropriate. I don't think there should necessarily be a federal policy
in this area. I try to be open minded about it as much as I can and
tolerant of those relationships. And like Joe, I'm also wrestling with
the extent to which there ought to be legal sanction of those
relationships. I think we ought to do everything we can to tolerate and
accommodate whatever kind of relationships people want to enter into.
More Vice Presidential Debate Excerpts
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Social Security
Working Women
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