Bill Clinton Explains Why He Now Supports Same-Sex Marriage (VIDEO)

CNN Political Ticker:

Former President Bill Clinton is speaking out about his decision to change his personal stance on same-sex marriage.

Read the whole story: CNN Political Ticker

Comments

[rtlr1004]

02:44 PM on 10/05/2009

Quit bashing Bill. When he was President, he attempted to do things for gays, but the country was not ready for it at the time. Years have passed, and very few people can no longer say they do not have at least one close friendship with a gay person. This entire debate is grounded in the fear of gays by straight America. I am gay, and the majority of my friends are straight. All of them love me and treat me like I am no different. They also love the man I love. At some point, someone with guts is going to put an end to this ridiculous discrimination. Constitutionally, those who oppose gay marriage do not have a leg to stand on. We should have the same rights as straight Americans. Religious organizations will forever denounce gays. Personally, I know God is far more magnificent than they give him credit. After all, God created me...a gay man. Are the ultra-religious saying God made a mistake? I don't think so. I think these religious zealots underestimate God. The time has come. We should be allowed to love and marry, like any other freedom loving American.

[JeremiahA]

12:24 PM on 09/30/2009

Well, it's been several days now and the former president still has not offered any information on the reason(s) for his new opinion. And as long as his reasoning (if he actually did reason it out) remains unknown, all we have is the knowledge THAT he changed his viewpoint.

Basically, all he has said is, "I thought this way before, but now I think that way." Which is as meaningful as if he had said, "I used to like apple pie, but now I like mint chocolate chip ice cream."

Overall, his endorsement is pretty vapid.

[SchmataHari]

01:45 AM on 09/30/2009

It takes alot of courage to admit a mistake. President Clinton has thought a long while to end up with this conclusion. I say "better late than never". Now if we can only get Bush and Cheney to admit the errors of their ways about ....Torture..........WMDs.........Geneva Conventions..........the Bill of Rights..........Peremptive War............ad infinitum.........They simply lack the cojones that President Clinton is demonstrating here. The GOP is in exile for a reason. No cojones. Thanks Bill.

[wbgoneplease]

12:02 PM on 09/28/2009

With his marital state, I can understand why.

[Jonny38103]

09:49 AM on 09/28/2009

Political pragmatism - what else is new? But as long as gays keep working toward marriage and not civil unions for all, change will be slower. Get the government out of the religious institution called marriage. Marriages performed by churches should have no legal consequence whatsoever. The only pairing with legal consequence should be called a civil union. This would leave the Government to perform legal ceremonies and churches to perform religious ceremonies. As long as gays continue to fight for something called marriage, even tolerant folks will continue to fight them.

[hallowellboy]

08:52 AM on 09/28/2009

Dear Bill, As Ricky Ricardo would say "You got a lot of 'splainin to do". As president you not only did not support equal rights for the millions of Gay Americans but actually signed a bill of discrimination and intolerance into effect. You can only hurt the Gay community more with your track record. Keep quiet.

[AppleJuiceJunkie316]

08:47 PM on 09/27/2009

Bubba wants to experiment with the flesh flute. This time he's going to give Lewinski.

[masher]

04:22 PM on 09/27/2009

Typical liberal. When Clinton could do something to expand civil rights, like when he was President, he did the cowardly thing and issued DADT. Now that Obama is following the same cowards path as Clinton and Bush, Clinton can act like he cares again. This is typical Democrat games.

They feel our pain and say the right things but when the moment arrives they do exactly what the GOP and the radial right wing would do. But the GOP and the Dems have an agreement to act like there is a difference. They act like there are real choices. But in fact there really isn't.

[MrPragmatic]

11:31 PM on 09/27/2009

People evolve and change. Get over it.

[truthartbeauty]

03:26 PM on 09/27/2009

thanks bill

[DnDCfromChi-town]

03:20 PM on 09/27/2009

how convenient

[honoursplendor]

03:02 PM on 09/27/2009

Wow! Terrific for Pres. Clinton becoming enlightened. If only this issue had come up during his presidency.

[Matt Carter]

11:36 PM on 09/27/2009

Actually, it did. When he signed DOMA into law. What a frigging hypocrite.

[honoursplendor]

09:33 PM on 09/28/2009

Yes, well known on DADT and DOMA!
Sorry, that my attempt at sarcasm did not come through as written...

[unstuffedshirt]

02:25 PM on 09/27/2009

Profile in cowardice.

[cruisepuppy7452a]

11:51 AM on 09/27/2009

Bill was never against this, he may not have been public about it, but if you asked him when the cameras were off, he didn't care one way or the other about gays or gay marriage. That he felt it was time to come clean with it, proves it. Those who are against it, never change, They would rather follow a book of myths, verbatim, than to look outside of the box, and see how the real world lives. Its not a sin to be gay, or in a gay marriage or relationship. I have family members who are gay, and I have no issues with it, welcome they and thier partners into my home, gladly. I don't judge them, only ask if they are doing ok, and are happy? Only in this country is this an issue. Go to Europe and its not an issue at all, the people are too busy living thier lives to care how others live. Only in America are people so closed minded, busy bodies, judgemental and hypocrites. Only in America.

[wdw505]

12:20 PM on 09/27/2009

America needs to bring the shock factor back. If a 14 year old girl is pregnant, it is not a reason to throw a party the age of consent has not been reached and society will judge. Your kid tattoos his/her body beyond belief society will judge. Body pierce your face society will judge. A felon is released on to society depending on the crime where he/she can live and work is judged. If you are on welfare for an extended period of time society will judge. Your son wants to marry his boyfriend, this not a happy occasion. Until recently it was illegal. Society will judge still.

More things that society judges to be aberrant, wrong, illegal or just plain bizarre, less people will go down that path. Society is kept in check. Peer pressure can be good.

Marriage is between two people but it is also between them and the wider society. The two gender couple gives society further stability by uniting the necessary feminine contribution to child-rearing with the necessary masculine contribution. Society in return gives the couple honor and privileges.

[CydMiller]

01:28 PM on 09/27/2009

What is sad is that you reek of failure. Instead of projecting your failure onto everyone else, invest your energy in making something of yourself.

[mko9d]

11:44 PM on 09/27/2009

Your examples of tattoos and piercings do not represent life-style choices that need to be "kept in check." True, it is different from what most people choose to look like, but different is not necessarily bad. What's wrong with people expressing themselves differently as long as they are otherwise kind and contributing members of society? I don't judge people just because they are "aberrant" or "bizarre." I try to understand why they are different. A little bit of tolerance for diversity will not hurt your idea of society.

(Continued in next post)

[truthartbeauty]

03:25 PM on 09/27/2009

It is never an issue with sophisticated people, but to these bible waving hicks that have never left the county they live in , everything is scary.

[cruisepuppy7452a]

11:43 AM on 09/27/2009

This is the USA, in this country the public has civil rights, and they are not based on whom they choose to live with or marry. They belong to all of us. You do not have to like it or agree with it, but the constitution is clear. Those who choose same sex partners or marriage do not harm any of us, and they should nto be harmed, judged, chastised because a few narrow minded people cannot handle it. Does it affect your daily comute to work, your health, what you eat for dinner, or listen to on the radio? No. For so many people who claim to be pius and understanding, christain, I have never seen so many hypocrites in my life. You would rather support politicos that are crimminals, lie, cheat you, steal from you, rob you blind, than to look beyond what two people choose to do. They are not animals, space aliens, only people who are geneticly wired in a different way, see things a bit differently. As a straight female, I have no qualms with gay couples, I see them as people. Good people.

[CigarGod]

11:11 PM on 09/26/2009

Personal growth.

Guess a lot on this site don't grasp the concept.

[honoursplendor]

03:13 PM on 09/27/2009

Do you really believe he DID NOT have this view point while he was President? I think he did (or at the very least did not care enough about the issue either way) and he squandered the opportunity to do something about it while he was in office. He had the opportunity to actually move the country forward while he was POTUS. He chose not to out of political expediency. For him this was successful since he was re-elected. But for the others impacted by his earlier public stance, not so much. It does not take much courage to come out FOR an issue after the fact since his supposedly new support of same sex marriage will not impact him and he doesn't have to make any decisions relating to it. He signed DOMA and DADT into law effectively making it government policy to discriminate against citizens based on sexual orientation; laws that have negatively impacted thousands of people. But now he should get props for supporting same sex marriage more than a decade after signing these bills into law?