Stephanopoulos Defends President on Gay Marriages

Aired May 23, 1996

JUDY WOODRUFF, Anchor: The White House announcement that the president would sign a bill barring recognition of same-sex marriages has angered some longtime Clinton supporters. David Mixner, a gay rights advocate as well as a Clinton friend and fund- raiser, calls the move an act of political cowardice. He's telling the New York Times - 'The are beating up and taking away our rights in order to prove that they are not beholden to the gay and lesbian vote.'

Joining us now with the White House perspective on this and more, the president's senior adviser for policy and strategy, George Stephanopoulos. George, let me begin with just the flat-out question, does the president think same sex marriages are a bad idea or a good idea?

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, Senior Adviser to the President: The president doesn't believe in same-sex marriages based on his belief that marriage should be reserved for a union between one man and one woman. That's his personal belief, and that's been his longstanding position since 1992.

WOODRUFF: Well, what do you say to critics, well, former friends and now critics, like David Mixner, who says this is just trying to prove that you're not beholden to gay rights organizations.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, I understand their deep feelings on this issue, and I hope they understand the president's beliefs and his longstanding position on this issue. But we certainly understand their pain. And as the president said at his press conference today, we certainly understand why this issue is coming to the fore right now. The Republicans are looking for another Willie Horton issue in 1996. They're trying to find a way to divide the country, to throw up a wedge issue, and see what sticks. And the president's going to speak out against that kind of rhetoric. But the fact is that this legislation is in accord with the president's stated position, and therefore he has no choice to say he would sign it.

WOODRUFF: Well, it may be what the Republicans are trying to do, but you've also got a group of- a group of gay rights organizations, Human Rights Campaign, is the name of it, that is saying that this is a complete capitulation to religious and political extremists.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Oh, not at all. It's the president standing up for his position, and standing up to that kind of extremism on the Republican side. He's called them out on their divisive tactics, but this has been the president's position for an awful long time.

WOODRUFF: And there's also- I have another quote from the spokesman for this Human Rights Campaign. This is a gay rights advocacy group. He says, 'It's extremely sad the president has chosen the politically expedient way out instead of standing up to what is obviously gratuitous gay bashing.'

STEPHANOPOULOS: The president has stood up to that gratuitous gay-bashing, but it's not politically expedient to stand by your position and to stand by your beliefs, and that's exactly what the president's doing.

WOODRUFF: George, the president got pretty steamed today when the reporters in Milwaukee asked him questions about a number of social issues. Has Bob Dole hit a raw nerve now?

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, I don't think so, but what's happened in the Republican side from Senator Dole and Speaker Gingrich and dozens of others over the last couple of weeks is they're behind in the polls. They're getting increasingly negative, increasingly nasty. And they've been lashing out. What the president was responding to today was Senator Dole saying that the president had stretched the limits of decency because he vetoed a bill that would have made it impossible for women with serious health problems to get an abortion that would protect their health in serious cases. And I thought- And he thought that was wrong.

WOODRUFF: Well, as you know, Senator Dole was the one who introduced an amendment to make an exception in those late-term abortions for the life of the mother. That amendment was on the bill when it came to the president. Why doesn't that cover all the president's concerns?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Because the president wanted one more change, and it would have been an amendment that would include serious adverse health consequences for the mother. As the president explained today, there are certain situations where a mother could face serious health risks, but may not be life- threatening, but serious health risks; may not be able to have a child again. There are many cases where a woman, if she didn't have this procedure, would be infertile and unable to have children. And that wouldn't be covered by Senator Dole's exemption. The president said, we need an exemption to protect the health of the mother. That would make it in accord with the Constitution. That would cover the catastrophic situations that he wants to cover. And I think he would say, as he said, that Senator Dole has to look these families in the eye, who've been forced to have this procedure and say why they can't have the protection of the law and the protection of the government.

WOODRUFF: When the president said some people live and breath 'to divide the American people,' was he including Bob Dole?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, I think that Senator Dole and Speaker Gingrich and many other Republicans in recent weeks have been more and more divisive. Have been more and more nasty. Look at the two issues we just discussed. As the president said earlier today, these are both issues that were designed not to solve a problem, but to create an issue that they might be able to use in the presidential campaign to appeal to their extremist coalition, and to try and find a way to force the president outside of the mainstream. But it's not going to work. The president's going to stick by his positions, and in each case he did. On the one case he vetoed a bill, in the other case he said he would sign it.

WOODRUFF: One other question about something the president said today. He said he's 'always skeptical when politicians piously proclaim their morality.' Another reference to Senator Dole?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, Senator Dole was out there talking about family values today. We can turn it around and say what kind of family values do you represent when Senator Dole and Speaker Gingrich and the Republican Party are fighting an increase in the minimum wage trying to help families who are simply trying to get by and raise themselves above the poverty line. That's also an important issue of family values.

WOODRUFF: George Stephanopoulos, senior adviser to President Clinton, we thank you for being with us.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you, Judy.

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