Kerry Warms to Gay Marriage at San Fran Fund Raiser
Likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry all but endorsed gay marriage last week, saying in comments that went unreported till Thursday that a Kerry administration would bestow over 1,000 federal benefits to gays who marry where the law allows.
Sen. Kerry, who had previously claimed he opposed same-sex marriage, told a gay fund raiser in San Francisco on Friday that he would bestow a grand total of 1,049 federal benefits - such as the right to file joint income taxes and collect survivor benefits - to same-sex couples who unite legally in civil unions, domestic partnerships and even marriage under their state laws.
"It's the first time in history that a presidential candidate has ever supported full and equal protection for same-sex couples," said state Rep. Mark Leno, an early Kerry supporter who grilled the candidate on the issue at the event, in comments to the Washington Post.
In response to his question, Leno said, the leading Democrat promised he would grant "all 1,049 federal rights to same-sex couples in whatever legal union their states recognize."
Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter did not dispute the account. Leno has sponsored a bill that would legalize gay marriage in California, the Post said.
Kerry's tacit support for gay marriage would contradict a major provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which he voted against even though it had the backing of then-President Clinton.
Tobias Wolff, a professor at the Stanford University School of Law and an expert on gay legal issues, told the Post that the law clearly states that benefits for married people may not apply to same-sex couples, and that judgments stemming from a same-sex union are not portable from state to state.
Last week Kerry's ketchup heiress wife Teresa predicted that America would get used to gay marriage before too long.
"I think with time and without a lot of politicization of this, we'll get there," Heinz told reporters in San Francisco. "I think the country will evolve," she added, before dismissing Americans who oppose same-sex unions as "old fashioned." |
