Bill Richardson had loads of explaining to do after his gay forum slip up. For those of you not paying attention – shame, shame, shame! – Richardson “misunderstood” Melissa Etheridge’s “science” question. This “confusion” led Richardson to intimate that homosexuality’s a “choice”.
Richardson quickly clarified his position, but that didn’t stop us from giving him a bit of a grilling. Michelangelo Signorile also took some time to probe the Democratic presidential hopeful’s queer choice of words. Give Signorile’s radio show a listen here and here. And, for those of you wanting more blood shed, read Richardson’s chat with our friend Kerry Eleveld over at The Advocate.
Martini-boy
As a Canadian cit, I can honestly say I don’t like this dude. He seems rather shifty, and he STILL can’t explain why he is so adamant on stopping short at civil unions.
If, as he insinuates, it’s for the sake of getting him into office NOW, and to achieve something ‘marriage-like-but-not-quite’ now, then sure that’s fine. But this won’t really serve anyone other than himself unless he can promise to upgrade these civil unions to full-on marriage in later years.
In any case, I don’t think he has a chance.
WWH
Whether its a choice or not, and for some whos sexuality lies in the middle it may be, has no bearing whatsoever on whethter we deserve equal rights under the law.
Will
Totally agree with WWH. I don’t like everything about Richardson, but I could care less if he thinks homosexuality is a choice or not. As long as he isn’t using the rhetoric of “choice” to deny GLBTI people rights, it doesn’t really matter how he thinks about us. He has a decent record, better than some others that are getting far less scrutiny.
nycstudman
He makes one tiny slip, apologizes, recants, reflects, gets on his knees, and you won’t let it go? let it go already!
Graywolf48
I don’t think Richardson is a bad man. He screwed up with the choice comment and blew it with the maricon comment and looked totally uncomfortable at the “gay debate”. But, looking at his record on gay issues tells me he’s a lot better than the majority of Presidential wannabe’s out there, including Hillary. I think he’s right about the civil unions, that’s doable; marriage, not so much. Not now. Not yet. I’m willing to give him a pass. But, the reality is, he has no chance at getting the nomination, so it’s all just academic isn’t it?
Mitch
I think you should read what Barney Frank has to say on this: http://www.queerty.com/news/gay-politico-barney-frank-accepts-bill-richardsons-apology-20070814/
Especially worth noting: It is especially relevant that he voted consistently on our side from the start of his Congressional career in the 1980s, when the issue of LGBT rights had far less support even from Democrats that it has today.
Richardson has my full support, he’s a much better and more qualified candidate than Obama or Clinton.