09/17/2007
Joe Biden in Iowa: "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" a "Bizarre" Policy
At a campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa over the weekend, presidential hopeful Joe Biden spoke to a group of supporters about gay rights related to health care, civil unions, and the military's policy banning gays.
The Des Moines Register reports: "Biden, speaking to an estimated 100 supporters at an early morning breakfast, said coverage under his proposed health care plan, or any universal plan, must be guaranteed as a constitutional right to all citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation. Biden added that he supports civil unions but not marriage for same-sex couples. He added that he does not think 'it is the responsibility of the government to be able to define for a religious-based organization what constitutes a marriage.'...The Delaware senator also said he feels the military's current 'don't ask, don't tell' policy related to gay service members is a 'bizarre' one. The military's major responsibility is to keep high standards, he said. He recalled a conversation with a serviceman in Iraq. Asked his opinion of the policy, the soldier's response to it, Biden said, was, 'What difference does it make? The question is, 'Can he shoot straight?''"
LGBT issues have become big news in Iowa recently. An Iowa judge recently struck down the state's ban on gay marriage, allowing one couple to quickly marry before the ruling was stayed at the county's request. A conservative Iowa group has already moved to impeach that judge, accusing him of "legislating from the bench."
The Iowa civil rights group "One Iowa" was on hand at the Harkin Steak Fry yesterday, where six Democratic candidates were appearing. The group's caucus director James Taylor expressed hope that one of them might step out from the pack: "We would love for one of the candidates to have the courage to come forward, take a stand and do what’s right even in an atmosphere in which they could be hurt for doing the right thing. That would say a lot about one’s integrity."
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 10:43 AM EST by Andy in Democratic Party, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Election 2008, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Iowa, Joseph Biden, Military, News | Permalink
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If Biden doesn't think it's the government's job to define marriage, why does he support marriage licenses at all? Plenty of churches DO marry same-sex couples—why are they exempt from this "religious freedom?"
Posted by: DCN | Sep 17, 2007 11:01:51 AM
The whole dog and pony show is pathetic... people are bending over backwards trying to support GLBT people while still discriminating against us... trying desperately to justify in their minds what they know to be unjust. We've come a long way, to be sure... but we're not there yet.
Posted by: Brian | Sep 17, 2007 11:46:24 AM
The comment that the soldier purportedly made about 'shooting straight' is actually something the late Arizona Senator and Republican Presidental nominee Barry Goldwater said in reaction to "don't ask, don't tell". Is this another instance of Biden skirting the lines of the truth in regards to statements people have supposedly made to him?
Posted by: Jim Pugliese | Sep 17, 2007 11:51:25 AM
"We would love for one of the candidates to have the courage to come forward, take a stand and do what’s right even in an atmosphere in which they could be hurt for doing the right thing. That would say a lot about one’s integrity."
It wasn't going to happen, and it won't happen, and yes, it does define their integrity. Zip.
Posted by: Bill Perdue | Sep 17, 2007 12:19:04 PM
I couldn't follow anything he said. It made no real sense at all.
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Sep 17, 2007 1:24:13 PM
I was at the Harkin Steak Fry. The only candidate who bothered to mention gay people at all was Governor Bill Richardson, whose speech was one of the better ones.
Posted by: Jordan | Sep 17, 2007 3:13:53 PM
Your country is pathetic -- THIS is your "left wing"?! In Canada we have 5 national parties, and even the most RIGHT WING will not dare legislate against gay marriagel, it is so obviously a matter of equality. The only logical alternative is for the government to only allow civil unions to ALL couples and leave the word "marriage" solely up to churches -- in which case, as other posters here point out, there are churches who will marry gay people, so gay marriage will still exist. Gay Americans, you better start demanding some changes - your country has so little political freedom it is scary, with your political spectrum running all the way from centre-right to Fascist. You have no left wing.
Posted by: Strepsi | Sep 17, 2007 4:18:23 PM
Ahhhh yes Strepsi I want to live in a country that values political correctness so much that you can't digress from it in either speech or writing. I live over half the year in the UK and while they have civil unions, just saying the word **facsist* will get you arrested. Questioning any of the nanny state laws will get you brought up on charges. All goverments are alike, the only difference is who's bull is being gored by that goverment.
As I tell my British friends, you only think your freer than those of us who live in the states....but in a head to head comparison, you and the British don't come close friend.
Posted by: Joshua | Sep 17, 2007 5:42:15 PM
Imagining that Biden was stealing a line from Goldwater is asinine. Admirable as it was, there was nothing unique, nothing grandiloquent about what Goldwater said as far as word choice goes. In fact, the exact quote attributed to Goldwater is, "you don’t have to be straight to shoot straight." Many could say something similar including a nongay soldier in Iraq. When Biden claims someone else said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" or "Four score and seven years ago" or "We have nothing to offer but blood, sweat, and tears" or "Why don't ja come up and see me sometime" — then you might have something. Until then: buy a clue.
Posted by: Leland Frances | Sep 17, 2007 6:22:05 PM