Hillary Clintons views on same sex marriage

Hillary Clinton has stated that she is opposed to gay marriage. Mrs. Clinton believes that since marriage was designed to be an union between a man and a woman it should stay that way. Even though she is opposed to gay marriage, she does support civil unions. She also believes that gay couples who are living in a domestic partnership should have the same rights as married couples.

What other work has Hillary Clinton done for the gay and lesbian community?

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a controversial policy that prohibited those who were openly gay or lesbian from serving in the military. It was first enacted in 1993 and people actively tried to get it overturned. Mrs. Clinton was one of the major supporters of the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” She believed that excluding people from the military based on their sexual orientation hurts everyone. Her hard worked paid off because the policy has since been overturned. Mrs. Clinton also believes that gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to adopt children.

Most of the gay and lesbian community feels that Hilary is doing enough to get them the rights that they deserve. Others have mixed feelings about her because she does not support gay marriage. However, people have to admit that Hilary Clinton has worked hard to make sure that all people get the rights that they deserve regardless of their sexual orientation.

Hillary Clinton is well known for her position that all United States citizens should have some sort of coverage. She does not support single payer healthcare, but she does support incremental reforms that would provide subsidization to those who cannot pay for health insurance. One specific program that Mrs. Clinton supports is SCHIP. Her desire is to expand this program so that it would provide coverage to up to 25% of all of America’s children. This would call for an additional $75 billion dollars to be spent over the course of a five year time period.

In short, Hillary Clintons stance on health care is that every single United States citizen should have some sort of coverage. She has repeatedly decried the fact that millions of U.S. citizens are uninsured because they cannot afford to pay the premiums or because insurers refuse to provide coverage for those who have pre-existing conditions. While Mrs. Clinton has in the past fought for sweeping reforms, at present she favors an incremental approach to healthcare reform. She rejects the single payer system that has been used in other countries such as Canada but she supports the end goals achieved by other countries of providing affordable government sponsored health care to all citizens.

In statements expressed from her time as Senator for New York up to recent pronouncements from her position as Secretary of State, Clinton has maintained a consistent line with signs of a slow and cautious progression. She has been a constant supporter of equal rights for gays and backed moves for civil union. However, she has held back from openly declaring herself in favor of same sex marriage. As a Senator, she voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment which would enshrine in the Constitution a definition of marriage as that between a man and a woman as she believed that the Constitution should not be altered to curtail rights and that decisions on the definition of marriage should be left to states.

As the move for gay marriage has gained momentum and has succeeded in being accepted in some states, Hillary Clintons views on same sex marriage has only shown incremental change. Following the legalization of same sex marriage in New York State in July, 2011, the Secretary of State, when hosting a visit of a gay and lesbian group to the State Department, told her audience the move gives such visibility and credibility to everything that so many of you have done over so many years”. This was not quite a forthright endorsement of same sex marriage.

Interestingly, the views of her husband, former President Bill Clinton have shown a more dramatic shift, from outright opposition 1996 to definite support in recent years. Hillary Clinton is in a very different position from that of the former President. She is both a member of a cabinet led by a President whose views are more conservative on this issue and someone who may still harbor ambitions for higher office. These factors may well constrain her from expressing views that go too far beyond a broad consensus on an emotive subject.

During the Democratic presidential primary in 2007 and 2008, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton agreed that the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy of the US Military did not work. This policy stated that soldiers would not be asked their sexual preference, and they would not tell anyone. Under the policy if it became known that a soldier was homosexual, they would be dismissed from the Army. Clinton stated in 2007 that openly homosexual men and women should be allowed to serve in the military.

As of today, Clinton has not publicly stated that she supports same sex marriage, though as Secretary of State it is tradition that she avoid commenting on the internal United States political topics of the day. She released a video in support of the It Gets Better campaign, which sought to encourage gay and lesbian teens to be proud of who they are and look forward to their future. According to a story in the Advocate, it is widely believed among those who know Clinton that she supports same sex marrige, and simply may be waiting for a time that she is less involved in politics to make her views known.

On January 25, 1993, Hillary Clinton was named the chair of President Clinton’s Task Force on National Health Care Reform, which ultimately suggested a bill be passed requiring businesses to provide health insurance to their employees through HMOs. This would allow the patients to continue receiving care even if they lost their jobs. While the idea ultimately failed in September 1994, Hillary Clinton’s desire to see American fully insured was apparent.

Clinton continued to speak on the poor state of health insurance in America, especially for children. She spoke of making incremental changes to the system as it stands, rather than the large changes that the Task Force attempted to make. These positions were ultimately developed into her American Health Choices Plan proposal that she presented as a presidential primary candidate in 2007. This proposal, which would mandate that individuals have health insurance from somewhere and offer affordable ways to obtain it.

This central idea was what ultimately became the basis of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed in March 23, 2010 and signed by President Barack Obama. This bill mandated health insurance and provided a number of financial resources for people who could not afford it.

Hillary Clinton, however, has not publicly spoken on this bill. It is traditional for Secretaries of State to stay silent on political topics internal to the United States. Judging by the similarities of her core ideas in 2007 and the ultimate bill, she likely provided guidance on its development and will eventually prove to support it.

Hillary Clinton’s stance on health reform has changed over the years. One large factor in this change was the defeat of Bill Clinton’s healthcare reform proposals that were introduced in times past. At the time, Hillary Clinton headed up the task force that introduced many of these proposals. The defeat was humiliating and many decried the Clinton’s plan for sweeping health care reforms. Clinton later stated that this experience taught her the value of bipartisan cooperation and the importance of taking incremental steps towards a goal, as opposed in introducing revolutionary reforms all at once.

Hillary Clinton has stated more than once that she strongly favors the expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Her proposals related to this program would allow up to five million additional children to enroll. She also supports allowing elderly persons from the ages of 55 to 65 to buy into Medicare. Furthermore, Hillary Clinton maintains the position that mental health should be considered on par with physical health conditions.

While Hillary Clinton’s health care position is different in some ways to that of President Obama, there are many similarities. Both are in favor of healthier lifestyles rather than fad diets like HCG drops to lose weight. Both favor universal health care in which all United States citizens have health insurance that enables them to get needed care as and when needed. Both favor government subsidized care that would provide insurance for those who would not otherwise be able to afford it.

Clinton’s views on homosexual marriage are complex, to say the least. She does not publicly support the practice, but does support the idea of civil unions. She tends to be largely positive in her attitudes towards homosexual relationships and issues, but has neither strongly affirmed nor denied any actual opinion on homosexuality itself. It is widely believed that Secretary Clinton does support same-sex marriage privately, but will not endorse the concept politically. At the same time, Secretary Clinton has been a rather staunch opponent of any sort of federal legislation that would define marriage as an act between one man and one woman.

Hillary Clinton’s views on same-sex marriage are hard to actually pin down. She has publicly opposed the practice, but does not oppose civil unions. She is a supporter of civil rights for the LBGT community, but does not consider marriage to be a fundamental right. She opposes any federal attempt to outlaw gay marriage, but at the same time speaks in support of any judicial rulings that find no constitutional right to those same marriages. At the very least, her viewpoint may be be described as politically expedient.

Hillary Clinton’s views on foreign policy are more complex than most. She does not toe a simple party line, nor are her views always consistent with how they are portrayed. She is in favor of a stronger United Nations, for example, while publicly valuing national security above personal liberties. She voted for the Iraq War, though she later expressed dissatisfaction with the vote. She has been a strong supporter of several aspects of the War on Terror, while still advocating a restrained approach to international relations. She is strongly in favor of humanitarian aid for foreign nations, a staunch supporter of Israel, and calls for more careful consideration of illegal immigration issues.

Clinton’s stances on foreign policy range across the political spectrum. It might be best said that she is a careful centrist, advocating thoughtful approaches to all situations. She is not particular hawkish, but does support war when it is either necessarily or politically expedient. In the end, most of her stances take on an almost academic nature. She seems to prefer approaches that take all sides into consideration, and looks for ways to protect the United States while forging relationships abroad. As a Secretary of State, her experience may well have informed many of her more careful choices.

The whole year of 2010 was big for Clinton. She has always been careful not to upstage him, particularly due to their extended primary in 2008, but she is still capable of making news. In January 2010 she made an analogy between a censored internet and the Iron Curtain, which drew the ire of the Chinese, who block certain websites from their country. It showed that the Obama Administration saw the internet as an expressive voice that should not be censored.

Earlier that year, in September 2010, Clinton announced the Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative which aimed at battled hunger worldwide in a sustainable way, helping countries that regularly saw famine to increase their food productivity and decrease the odds that a famine would occur.

Hillary Clinton has proven to be the most traveled Secretary of State in United States history. Last April she clocked herself as having traveled just under 450,000 miles and visiting 79 countries around the world – which is almost half of the recognized countries by the United Nations. Democrats in general saw the Bush Administration’s foreign policy as too confrontational overall, and Clinton has sought to emphasize diplomacy instead. This was especially apparent in late 2009 when she visited Pakistan and spoke with students there, offering blunt assessments of America, its pros and cons, and how it intends to proceed in the future.

One of the most important initiatives that Clinton has pushed is the United Nations Security Council’s resolution on Iran. In an attempt to stop a dangerous country from obtaining an atomic bomb, Clinton and the United States pressed for a resolution that implemented sanctions on Iran. She also stood up to Turkey when they vetoed the resolution, and declared that the nation’s behavior against the resolution would damage its relationship with the United States.

Hillary Clinton has worked hard on relationships with Japan, China and South Korea as well. She helped the president work towards a free trade agreement with South Korea, and remained involved during the upheaval in Japan following the Prime Minister’s resignation last year, and the more recent tsunami tragedy and nuclear disaster.

Foreign policy initiatives under Clinton’s leadership as Secretary of State have included women’s issues as well. She has been unafraid to challenge China on the increasing male population due to the abortions of female fetuses. She also visited a women’s housing shelter when she called on the South African president. Her international initiatives have included making sexual violence against women a global issue.

Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy strategies have made a difference domestically and globally. She has been an effective Secretary of State and an advocate for all Americans, especially women and children. It will be interesting to see what her political and diplomatic future holds.