Explore Candidates → President → Joe Biden on Gay Rights
Joe Biden
on
Gay Rights
- Abortion and Birth Control
- Civil Liberties and Domestic Security
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Q: "Do you support gay marriage?" BIDEN: "No, Barack Obama nor I support redefining, from a civil side, what constitutes marriage. We do not support that. That is basically a decision to be able to be left to the faiths and people who practice their faiths to determine what you call it."
"I think [gay marriage is probably inevitable] because social mores change... I think government should not be able to dictate to religions the definition of marriage, but I think, on a civil side, government has the obligation to strip away every vestige of discrimination as to what individuals are able to do in terms of their personal conduct."
Voted AGAINST the 2006 Marriage Protection Amendment (S.J.Res. 1), which proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would ban gay marriage.
Checked NO in response a Human Rights Campaign questionaire asking if the candidate "Supports allowing civil marriage rights for same-sex couples."
Voted for the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits same-sex marriage under federal law.
"But one of the things I think more Americans are trying to figure is whether or not somehow a gay union is a threat to a heterosexual union. And I find difficulty in figuring how it's such a threat, if in fact it brings stability, if in fact you have two women who decide to stay with one another for 35 years and are sound and solid in terms of their commitment to one another. I don't know why we should be frightened of that... I just keep thinking, what would happen if one of my children had been gay? I don't know that I'd love him any more, or think that they need any -- or they're entitled to any fewer rights than any other American."
Checked YES in response a Human Rights Campaign questionaire asking if the candidate "Supports civil unions for same-sex couples."
Q: "Do you support...granting same-sex benefits to couples?" BIDEN: "Absolutely. Do I support granting same-sex benefits? Absolutely, positively. In an Obama-Biden administration, there will be absolutely no distinction, from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint, between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple.... Same-sex couples should be able to have visitation rights in the hospital, joint ownership of property, life-insurance policies, etc. That's only fair, it's what the Constitution calls for."
Checked YES in response a Human Rights Campaign questionaire asking if the candidate "Supports extending federal benefits, rights, privleges and responsibilities to same-sex couples and their children provided the partnership meets certain federal standards of commitment and mutuality of interest."
"Joe Biden believes legal recognition should not be denied same-sex couples. He advocates for re-examining federal laws, including the tax code, to ensure our national laws are not unfair to same-sex couples, and that committed adults who are adopting are not discriminated against because of sexual orientation. He supports letting states determine how to recognize civil unions and define marriage."
"I've been to Afghanistan, I've been to Iraq seven times, I've been in the Balkans, I've been in these foxholes with these kids, literally in bunkers with them. Let me tell you something, nobody asked anybody else whether they're gay in those holes, those foxholes. Our allies -- the British, the French, all our major allies -- gays openly serve. I don't know the last time an American soldier said to a backup from a Brit, 'Hey, by the way, let me check. Are you gay? Are you straight?' This is ridiculous. And by the way, we got a war on our hands we're trying to end, in the meantime we're breaking the military. 9,000 of these people have been kicked out. This is not a rational policy."
Checked YES in response a Human Rights Campaign questionaire asking if the candidate "Supports repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy."