Obama ends suspense, picks Biden Del. senator called ‘proven advocate’ for gay rights
LOU CHIBBARO JR Saturday, August 23, 2008
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s decision to pick Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) as his vice presidential running mate drew immediate praise from gay activists in Delaware, who called Biden a strong and reliable friend of the gay community.
After more than two months of deliberation over selecting a vice presidential nominee, Obama announced Biden’s selection shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday in text messages and e-mails sent to his campaign supporters.
Although Biden, 65, has not signed on as a co-sponsor for as many gay-related bills as activists would have liked, he has voted for gay-supportive legislation and against anti-gay measures nearly every time such legislation came before the Senate during his 35-year tenure as a senator, according to Delaware activists.
“You won’t see him taking the lead on gay issues, but whenever there is a vote, he’s always with us,” said Peter Schott, president of the Stonewall Democratic Club of Delaware, a gay rights group.
“He’s a great choice for vice president,” said Steve Elkins, executive director of Camp Rehoboth, a gay social and community service organization in Rehoboth Beach, a Delaware resort town with a large gay community.
“Biden has always been very supportive of everything we’ve done,” Elkins said.
Last year, after announcing his candidacy for president, Biden joined other Democratic presidential candidates, including Obama, in expressing support for an employment non-discrimination bill that includes both gays and transgender persons.
"We have reason to think he's very positive on all LGBT issues," said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.
In a questionnaire sent to all presidential candidates by the Human Rights Campaign, Biden also indicated, similar to Obama, that he supports civil unions for same-sex couples rather than marriage rights. Like Obama, Biden said he favors providing couples joined in civil unions with all of the rights and benefits of marriage.
Biden dropped out of the presidential race earlier this year after losing to Obama and other candidates in the early primaries.
In his role as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden has been credited with shepherding through the Senate earlier this year a sweeping global AIDS relief bill that includes a provision repealing the U.S. ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.
HRC gave Biden a rating of 78 out of a possible 100 in its most recent congressional scorecard on gay- and AIDS-related issues, which covered the years 2005-2006. Biden lost points in the rating, according to HRC, because he didn’t sign on as a co-sponsor to the Uniting American Families Act, which would allow same-sex partners of U.S. citizens who are foreign nationals to obtain the same immigration benefits as foreigners who are married spouses of U.S. citizens. Delaware activists have said they believe Biden would vote for the bill if it reaches the Senate floor. The measure has been stalled in Congress for more than four years.
Over the past 20 years, Biden’s HRC scorecard rating varied from a perfect 100 to a 63.
In recent years, Biden has voted for hate crimes legislation and against a constitutional amendment calling for banning same-sex marriage. As a candidate for president earlier this year, Biden said he favors repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which bans gays from serving openly in the U.S. military.
In 1994, Biden broke ranks with many of his Republican and Democratic colleagues by voting for an amendment to prevent the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy from being enacted into law. The amendment, which lost, came at a time when President Bill Clinton backed the policy as a compromise after Congress refused to support Clinton’s original plan for allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
Biden’s only significant vote against the interests of gay rights came in 1996, when he joined many of his Democratic colleagues in voting for the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage under federal law as a union only between one man and one woman.
Information compiled by HRC shows that between 1990 and 2000, Biden voted for three separate versions of hate crimes bills that included protections for gays. In 1992, Biden voted for a procedural motion to stop an attempt by Congress to bar the D.C. government from implementing its local domestic partners law. The motion failed. “In selecting Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, Sen. Obama has chosen a proven and effective advocate for fairness and equality that our entire community can be proud of,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Sen. Biden’s record in the United States Senate is one of support and understanding that has been unwavering throughout his career.”
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