Kerry Warms to Gay Marriage at San Fran Fundraiser

Thursday, Mar. 4, 2004 12:06 PM EST
Kerry Warms to Gay Marriage at San Fran Fundraiser

Likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry all but endorsed gay
marriage last week, saying in comments that went unreported till
Thursday that a Kerry administration would bestow over 1,000 federal
benefits to gays who marry where the law allows.

Sen. Kerry, who had previously claimed he opposed same-sex marriage,
told a gay fund-raiser in San Francisco on Friday that he would bestow
a grand total of 1,049 federal benefits - such as the right to file
joint income taxes and collect survivor benefits - to same-sex couples
who unite legally in civil unions, domestic partnerships and even
marriage under their state laws.

"It's the first time in history that a presidential candidate has ever
supported full and equal protection for same-sex couples," said state
Rep. Mark Leno, an early Kerry supporter who grilled the candidate on
the issue at the event, in comments to the Washington Post.

In response to his question Leno said the leading Democrat promised he
would grant "all 1,049 federal rights to same-sex couples in whatever
legal union their states recognize."

Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter did not dispute the account. Leno
has sponsored a bill that would legalize gay marriage in California,
the Post said.

Kerry's tacit support for gay marriage would contradict a major
provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which he voted against
even though it had the backing of then-President Clinton.

Tobias Wolff, a professor at the Stanford University School of Law and
an expert on gay legal issues, told the Post that the law clearly
states that benefits for married people may not apply to same-sex
couples, and that judgments stemming from a same-sex union are not
portable from state to state.

Last week Kerry's ketchup heiress wife Teresa predicted that America
would get used to gay marriage before too long.

"I think with time and without a lot of politicization of this, we'll
get there," Heinz told reporters in San Francisco. "I think the
country will evolve," she added, before dismissing Americans who
oppose same-sex unions as "old fashioned."