Scott Braddock, host of KRLD’s “Behind the Headlines,” asked Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White yesterday whether it’s true that he voted against Texas’ 2005 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. White responded affirmatively and said he did so “out of protest.” Here’s a transcript of the audio, which you can listen to here:
“I think we ought to have traditional marriage between a man and a woman, but frankly it was against the state statutes anyway and I think of it more as a wedge issue. I think politicians ought to spend a little bit more time thinking about staying married themselves then on who marries who. … I’ve never gotten up in the middle of the night, you know, just hoping the people in Austin would pass a law to prevent my wife from going off and marrying another woman.”
When I posed a similar question to White three months ago, he answered as follows:
“Same-sex marriage is precluded by the Texas Constitution. I believe Texas state government has more pressing issues than support or repeal of state constitutional amendments on this subject. My personal position has been the same as was expressed by President Obama in the last campaign. … I did vote against the state constitutional amendment in protest of wedge issue politics.”
There’s only one problem with White’s responses, aside from the fact that he doesn’t support marriage equality. Find out what it is after the jump.
If White’s position is the same as Obama’s, it means that he favors civil unions for same-sex couples but believes marriage should be between a man and a woman. But that leads to an unresolved difference that seems to be emerging between between the stated positions of the two. Obama supports a full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex relationships. Obama’s support of the DOMA repeal is in line with his support for civil unions, because you can’t have both.
Likewise, if White supports civil unions, he should support a repeal of Texas’ constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, which also bans all relationship recognition. White has said repeatedly that he voted against the amendment “out of protest of wedge politics.” But if he supports civil unions, he should in fact support a repeal of both the 2005 amendment and Texas’ 2003 statute, known as the state’s “mini-DOMA.” White has said he voted against the 2005 amendment, but as a justification for that vote, he says same-sex marriage was already prohibited by the 2003 statute. The problem is, both the amendment and the statute ban not only marriage, but also any form of relationship recognition.
So it would appear as though White’s statements are self-contradictory, and the question that needs to be asked of him is not, “What do you think about gay marriage?” The question that needs to be asked is, “Do you support a repeal of the 2005 amendment and/or a repeal of the 2003 statute related to same-sex relationship recognition?”
I would have already asked White this question, but thus far he has refused to give the Voice a live interview, with his campaign choosing instead to correspond in a somewhat limited fashion via e-mail. If White doesn’t support a repeal of the two state laws prohibiting any form of relationship recognition, then I would say his position is out of step with not only his own party, but the state’s voters as a whole. As I reported a few weeks ago, three consecutive polls have shown that about 60 percent of Texas voters support some form of relationship recognition for same-sex couples, either civil unions or marriage. What people need to realize is that in order to get there, at least legislatively, both the amendment and the statute must first be repealed.
White’s last answer to Stonewall Democrats was the same…a non-answer. Although he did toss in the fact he lost a gay brother and is strong on LGBT rights, as well as a supporter of Annise Parker. So while I do not like his answer on marriage, I don’t think you are going to get a true answer out of him while he is trying to court centrist and right wing voters to vote for him over Governor Goodhair. White is our guy in November and it shouldn’t stop anyone from voting against him based on one issue. If it does, then it’s no better than single issue voters who vote against candidates based on their views of abortion, gun control, or any other wedge issue.
Bill White will think whatever he is required to think in order to advance his own political career.
Duh.
John,
Again, my problem is not that he doesn’t support marriage equality. I wouldn’t expect a candidate for governor of Texas, regardless of whether they personally believe in marriage equality, to come out and say it. My point is that his current position contradicts itself, and he needs to clarify what his position is on these issues. As you probably know, Farouk Shami adopted a comprehensive policy statement on LGBT issues written by Hank Gilbert. Barbara Ann Radnofsky, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, has posted a policy statement on LGBT issues on her Web site. Bill White needs to do something similar, or at least give the Voice an interview, so we know what his positions are. The whole “I’m strong on LGBT issues” thing is pretty much bullshit. What LGBT issues? And how are you good on them? We need specifics. If Obama can provide them, so can White. Otherwise, what leverage do we have if he wins and gets into office? I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss me as a one-issue voter because I demand clear policy positions from candidates.
This is truly amazing to me. Rick Perry most likely will squeak out a fourth term (third term in his own right) as governor to bring his total time in that office to 14 years.
He is one of the most anti-gay politicians in America. He is constantly use gay rights as a wedge issue to gain more support.
Texas has for the first time in literally 20 years, the chance to elect a Democrat. The last time we did that was 1990 and Ann Richards.
Yet, in search of a story or to make headlines, John Wright and the Voice, are micro dissecting Mayor White’s comments to put him in a corner where he has to definitively declare his support of gay unions, so that Rick Perry can use that against him.
While I know that the pursuit of the news has no agenda and all that…. But I just can’t help but wonder why the state’s only gay newspaper wants to aggressively pursue this line of questioning from the most gay friendly candidate for governor we have probably ever had.
On the surface, it seems like a good idea to ask the Democratic nominee for governor about his views on gay marriage….. But after you have asked those questions…. it becomes a game of gotcha to pour over his responses to find some convoluted line of reasoning to imply that Bill White isn’t supportive enough of gay rights.
Hillary Clinton would not even call for the full repeal of DOMA (and Obama did), but the Voice could not have fawned anymore over her, than if she had been a lesbian herself. Yet even though Obama was clearly ahead of her on gay rights…. the Voice crowned Hillary the choice for the gays.
I adore the Voice, and John Wright and Tammye Nash are great people and writers… But I would challenge them to visit Tyler, Midland, Lubbock, and see how quickly the support for any type of gay rights quickly disappears the further you get away from Dallas, Houston, and Austin.
If we don’t want Rick Perry to be governor for another 4 years, we need to elect Bill White. And discouraging gays to vote for him because he wont’ stand at the top of the capitol dome and declare his unwavering support for gay marriage…. … well I fear what we will get from all of that, is another 4 years of Rick Perry.
And if you want to know what an anti-gay politician looks like; it looks like Rick Perry, certainly not Bill White.
Josh M.:
First, I never said Bill White was anti-gay. And second, if Rick Perry wins because we had the nerve to do our jobs and report on LGBT issues, then I’ll gladly take the blame.
I’m sorry. I retract my previous statement.
I wrote, “I adore the Voice, and John Wright and Tammye Nash are great people and writers…”
I was wrong.
John Wright is a thin skinned, carpet bagging Yankee who doesn’t know shit about Texas politics. And it shows in his reporting.
Saucer of milk, table one for Mr. Josh!
Josh M.:
That sounds like something Rick Perry would say. Maybe you should go work for him.
It’s true, White’s position is the same as Obama’s, both will take gay volunteers and campaign contributions, but neither will advance any gay issues, unless absolutely forced.
People need to decided if they want no civil unions or marriage under Perry or White.
Personally, I don’t fund or help people that hate me slightly less than the other guy.