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February 25, 2004 Senator, good to have you back with us. SENATOR JOHN KERRY, MASSACHUSETTS, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Good morning, Charlie. Glad to be with you. graphics: john kerry CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) Just for the basis of this discussion, let me just try to get a brief answer. You oppose gay marriage, correct? SENATOR JOHN KERRY Yes, I do. graphics: why is kerry against gay marriage? CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) And you just feel that it does not merit inclusion in the Constitution, that it's an issue that ought to be handled state by state? SENATOR JOHN KERRY For 200 years, the states have had the right to determine the status of marriage in the states. I'm confident that the states will make that determination, and there is nothing to date, even in Massachusetts, that suggests they are not capable of and won't deal with it. I think the President is trying to divide America. I think he's a President in trouble and he's just looking for a political change the subject. And this is the subject he wants to change. I'm here in a steel mill in Ohio. There are 270,000 people who have lost their jobs in this state. Their are people all over the country who don't have health insurance. You know, he just doesn't want to talk about the real issues in front of the nation. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) And, and I'll get to some of those issues in a moment. But I want to concentrate for the moment on gay marriage. SENATOR JOHN KERRY Sure. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) 'Cause essentially what you're saying is you agree with the President. You agree with his basic position of opposition to gay marriage. It's just that you argue about tactics. You think it ought to be done by the states, he thinks it ought to be done Federal. SENATOR JOHN KERRY No. I go a little further than the President. I believe, and the President said this just a couple of weeks ago in an interview. He said, you know, probably we ought to be able to have some kind of contracts or something like that. A year and a half ago or two years ago he said we didn't need a constitutional amendment. Now we, we still don't need it. I believe that you ought to have civil unions. I think you ought to have partnership rights. I think it's important to respect civil rights in our country. And under the equal protection clause of the Constitution, we have to make sure that spousal rights, rights that are afforded to people, are available to every individual in America. But that doesn't mean you have to confuse it with the sacrament or the, the, the church, synagogue, mosque recognition of marriage. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) If, if Massachusetts as the Supreme Court of Massachusetts has, has decreed, if Massachusetts starts marrying people in May, if someone gets married in Massachusetts, a same-sex couple gets married in Massachusetts ... SENATOR JOHN KERRY Right. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) ... and moves to Ohio, are they married there in your mind? SENATOR JOHN KERRY No. And nor are they under the law, because under the Constitution of the United States, the states, as it's been interpreted, do not have to recognize a marriage if it's against the public policy of that particular state. And we have the Defense of Marriage Act, which is the law of the land. So, that is not threatened. Moreover, Massachusetts right now is in the midst of considering its own state constitutional amendment. So there is no showing that the state is not capable of managing this issue. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) You just, you just ... SENATOR JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE The President is leaping into it. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) I'm sorry, you just cited the Defense of Marriage Act which, which does say that Ohio would not have to recognize a Massachusetts marriage. But, you voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. Would you want to ... SENATOR JOHN KERRY Yeah, but not, not ... CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) ... repeal it so that Ohio could recognize a Massachusetts marriage? SENATOR JOHN KERRY No, I would not. I voted against it, Charlie, because I said at the time very clearly that while I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, I thought that was an outright effort of gay bashing on the floor of the United States Senate. There was no need to do it then. There was nothing compelling. There was no issue in front of the country. And it was done for the same purposes that the President is now choosing to have a constitutional amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. It's to divide the country. I don't believe that's the kind of leadership the nation wants. The states are perfectly capable of dealing with this on their own. And there's no showing that you need a constitutional amendment. If you're a real conservative, if you're a real conservative in the United States, you would not tamper with the Constitution during election season. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) Let me get to some of the issues you started to mention a moment ago. SENATOR JOHN KERRY Sure. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) The President had said he was going stay out political fray. But, he got into it, as you well know, with a speech to the Republican governors the other night, talking about the fact you had changed positions, or he maintained you had changed positions, on taxes, NAFTA, Patriot Act, Iraq. SENATOR JOHN KERRY Right. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) A lot of people thought he would attack you as a liberal. But instead he's attacking you as a flip-flopper. Does that surprise you? And how do you answer? SENATOR JOHN KERRY Well, I laugh at it, to be honest with you. There's no change at all. I oppose the way George Bush is implementing those efforts. I don't oppose those efforts. But, the President himself is an absolute walking contradiction. He's a trail of broken promises, Charlie. I mean, this is a man who said he was gonna have a tax cut and create a million jobs. He's lost three million jobs. This is a man who said he would not create a deficit. We have the largest deficits in the history of our country. This is someone who said he would leave no child behind. He's leaving millions of children behind and he's broken his own promise with respect to the funding of education in America. This is a man who said he would bring a, a bill to control the four pollutants that contribute to global warming. Not only has he not fought for it, but he's eliminated carbon dioxide as one of those pollutants. He's walked away from the global warming treaty. He's walked away from environmental commitments. I mean, you can run down a trail here. Americans are desperate for health care. Under the President's plan, only people who have money will be able to save money and get health care. The average American who's living without health care or in fear of losing their health care, gets no help from the President. While people earning more than $200,000 a year get another tax break. Those are the real issues in front of our nation. And I think people want leadership that's gonna stand up and fight for workers, for jobs, for health care, for education, for the environment, and to make America safer in the world. And I will do that. CHARLES GIBSON (Off Camera) John Kerry, appreciate your being with us. Much more to talk about. Come back soon. SENATOR JOHN KERRY Thank you. Copyright 2004 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. |
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