Joe Biden “If elected, I would call on Congress to enact legislation that would repeal DOMA and ensure that the over 1,100 federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally recognized unions,” he told the gay weekly paper.
Obama does not call this gay marriage, but quiver he does not on the issue – calling on civil unions for gay couples with full federal marriage-like benefits is as complete an endorsement from a presidential candidate as one can expect during a heated race.
While Biden used part of his time during the first and only vice presidential debate Thursday to defend gay rights, he failed to endorse marriage for gay couples.
When debate moderator and PBS anchor Gwen Ifill asked the candidates if they supported granting benefits to gay couples, Biden answered that he believed gay couples deserve equal rights under the law.
“Absolutely, positively. Look, 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. The fact of the matter is that under the constitution we should be granted – same sex couples should be able to have visitation right in the hospital, joint ownership of property, life insurance policies, etc. That’s only fair; it’s what the constitution calls for.
And so we do support, we do support, making sure that committed couples in a same sex marriage are guaranteed the same constitutional benefits as it relates to their property rights, their right to visitation, their rights to insurance, their rights to ownership, as heterosexual couples do,” Biden answered. / ontopmag.com Barack Obama and Joe Biden on LGBT Gay rights, IMAGE SA STEVE
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