emocrat Patrick Leahy has rep-
Dresented Vemiont in the U.S.

Senate since 1975. Since 1992,
he has cosponsored federal legislation
prohibiting workplace discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation. He
supported lifting the military’s ban on
lesbians and gays and maintains a poli-
cy prohibiting sexual orientation-based
discriminati_on in his office. As a result
of his pro-gay voting record, Leahy
regularly received 100 percent positive
ratings from the Human Rights
Campaign, a Washington DC-based
gay lobbying group. His rating for the
104th Congress, however, fell to 89
percent as a result of his vote in favor
of the antigay Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA). Most recently, Leahy again
earned a 100 percent HRC rating in the
107th session of Congress.

Leahy is the Ranking
Member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee and also serves on the
Agriculture and Appropriations
Committees. He is a graduate of Saint
Michael’s College and the Georgetown
University Law Center. In November,
he will run for his sixth term and will
likely face Republican businessman
Jack McMullen. I ‘ I
In a recent interview with

Out in the Mountains, Leahy discussed
his upcoming re-election campaign and
a number of issues of concern to gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender
Americans. Excerpts from the inter-
view:

OITM: You recently introduced the
Permanent Partners Immigration Act
(PPIA). Describe the bill and your
motivation for introducing it.

Leahy: I did it as an issue of fairness.
Under immigration law today if you
are a married American citizen you
have an expedited ability to bring your
spouse in. As a gay partner you can’t.
Basically it says ifyou are a gay or les- ‘
bian partner you can immigrate to the
United States under the same condi-
tions as a heterosexual married partner
could. More members have started to
sponsor it. Sen. Chaffee is the first
Republican to sponsor it and Sen.
Kerry, of course, is a sponsor. We have
11 cosponsors.

OITM: Shortly after the Supreme
Judicial Court’s decision legalizing gay
marriages in Massachusetts you said
you opposed amending the U.S.
Constitution to prohibit gay marriage.
How did you come to this decision?

Leahy: I think that is a matter the
states should determine. We went
through this debate in Vermont and

Patrick Leay
Talks Politics with
O|TM’s Paul Olsen

decided on civil unions as the appropri-
ate way to go. We’ve never used the
constitution to get involved in what
basically is a state issue. This would
also be the first time we’ve ever
amended the constitution to hit a par-
ticular class of people, and I just don’t
think we should. Let the states work it
out. I will fight it tooth and nail
because I think it is the wrong thing to
do.

OITM: Your support for the PPIA and
opposition to the Federal Marriage
Amendment appear to contradict your
1996 vote in favor of the Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA). How do you
reconcile these seemingly conflicting
positions?

Leahy: DOMA I saw asbasically say-
ing the same thing I’ve always said,
that each state should determine their
laws on marriage and their laws shall
control within their state.

OITM: In hindsight, do you regret vot-
ing in favor of DOMA?

Leahy: I wish that the issue had not
come up because of the motivation [for
the bill]. In hindsight I think the moti-
vation was to strike out at gays and les-
bians. The irony however is that
DOMA is giving some shelter to those
who are willing to oppose the [anti-gay
marriage] constitutional amendment
because they can say we’ve already
voted on this issue.

OITM: How do you view prospects
for passage of the Employment
Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA)?

Leahy: This year unless we could find
some way to get it on as an amendment
to something I d'on’t see it [passing].
The Republican leadership and the
White House are totally opposed to it
and they are the majority. Switch two
seats in the Senate and we’ll
[Democrats] be in the majority and we
can bring it up.

OITM: The Bush Administration’s
Office of. Special Counsel has sent
mixed signals regarding whether gay
and lesbian federal employees are pro-

tected from antigay bias at work.
Describe your understanding of where
this controversy stands.

Leahy: Obviously they should be pro-

tected. In my office and in most mem-
bers’ offices they are protected by our
own office manual. Nobody is allowed
to discriminate because of one’s sexual
orientation in my office. Just as some
companies make it a company-wide
policy because it makes sense, it is bet-
ter for morale, and is better for civil
rights and honesty, it should be in the
government. If you pass ENDA that
makes it very clear and that’s why we
should pass it. If they [Ofiice of
Special Counsel] take it off the website
what kind of signal does that send? If I
was gay or lesbian working in that
workforce I’d be a little bit nervous.

OITM: A bill introduced in the U.S.
Senate (S.l252) would require the fed-
eral government to “provide benefits to
domestic partners of federal employ-
ees.” Conceptually, is this legislation
you would support? 7 ‘“

Leahy: I would. In fact, I wrote the
Mychal Judge Police and Fire

. Chaplain’s bill. Mychal Judge was a

gay priest who died in the [Twin]
Towers going in to give last rights. I
also urged Ken Feinberg who was the
Special Master of the [9/ll victims’
compensation] fund to use a broad
domestic partner category for survivors
of a gay or lesbian relationship.

OITM: S. 1702 would eliminate federal
income taxation of employer-provided
health benefits to domestic partners
including couples entered into civil
union in Vermont. What is your posi-
tion on S.1702?

Leahy: I’d support that.

OITM: In 1998 you criticized then-
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-
Mississippi) for refusing to schedule a
vote on openly gay James Hormel to be
Ambassador to Luxembourg. Now you
have been criticized for blocking
Senate votes on President Bush’s anti-
gay judges. How do you reconcile the
two?

Leahy: Entirely different thing. James
Hormel’s was a one-year appointment
and was blocked solely because he was
gay — not because of any positions he’s
taken on anything, not because he has
antipathy towards the law or a class of
people. It was solely because he was
gay. I would oppose any leader,
Republican or Democrat, who would
do that.

The judges I’ve opposed are
for lifetime positions, and it has only
been -three or four who have shown a
total disregard for a total class of peo-

ple. It is either workers or women.

One, for example, said that pregnancy
that results from rape is as rare as a
snowstorm in July in Miami and also
that God’s law says emphatically that
women must be subservient to their
husband. I spent eight years as a prose-
cutor and I saw 15-year-olds who
became pregnant from rape. And I
heard that wives need to be subservient
to their husbands every time I arrested
someone for wife beating. Am I going
to try toiblock them from getting a
vote? You better believe I will.

OITM: As President, what kind of
leadership do you think Sen. John
Kerry (D-Massachusetts) will provide
on gay and lesbian issues?

Leahy: You won’t see gay and lesbian
rights taken off a government web site!
I know John very well. I know from
my private and public conversations
with him that he would be extremely
protective of gay and lesbian rights.

OITM: Why should GLBT vehndnieis
support your reelection in November?

Leahy: It is not what I say I will do, it
is because of what I have done. Look
at my hiring practices, my Mychal I
Judge bill, my immigration legislation,
my fight against the [anti-gay mar-
riage] constitutional amendment, and
my votes on nominations.

OITM: Do you have a final message
for GLBT Vermonters?

Leahy: Vermont went through all kinds
of debate and we survived, we’re
stronger. I look at what Bob Stafford
said and the Rutland Herald editorials
which won the Pulitzer Prize. Respect
people. Respect them in their lives.
We’re better as a state if we ‘do. People
can give to the state. If you have a
committed couple who make their
community and state better, as Senator
Stafford said, we’re all better for it.
Marcelle and I will be married this
summer 42 years. There’s nothing I’ve
accomplished that liasn’t been without
her support and her work. We’ve been
total partners. We’re better off when
we have couples that feel that way
about each other. V

Paul Olsen coyers national and state
political figures for OITM. He lives in
Colchester and also writes for Bostonfs
In Newsweekly.

“Nobody is allowed to discriminate because of one’s sexual orientation in my office!’ Sen. Patrick Leahy

 

\

I

I
l