Gore leads rush for gay vote | US elections 2000

With varying degrees of circumspection, the candidates in the United States presidential election are courting the 4% of the electorate that is believed to be gay, and its rich funds. Leading the pack, the vice president, Al Gore, has invoked religion as justification for support for the gay and lesbian community.

US elections 2000 This article is more than 24 years old

Gore leads rush for gay vote

This article is more than 24 years oldLinks, background and an interactive guide to the US elections

With varying degrees of circumspection, the candidates in the United States presidential election are courting the 4% of the electorate that is believed to be gay, and its rich funds.

Leading the pack, the vice president, Al Gore, has invoked religion as justification for support for the gay and lesbian community.

In an interview with a gay magazine, the Advocate, Mr Gore said the position for gay and lesbian people in the US should be covered by the second commandment: "Love thy neighbour as thyself."

He added: "I believe that God makes us in different ways. I don't believe that, having made us, God intends us to suffer discrimination and prejudice."

The linking of Christian values to gay rights is certain to alienate the conservative lobby, which has campaigned vociferously against gays in the military and gay marriages.

But Mr Gore, who visited the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Centre during recent campaigning in California, is anxious to head off heckling by Aids activists, unhappy with what they see as the Clinton administration's complacency on research into the illness.

Mr Gore told the Advocate: "The whole history of the US is an expanding circle of human dignity - a growing understanding of who we are as human beings, an appreciation of the human family.

"The tolerance of intolerance has been the enemy in each of the historic struggles - against slavery, in favour of women's suffrage, civil rights and the rights of the disabled... The president can make a big difference in accelerating change."

He added that his support for "faith and family" meant "all kinds of families".

Mr Gore's only rival for the Democratic nomination, Bill Bradley, is already regarded as a liberal on gay rights, and has made a public visit to the LA centre.

According to the Advocate, George W Bush, the leading Republican candidate and proponent of "compassionate conservatism", has been making "behind-the-scenes overtures".

In one of the key senate races, in New York, the gay vote is also likely to be important. While Bill Clinton is seen as strong on gay-friendly rhetoric but light on action, that is unlikely to deter the expected strong gay support for Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic candidate.

"She projects an independent intelligence to lesbian voters who tend to value these qualities, and an 'I will survive' fortitude that gay men have clicked with back to Judy Garland," says Sarah Pettit, the arts and entertainment editor of Newsweek magazine.

The candidates' moves are more good news for the gay community, which at the weekend was celebrating the the Californian state assembly's passing, by a single vote, of a bill to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in state schools and universities.

If the state governor, Gray Davis, signs the bill, students who have suffered harassment because of their sexual orientation will have legal backing for a grievance procedure.

Explore more on these topicsShareReuse this content

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaK%2Bfp7mle5BycHJno5q9cH2SaKysnZyasLW1zqeqa2hgZXu2v8A%3D

 Share!