Mike Gravel in 2007 Democratic primary debate on GLBT issues
On Civil Rights:
Alaskan gay supporters in Harvey Milk Club
Q: You are from Alaska.
A: I live in Virginia now, but my heart is still in Alaska.
Q: Are there many gay people up in Alaska ?
A:
My coterie of support within the Harvey Milk Club [a San Francisco-based GLBT support group] is the Alaskans that are in that club. They're in the audience right today.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Civil Rights:
Marriage preceded religion; it's not a religious term
Stop and think. What is marriage? I resent religion saying that it's a religious term. It's not. Marriage preceded all forms of religion in civilization. Marriage is a commitment between two human beings in love. And understand me;
I'm saying two human beings. They can be heterosexual. They can be two lesbians. They can be transgender. They can be two gays. What it is, it's a commitment of human beings in love. And if there's anything we need in this world, it's more love.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Civil Rights:
Mainstream politicians play it safe on gay marriage
Q: Why do you think Obama and Edwards and Clinton do not support full same-sex marriage rights?
A: Well, it's because they're playing it safe. They're not going to lose any votes over not being for marriage, whatever their excuses are.
They're going to win. This is costing votes for us. I don't care. I don't want those votes. So you want to know the difference? A good politician can tell you to go to hell and make you look forward to the trip. We see a lot of that.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Civil Rights:
First accomplishment: creating AK Human Rights Commission
Q: Prior to this campaign, what is the thing that you have done to advance GLBT rights that you are most proud of?
A: My first piece of legislation in the State Legislature was the creation of the Human Rights Commission of Alaska. I fought hard,
I used political capital. And what I learned is that when you use political capital, more capital comes to you. The Human Rights Commission dealt with gays and dealt with the black community. That was my first accomplishment, and I felt it deeply.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Civil Rights:
Straight older men are dead wrong to oppose gay marriage
Q: You are unusual for your generation of straight white men, because you actually support same-sex marriage. How do you speak to men of your generation? And how do you speak just to men of your generation?
A: About my generation, most of them are
wrong. They're dead wrong. They're dead wrong. You know, when I was a kid there was a lot of homophobia around. I can recall when the gay issue was, what, 55% opposed, 40% for. And lo and behold, now if you're talking about the gay issue in general,
it's probably 59% for, and the rest are in the dustbin of history. The same thing's going to happen with the marriage issue. I'll make you a promise. Five years from now the marriage issue will be a non-issue in the next presidential campaign.
Just that simple.
Q: If you think it's changing so much, you could put gay marriage up to a popular vote and it would win?
A: I think so. I think that the American people are basically got really an underlying sense of values of fairness.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Civil Rights:
By next election, gay marriage could win a popular vote
Q: What about gay marriage?
A: The marriage issue will be a non-issue in the next presidential campaign.
Q: If you think attitudes are changing so much, you could put gay marriage up to a popular vote and it would win?
A: I think so. I think that
the American people are basically got really an underlying sense of values of fairness.
Q: Things have changed that much?
A: What happens is we had the leadership that demagogues the issue to a fare-thee-well, whether it's presidential candidates
who can't quite get their arms around the marriage issue and, of course, will give you an argument. And it could be a real argument that it's their morality that doesn't permit it or it's a political argument. When people like myself or Dennis
Kucinich move the ball down the court a little bit, that benefits the gay community. And it's sort of ironic that we see the gay community supporting people like Hillary, Obama, Edwards, who, for some reason, can't get their arms around marriage.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Civil Rights:
Civil union establish second-class citizenship for gays
Q: Did we go for marriage too soon? Should the GLBT community have stuck with civil unions?
A: I know that Rep. Barney Frank initially said that they should have not gone for it. I disagree. But now he's changed his position. He feels that you draw a
line in the sand by telling people that you can't use the word marriage, which, of course, has been misappropriated by religion. Go to the City Hall next time and look for where you go get your license. Does it say Gay Same Sex Union or does it say
Marriage License Bureau? It says Marriage License. What you have to recognize is that when people are telling you that you can't be married, what they're telling you is there's something wrong with you, you're second-class citizens, and that's not so.
You're not second-class citizens, and the sooner our nation matures to that level [the better]. Leadership is the task of bringing us forward to civic maturity, and we don't have enough of that leadership at the presidential level.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Civil Rights:
We must assert our rights; nobody will give them to you
For me, [GLBT issues are about] justice; it's human rights. It's not whether you're gay. I've advocated many times for gays -- come out of the closet, please. Some people can't pay the price at a given point in time. But there's one thing that counts:
You've got to assert your rights. Nobody is going to give you anything from on high. It just does not happen that way in a system of representative government. And so you have to step forward, and
I'll be happy to step forward with you, as I have all of my life. And I can promise you one thing, you stand up for me -- and I need your support; I need your support and want it and beg it because
I'll do more for your cause than any other human being that walks the Earth as your president.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Drugs:
Allow buying marijuana at liquor stores
We have to address the whole drug issue. I see no reason between marijuana and booze or alcohol, and there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to go to a liquor store and buy marijuana.
It has recuperative powers.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Drugs:
Decriminalize hard drugs so we can treat addicts
With hard drugs, what you should do is you decriminalize it. You turn around and treat it like a health issue that it is. And so people who want hard drugs -- let them go to a doctor; let them get a prescription.
Then we can record them and be ready to help them when they're ready to be helped. The way it is now, we fill up our prisons. It's the shame of this country that we have 2,300,000 human beings in prison. Half of them shouldn't even be there.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Drugs:
Drug War failing now, like Prohibition failed in 1920s
Is there anybody that doesn't know the social failure of Prohibition in the 1920s that criminalized our society, that caused people to lose respect for the law? That's what we're doing all over again. It's been 25 years that we've been waging this war on
drugs, and it's an absolute failure.
What's ravaging the inner cities? It is the drug war--not the drugs--the drug war & all of the [associated] activity. Where is the leadership to end this? FDR had the guts to end it back in 1933. I will end it now.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Government Reform:
When you use political capital, more capital flows your way
On my first piece of legislation, I fought hard, I used political capital. And what I learned is that when you use political capital, more capital comes to you.
I was a state representative. And that first year, as a freshman, when they say, "Oh,
I can't use my capital, because I've got bigger things to do." I'll tell you what I found out in life as a political leader -- use your capital, because more is going to flow your way. Because when you win, then more capital comes over the side for you.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Health Care:
Need to do better job on treating Americans with HIV
Q: Nearly 50% black, gay and bisexual men in some of America 's urban cities may already be infected with HIV. I'm wondering what can we be doing a better job of to tackle this problem.
A: The obvious answer is that we need to do a better job on health care. We need to do a better job with respect to how we treat Americans. I feel very deeply.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Homeland Security:
US has nothing to fear; fear sustains the military complex
If you look a little deeper at & the human psyche, there's only two divisions. There's love and fear. Love implements a whole beneficial area of our psyche. But fear is what we've been living under for the last 50 years in order to sustain the military
complex--stop and think; we're afraid of everything in the US . There's nothing to fear. There's nothing at all. And as president, I will call upon the courage in the people to step forward and express themselves with what counts, and that's love.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Principles & Values:
Leadership brings society to civic maturity on tough issues
When people tell gays that you can't be married, what they're telling you is there's something wrong with you, you're 2nd-class citizens. You're not 2nd-class citizens, and the sooner our nation matures to that level--and I say "matures" because in many
areas of our society we are adolescent, and so we have to mature. Leadership is the task of bringing us forward to civic maturity, and we don't have enough of that leadership at the presidential level, and we haven't had much of it for the last 50 years.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On Principles & Values:
Leaders are seen as mavericks, and only later as courageous
The competition say they all want to lead. Well, what does a leader do? A leader stands up with a little bit of courage and does something. You know, I filibustered the end of the draft. I stopped the nuclear testing in the North Pacific.
And I could go on. But back then, mainstream media marginalized me. Oh, I was a maverick, oh, kooky Gravel. Well, I'll tell you what. All you've got to do is live long enough so they can look back and say, "My God, was he a courageous leader!"
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
On War & Peace:
Bush can't go into Iran today because I filibustered draft
The competition is a little weak, because they say they all want to lead. Well, what does a leader do? A leader stands up with a little bit of courage and does something. You know, I filibustered the end of the draft.
Bush can't go into Iran today because he doesn't have the boots on the ground because of what I did. I stopped the nuclear testing in the North Pacific. And I could go on.
Source: 2007 HRC/LOGO debate on gay issues
Aug 9, 2007
The above quotations are from 2007 Democratic primary debate sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC, a gay-rights group) and the LOGO Network (a gay-oriented cable TV channel), Aug. 9, 2007.
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