Clinton Talks, Obama Balks

That headline is from the Philadelphia Gay News, which requested interviews with both of the Democratic candidates, as well as Sen. McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate. Only Hillary Clinton took the time to meet with this publication, even as the battle for delegates and superdelegates continues and the media spotlight shines now on Pennsylvania. I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of my concerns with Barack Obama is that he seems to court the LGBT vote when he needs us (close contests in Ohio and Texas) and ignore us when he doesn't (Pennsylvania is predicted by most people to go for Clinton fairly strongly).

Some highlights from Clinton's interview:

[M]arriage is in the province of the state, which has actually turned out to be lucky for us, because we didn’t have to get beaten on the Federal Marriage Amendment because we could make, among other arguments, that it was such a stretch for the federal government and it was wrong to enshrine discrimination in the Constitution. 

Even states that have civil unions, domestic partnerships or even marriage laws are running into roadblocks with the federal government when it comes to federal benefits and privileges. Of course, immigration is a federal responsibility and I am going to do everything I can to eliminate any disparities in any benefits or rights under our law at the federal level so that all people will have available to them every right as an American citizen that they should, and that would include immigration law.

I will have a comprehensive review, and I think a lot of that work has already been done, to look at everything that is discriminatory in the tax code or in any other aspect of federal law. And we will try to eliminate all of that discrimination. I think we will have a good argument, ironically, because I think we can say, look, the states are making determinations about extending rights to same-sex couples in various forms and the federal government should recognize that and should extend the same access to federal benefits across the board. I will very much work to achieve that.

You can read the rest of the interview with Clinton here.

Et tu, Obama?