Hillary Clinton opposed same-sex marriage until 2013, but as late as 2014 she suggested that marriage laws still ought to be determined by the states. Talking Points Memo’s Sahil Kapur reports today that Clinton, who graduated from law school 42 years ago, has somehow discovered in 2015 that the U.S. Constitution establishes a right to same-sex marriage:
“For me, marriage had always been a matter left to the states. And in many of the conversations that I and my colleagues and supporters had, I fully endorse the efforts by activists who work state-by-state and in fact that is what is working,” Clinton told Terry Gross on June 12, 2014.
She added that soon after stepping down as secretary of state she announced in 2013 she “was fully in support of gay marriage and that it is now continuing to proceed state-by-state.” The interview didn’t sit well with gay rights activists who strongly oppose the idea of letting states ban same-sex marriage.
Ten months later, Clinton is officially running for president, and appears to have shifted her view toward a full embrace of marriage equality. Her new position? Marriage should be a constitutional right for same-sex couples.
“Hillary Clinton supports marriage equality and hopes the Supreme Court will come down on the side of same-sex couples being guaranteed that constitutional right,” Adrienne Elrod, a spokesperson for the Clinton campaign, said in a statement Wednesday.
Neither Clinton nor her spokesman have explained how or precisely when Clinton came to the conclusion that the U.S. Constitution includes a right to gay marriage.
