Clinton Changes His Mind On Same Sex Marriage But Is It A Little Too Late?

Back in 1996  Bill Clinton, as President of the United States, passed a law called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a law which effectively made same sex marriage illegal.  It has therefore come as a big, and welcome, surprise to many to hear Clinton last week announce that he has changed his personal stance on the issue.

Talking in an interview with Anderson Cooper of CNN, Clinton spoke of how he’d recently come to realise how contradicting his beliefs of supporting the rights of gay individuals and adoption, but not that of gay marriage had been. However whilst he was happy to reveal the change in opinion he had had, this hasn’t meant that Clinton believes there should be any change in national policy, instead believing the issue must be left up to the states.

The news has obviously been warmly welcomed by gay rights organisations globally, with many hoping that the respect that many countries have Clinton will mean his views will  be of influence to them. However, at the same time, there are many others who don’t feel that this is as much of an influential move as many would like to think it was, highlighting how Clinton is only revealing these views now he is out of the political arena in the US, and  that changing the views and actions of those in power, who will really make the difference, is far more difficult.

CNN Interview With Bill Clinton On Same Sex Marriage

Photo by Photo Mojo.