Liberal Values Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

The HRC/LOGO forum shows that progress has been made as Democratic candidates (but no Republicans) are willing to address the issues. The debate also made it clear that more progress is needed as most of the candidates still found legalization of gay marriage too hot to handle. If the debate affects any of the candidates it will be Richardson.

Bill Richardson has many fine qualities, but debating is not one of them. He put his foot in his mouth when asked if homosexuality was a matter of choice or biological. Richardson answered that it was a matter of choice, but at least later realized he made a mistake and tried to recover in a statement after the forum:

“I misunderstood the question. Let me be clear- I do not believe that sexual orientation or gender identity happen by choice. But I’m not a scientist, and the point I was trying to make is that no matter how it happens, we are all equal and should be treated that way under the law. That is what I believe, that is what I have spent my career fighting for. I ask that people look at my record and my actions and they will see I have been a true supporter of the LGBT community.”

In a subsequent response to AmericaBlog Richardson said, “This is something you are born with, and regardless of whether there is conflict about the science of it (homosexuality), I support full and equal rights. I fully support domestic partnerships.”

This largely comes down to Richardson possibly being misinformed about the science but still taking the same position as the other Democratic candidates. Being unclear on the science but having essentially the correct political positions is far preferable to the common Republican stance of promoting policies which are wrong and basing them on pseudo-science.