Joseph R. Biden Jr. Quotes
Things are changing so rapidly, it’s going to be a political liability in the near term for an individual to say “I oppose gay marriage.” Mark my words.
At the time he and the Obama administration had favored legal domestic partnerships for gays but opposed same sex marriage. However, he and the President were having moral and legal doubts and there seemed to be an acceptance of homosexuality emerging in society. The administration then changed their position and within just a few years, same sex marriage had become legal in over 10 states and was being politically debated in many others. In many parts of the country, Biden’s prediction came true in much of America, and the change in political and public opinion was occurring in more and more places.
Joseph R. Biden Jr., Vice President of the United States (Democrat), U. S. Senator (Democrat, DE), April 2012
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Earlier, he had opposed same sex marriage, but as the population as a whole had a change of mind on this issue, so did he. By 2013, 16 States had modified their laws to allow gay marriage.
Two days earlier, New York Voted to legalize gay marriage and Alesi became the first Republican to vote for gay marriage. New York was the first state to legalize gay marriage by an act of their legislature and not by the judiciary on Constitutional grounds. Generally, most of the Republican politicians were opposed to marriage equality as they had the religious right wing of the party for whom gay marriage was anathema.
The Party Leader was also a Protestant Minister.
There was a national debate ongoing regarding whether two members of the same sex might marry. The Constitutions of several states prohibited discrimination against anyone including gays so that the courts in some cases were called upon to rule on the constitutionality of prohibitions against gay marriage. While nationally, the majority of the people were then opposed to gay marriage, in some states (including Kansas), the majority was vehemently opposed. The American Constitutional system and tradition, almost uniquely protects the rights of minorities from the “tyranny of the majority.” When the Supreme Court ruled that schools must be racially integrated, the majority of the country might have preferred a certain degree of racial discrimination. Brownback on this issue called for the will of the majority to prevail over the minority rights of teh Constitution, but on a woman’s right to abortion which was favored by the majority of Americans, he opposed the tyranny of the majority. The issue politically almost always comes down to "whose ox is gored." A decade later, with a generational shift, the vast majority of Americans suported same sex marriage and the majority of the states legalized and Browbak then claimed the right of the minority (States like Kansas) to not be forced the recognize the marriages that the will of the majority had allowed.
His view was that since gay marriage did not affect anyone else but the gay couple, it should not be illegal. This is an early Thomas Jefferson idea (see {604940} ) where Jefferson argues that since it does not effect him or anyone else if a person worships 20 gods or none, he and society has no business legislating against it. Those on the opposite side argued that if someone was an atheist or a pagan, it damaged the culture as a whole and offended their sense of morality. Therefore there must be a state religion. In modern times we are debating the same principle only gay marriage is the subject. Should the majority moral view control all or only those things that directly and negatively affect other people and not their moral sensibilities.
This was an incredibly accurate prediction as 2 years thereafter, it was not only the major civil rights issue of the time, but it became a major general political and legal issue regarding the rights of states. Within year, 16 states allowed same sex marriage.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who is the 46th president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under Barack Obama and represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.; Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden Jr. was the 47th Vice President of the United States, having been jointly elected twice with President Barack Obama. A member of the Democratic Party, Biden represented Delaware as a United States Senator from 1973 until becoming Vice President in 2009.
