2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Has Sanders really always supported marriage equality [View all]dsc
(52,155 posts)Goldstein uses the word decades, that is more than one decade, as in two or more. Since she has supported it since 2013 that means you have to go back to 1993. To get there you need the letter because none of your links or anyone else's are from before 1996 aside from the letter. Oh Zorra, also states it. Again, every single straight congressperson, every last one, who provided a rationale stated clearly that they didn't favor marriage equality but opposed the law.
Here is just one example, Senator Kerry, in 2004.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28118-2004May14.html
With his home state set to begin marrying same-sex couples on Monday, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) reiterated his opposition to the idea yesterday, even as he met with gay and lesbian groups to shore up their support.
The presumptive Democratic nominee has long opposed gay marriage, favoring instead state-sanctioned civil unions that extend legal protections to gay couples.
Yet Kerry has taken several positions on the issue: He voted against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union only of a man and woman, saying it amounted to gay-bashing. Kerry has opposed President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage but said in February that he favors such a ban in Massachusetts.
"If the Massachusetts legislature crafts an appropriate amendment that provides for partnership and civil unions, then I would support it, and it would advance the goal of equal protection," he told the Boston Globe.
end of quote
Now this is 8 years after his vote on DOMA. I don't think he can be clearer on his opposition to marriage equality. Again, not a single solitary person who is straight who provided a rationale for his or her vote said anything different. So unless they are all ridiculous, then it seems more than reasonable that Sanders had the same rationale the rest of them did.