I prefer, "Unlike the other candidates, Bernie Sanders supported marriage equality from day one!"

that HRC's supporters have used to excuse their candidate's past on the issued.

And, at this point, realistically she is the only other serious candidate, unless massive groundswells for Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee suddenly occur.

Maybe I should just get a job as a copy editor.

people.

She has been late on a lot of important issues, which is why I cannot support her for a job where important issues affecting many lives, is what the job is about.

A good leader has the foresight and the good judgement to make these very important decisions at the RIGHT TIME. AND they have the courage to stand up and do what is necessary because it is the right thing to do, no matter how much opposition they know they will receive.

Most people do not have that kind of courage.

So when one comes along who DOES, I believe it is my duty to give this job to that person.

As a leader you do not have the luxury of waiting.

If all Democrats had supported Bernie 20 years ago when he voted AGAINST DOMA, many people would not have suffered the enormous bigotry and loss of Civil Rights that they did.

Many died during those years, without the rights they were entitled to, to make decisions for the person they loved, eg, to be able to do the ordinary things every citizen of this country is supposed to have a right to.

It really was a simple issue. It was a question of Civil Rights, a question of paying taxes without representation.

I want my leaders to KNOW what is right. Not to take years, not to be in their waning years before they finally realize that every American is entitled to Civil Rights and this one was really not something anyone who believes that, needed a whole lot of time to grasp.

I don't understand anyone not getting it frankly.

For this particular attack to work ... she'd have to have been on a line that trailed other Democratic voters significantly.

She wasn't.

Bernie Sanders called for the end of ALL discrimination against LGBTQ voters 40 years ago.

The first point is that being right too soon is socially unacceptable.

The second point is that it's far easier to forgive someone for being wrong than for being right.

Just ask anybody who got blacklisted in the late 1940's or early 1950's for being a "premature anti-fascist".

I would have some serious doubts about them.

Evolving in college? Evolving in High School? Sure, lots of new thinking going on, new experiences.

But if you evolved in your 60's or late 50's or whenever Hillary evolved, that means you spent 40 years or more being OPPOSED to gay marriage.

That's a lot of time believing gay people shouldn't have the same rights as everyone else.

And a considered "evolution" in later years points to a real willingness to reconsider, to be considered, to be mindful. Quite a good quality.

Now, though, to be right from the beginning and work hard for it. that is also something special.

and I bet I am not the only gay person whose own parents changed on gay rights generally, or marriage equality specifically in their 50's or 60's.

Leaders know the destination before departure. They don't stumble upon it as they meander along.

like her recent statements in support of it, simply playing to the crowd for votes. When the prevailing winds are against it, Hillary is against it. If the winds change, so does Hillary.

Her actual position could be anywhere on the spectrum.

Does she have any core convictions other than the idea that she should be the next president.

in the sense that I don't think she truly ever really believed what she was saying back then.

one value to win on another one. Yes compromise sometimes is needed. But to then later say that you now support the issue begs the question - for how long?

which plays into the criticisms of Bernie for not pandering enough.

Who makes the better leader?

I know which one I would choose.

Sure sounds like he was following the pro-gun sentiments of his Vermont constituents.

And as I recall, Vermont was one of the first if not the first states to allow gay marriage. Easy to stick your neck out if there is no one there to chop it.

understanding of the history and times. You take the view that 'marriage equality' has always been the leading issue in LGBT rights.
It's important for straight people to note that in that letter while running for governor, Bernie was talking about repealing actual laws that actually existed and were enforced against LGBT people and even straight folks, adultery laws and all sorts of things. Removing laws against a people does not in fact give those people rights until those rights are set forth. Back when he said that, very few even among gay people were even dreaming of marriage out loud. It was more like 'stop with the raids and arrests' sort of stuff.
So Bernie's position was perfect for the time. But it's not 'gay marriage' he's talking about, it's not putting gay people in jail.
This distinction is important because society needs to remember the bullshit it has done, not pretend that it's always been just parsing out the marriage thing.
CA passed a law in 1975 which legalized consenting adult sexual activity of all kinds, the same year CA repealed laws against oral and anal sex which related to everyone but which were enforced on gay people. That's the sort of thing that 'gay rights' meant then. Democrats tended to support that, which is how those laws got repealed. Which is what Bernie was talking about in that letter.
Knowing Bernie, I assume that the first time marriage equality was proposed to him he was for it. Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, Obama and others have gone through various stages of support for marriage equality but it is a misuse of these issues to imply that any of them were ever in support of the laws against homosexuality that existed at that time. It's also an unfair comparison.
The cycle we are in now is not about repealing laws against but about extending protections and rights to LGBT people. Repeal all the laws against, you still need ENDA to offer protections in employment.

Bernie is a leader on all human rights and civil rights issues. But his Democratic rivals are not 'pro oppression' of LGBT people and it's sort of sad to see straight people carry on like this on this of all weekends.

who have claimed that Bernie "doesn't say enough" about LGBTQ rights and racial issues.

As is obvious from even a casual examination of Bernie's political history, he has always been a solid advocate for civil rights across the spectrum. Since these disingenuous posts come from HRC supporters, there is a natural tendency to compare Bernie's record to Hillary's record in order to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the accusation.

I don't think the intent is to accuse Hillary of being "pro oppression," but to show that claiming Bernie "doesn't say enough" about LGBTQ rights is dumb. His record is consistent, and actions speak louder than pandering.

There is, of course, a difference between decriminalization and full legal equality.

And at the time Bernie came out for decrimalization, the LGBTQ agenda was "liberation", not legal monogamy.

And I should have been more clear on that. And marriage was not always the main issue for the LGBTQ community...breeder intransigence on accepting committed same-sex relationships and offering them legal recognition and protection probably appear to have played the decisive role in elevating marriage to the top of the agenda(had straights nationally accepted civil unions with equal legal status in the Nineties or eighties and ended all discrimination against LGBTQ people at that time, would marriage even be an issue at this stage? I ask that not knowing the answer).

Marriage became the major goal, most likely, because nothing else seemed to end the discrimination. It is still deeply that, in many areas, LGBTQ people(and others)who are in long-term committed relationships but don't wish to marry face discrimination, and single LGBTQ people still have a lot of hills to climb before they reach full equality(ENDA still needs to be passed).

Not attempting to minimize the joy of this weekend. We should celebrate it.

Don't you recall how everyone wanted Warren to run....yet she was a card carrying, Republican voter for decades. The past has no bearing on the more recent issues, and if that were so, Bernie has an Essay that would sink him.

Ridiculous

...heaven help us from a world where people don't evolve.

I evolved on gay marriage

The next big issue is gun sense
Where do the candidates stand on this issue
That is what is important to me

Where HRC is right-wing and inflexible(trade, economics, war)?

Many Democrats find this issue difficult and complicated.. but over time have come around to what is right. Nothing wrong with that.