Politics

Gore Supports Gay Rights

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

August 31, 1999 / 12:07 PM EDT / CBS

Vice President Al Gore criticized the Clinton administration's policy toward gays in the military and said he would implement the "don't ask, don't tell" policy with more compassion.

In an interview published in the latest edition of The Advocate, the vice president also asserted that adoption agencies - not federal or state governments - should decide on a case-by-case basis whether gays and lesbians should adopt children or serve as foster parents.

"Local adoption officials can evaluate the circumstances of the child and the parenting ability of prospective parents and decide if there's a good match," Gore said.

The vice president, who is on vacation with his family this week, was interviewed in June as he campaigned in California for the Democratic presidential nomination. His comments came before the much-publicized, Aug. 13 announcement by the Pentagon of new, mandatory training on anti-harassment guidelines for all troops.

Last year, according to Pentagon figures, 1,145 people were discharged from the armed forces for homosexuality. In 1997, the total was 997, the highest number since 1987. The number of discharges hit a low of 617 in 1994, the year that President Clinton effected his "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allows gays to serve in the military as long as their sexual orientation is not revealed.

"The statistics may be reflecting some phenomenon I don't understand, but the easiest explanation is that it's not being implemented in a way that fully reflects the spirit of the policy," Gore told The Advocate.

"I would implement the policy with more compassion," he said. Gore added that he would work with military leaders on developing "an implementation strategy that's fairer," but did not offer specifics.

Asked if gays and lesbians were, by their nature, incompatible with "family values," the vice president replied: "I believe that God makes us in different ways. I don't believe that having made us, God intends us to suffer discrimination and prejudice."