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John Kerry favors civil unions for gays
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry says he believes people are born gay but are not guaranteed the right to marry within their own gender.
"I think it's entirely who you are from birth, personally," Kerry said in an interview to be broadcast on MTV. "Some people might choose, but I think that it's, it's who you are. I think you have ... people need to be able to be who they are."
Asked why he favors civil unions instead of marriage if people are born gay, Kerry replied: "What is distinct is the institutional name or whatever people look at as the sacrament within a church, or within a synagogue or within a mosque as a religious institution. There is a distinction. And the civil state really just adopted that, and it's the rights that are important, not the sort of ... the name of the institution."
In a transcript released Friday by MTV for its Tuesday special "Choose or Lose: 20 Million Questions for John Kerry," the presumptive Democratic nominee said he favors civil unions to give people partnership, inheritance and other rights.
"I think that people have a right in America to be who they are," Kerry said. "I believe very strongly that we can advance the cause of equality by moving toward civil union."
President Bush supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a measure Kerry opposes on the grounds that marriage is a state issue. Kerry has said he would outlaw job discrimination against homosexuals, extend hate-crime protection to them, and allow them to serve openly in the military.
Bush has continued President Clinton's policy allowing gays to serve in the military if they are not open about their homosexuality.
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People like independent candidate Ralph Nader less today than they did when he ran for president in 2000, according to a poll released Friday.
Some 21 percent said they have a favorable view of Nader, while almost twice that many, 37 percent, have an unfavorable view, according to the National Annenberg Election Survey.
People were evenly split - 24 percent favorable and 24 percent unfavorable - on the consumer activist four years ago when he ran as a Green Party candidate against Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush.
Many Democrats blame Nader for the Bush victory in the close 2000 election, though Nader says the blame falls on Gore for running a poor campaign, and on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Former President Carter told fellow Democrats on Thursday that he would advise Nader to go back to "examining the rear ends of automobiles and don't risk costing Democrats the White House this year, as you did four years ago."
Those who want to see Democrat John Kerry defeat President Bush this year have asked Nader not to run, a plea he has rejected.
Liberals were more likely to see him favorably in 2000 - 33 percent to 17 percent unfavorable. But they are split about evenly, according to the poll.
Republicans' views of Nader have grown more negative, despite claims that his presence in the race helped Bush win the presidency. In 2000, 33 percent of Republicans viewed Nader unfavorably while 18 percent had a favorable view. This year, 42 percent of Republicans view Nader unfavorably.
The poll of 1,596 adults conducted Feb. 23 to March 22 had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
(Associated Press Writer Will Lester contributed to this report.)
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