Clinton Letter Opposes Anti-Gay Ballot Initiatives

WASHINGTON —  President Clinton has given his support to homosexual rights groups with a letter strongly opposing anti-gay ballot initiatives in states across the country.

“Those who would legalize discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or any other grounds are gravely mistaken about the values that make our nation strong,” Clinton said in a letter to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. “The essential right to equality must not be denied by a ballot initiative or otherwise.”

The letter was dated Monday and--with the blessing of the White House--was released Tuesday by the group, a political action committee that supports openly gay candidates.

At the start of his presidency, Clinton found himself embroiled in a political controversy over his campaign pledge to lift the ban on gays in the military, an issue that the Administration has just managed to put behind it with the final release of Pentagon regulations on the subject.

After that difficult beginning, the White House tried to recast Clinton’s image in less liberal terms. But with his letter to the victory fund, Clinton placed himself in opposition to a major drive by conservative religious groups to promote such ballot measures.

The victory fund said at least 11 states are considering the initiatives.

Clinton described the effort to defeat such measures as “a battle to protect the human rights of every individual” and said the “simple principle of justice” that people should be judged on their merits “has come under assault in several states this year.”

Clinton’s letter came five days after the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and other gay rights groups wrote to the President to ask for “a strong response” from him opposing such initiatives.

William Waybourn, executive director of the victory fund, said he was surprised and pleased by the reply. He said he had gotten the signal from White House officials in advance of sending the letter that the Administration would be receptive to the request.

A senior Administration official said he saw little political cost to Clinton in sending the letter. “He was going to have to take a position on it eventually,” the official said of the ballot initiatives. “I don’t think it’s a big thing.”