Clinton, in Historic Speech, Urges Acceptance of Gays

President Clinton, making a precedent-setting appearance before a gay advocacy organization, on Saturday urged the nation to accept gays and lesbians as full-fledged members of the American community.

“If we’re ever going to build one America, then all Americans, including you and those you represent, have got to be a part of it,” Clinton said in his keynote address at a fund-raising gala for the nation’s largest homosexual political group, the Human Rights Campaign.

Clinton, the first incumbent president to participate in an event of this kind, repeated the words of President Truman, who stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial 50 years ago to endorse equal rights for African Americans.

The president quoted Truman, who declared at the time: “When I say all Americans, I mean all Americans.” Clinton added his own postscript: “Well my friends, all Americans still means all Americans.”

Clinton said he had a message for the “people who aren’t in this room tonight who aren’t comfortable with you and won’t be comfortable with me for being here. . . . Gays and lesbians are their fellow Americans in every sense of the word.”

About 1,500 people at the black-tie affair greeted Clinton with an ovation as he approached the podium. When he began to speak, his words elicited whoops and cheers and whistles from the guests, some of whom stood on chairs to snap photos. One man yelled out: “We love you, Bill.”

But Clinton’s remarks were certain to offend those conservatives who have criticized the president in recent days for his decision to address the group, and who have steadfastly opposed his efforts to advocate equal rights for gays and lesbians.

As he spoke, Clinton was interrupted twice by AIDS activists who screamed out about people needlessly dying because of the lack of needle exchange programs for drug users, who are at high risk of becoming infected with the AIDS virus.

When the crowd tried to quiet the hecklers, Clinton said: “I’d have been disappointed if you hadn’t been here tonight. People with AIDS are dying. But since I became president, we’re spending 10 times as much” on AIDS research and treatment programs.

With that, the president’s words were drowned out by cheers. “I have friends alive today that wouldn’t be alive if George Bush were still president,” volunteered one guest, Terry Bean, an apartment developer and broker from Portland, Ore.

Another prominent guest at Saturday’s dinner was comedian Ellen DeGeneres, who was honored for her decision to become the first openly gay star of a televised sitcom, “Ellen.” Last month, Vice President Al Gore was roundly criticized by conservatives for praising the episode of “Ellen” in which DeGeneres’ character reveals she is a lesbian.

DeGeneres told the group she thought she was “risking everything” when she went public with her sexuality, because for years she had told herself that her career was more important than being open.

“Ironically, as soon as I was honest, I became more famous,” she said. “So much for those people who said that it would ruin my career.”

Clinton’s address reflected the growing acceptance of a group of Americans who had been kept on the fringes of the political establishment until recent years.

Although Clinton had not spoken publicly to a gay group before Saturday, he had met with gay and lesbian leaders in the White House and sent a videotaped message to the first gay and lesbian political convention in Chicago in the summer of 1996.

But to many gays and lesbians, Clinton’s participation in Saturday night’s dinner was viewed as a significant, if incremental, sign of their increasing acceptance by American society.

“It’s very exciting,” said Larry Buntin, 52, owner of a Minneapolis marketing firm. “It shows that as a society, we’ve moved 10 million miles.”

Still, some guests at the $250-per-plate event expressed disappointment with Clinton’s overall record on gay issues and his failure to speak to a group like theirs earlier.

“I wish he had done it when he still had to run,” said Pauline Smale, 46, who works at the Library of Congress. “But I guess we should be happy with baby steps. This is certainly a big baby step.”

Before the speech, the White House had tried to downplay Clinton’s participation in the event.

Instead of calling attention to the historic nature of the address, White House spokesman Mike McCurry cited the dozens of other community outreach events attended by the president this year, including a recent appearance at the Italian American Foundation dinner.

The president’s record with gay rights groups has been mixed. He was embraced by the gay community during his 1992 campaign, particularly when he attended a large gay and lesbian fund-raising event held on his behalf.

After becoming president, Clinton was praised for pledging to enact a measure to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military. But the initiative drew so much criticism that Clinton settled for a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, leaving many gays and lesbians feeling betrayed.

Before Clinton assumed office, there were no openly homosexual presidential appointees serving in key government jobs. Clinton has subsequently named more than 100 gays and lesbians to senior posts.

Last year, Clinton disappointed gays and lesbians by signing a measure to deny marriage rights for same-sex unions. But he supported a measure designed to protect gays and lesbians from workplace discrimination. The bill was defeated in the Senate by one vote, and is expected to come up in Congress again next year.

Referring to the nondiscrimination measure during his speech, Clinton said that when gays and lesbians are denied equal employment opportunities, the country’s fundamental “compact” is broken.

“It is wrong and it should be illegal,” he said. “Being gay, the last time I thought about it, seemed to have nothing to do with the ability to read a balance book, fix a broken bone or change a spark plug.”

As Clinton addressed the group, several dozen protesters gathered outside, making speeches in the rain and holding up signs with such slogans as “Gore and Clinton are out of step with normal America” and “Ellen can change.”

“Tonight is a big deal, but he’s been pushing their agenda for a long time,” said Conrae Fortlage, of College Park, Md., a volunteer for Concerned Women for America, a conservative family issues group. “The president is out of step because the majority of Americans believe in a traditional family and a healthy lifestyle.”

Ellen DeGeneres’ mother, Betty DeGeneres, a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign’s effort to encourage gays and lesbians to come out, said she thought the president’s decision to speak to the group was “marvelous.”

“But I think it’s a shame that it has to be so newsworthy,” said the 67-year-old retired speech pathologist who lives in Los Angeles, the group’s first non-gay spokesperson. “Hopefully the day will come when the president will just come and give a speech to this group of Americans--who are wonderful, some of our best and brightest--without any particular notice.”