Emails made public by the State
Department on Thursday suggest Hillary Clinton backed passage of a
bill to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in Maryland.
Lawmakers in the state approved the
bill in 2012. At the time, Clinton's position on the issue was that
she supported civil unions for gay couples.
The state department is making
Clinton's emails public as a result of a court order, releasing
several thousand messages at a time.
In an email dated Thursday, February
16, 2012, Georgetown University law professor Peter Edelman reached
out to Clinton for her support in persuading then-Rep Sam Arora to
support the legislation.
“This is a little off the wall, but I
am told that Sam Arora worked for Hillary at some point,” Edelman
wrote in an email to Cheryl Mills which was forwarded to Clinton. “I
may be writing too late anyway – I've been in meetings all day –
but the people who are working the gay marriage bill in the Maryland
legislature think it would be helpful if someone could find an
appropriate way to say to Mr. Arora on Hillary's behalf that it would
be great if he could vote for the bill. Thanks for whatever is
possible. I realize it may be too much of a reach. All best.”
“Pls let him know Bill called –
unsuccessfully,” Clinton
responded, a reference to her husband, former President Bill
Clinton.
Clinton, now a Democratic candidate for
the White House, did not publicly endorse marriage equality until
after she stepped down from her post as secretary of state. In a
2013 video for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Clinton joined her
husband and daughter, Chelsea Clinton, in endorsing marriage rights
for all Americans regardless of sexual orientation.
(Related: Hillary
Clinton: I support gay marriage.)