The Biden campaign took aim at newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson this past week over his views on \u2018same-sex relations\u2019 but ignored past comments from President Biden on the same subject during his time in public office.<\/p>\n
\u2018Mike Johnson called for criminalizing gay sex,\u2019 the Biden-Harris presidential campaign wrote Wednesday in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter. \u2018Johnson called same-sex relations \u2018inherently unnatural\u2019 and said it could destroy \u2018the entire democratic system.\u2019 He railed against courts for \u2018closing bedroom doors\u2019 and upholding the right to privacy.\u2019<\/p>\n
The post also included a link to a CNN article about the subject, which was titled \u2018New speaker of the House Mike Johnson once wrote in support of the criminalization of gay sex.\u2019<\/p>\n
Though the report claimed that Johnson \u2018has a history of harsh anti-gay language,\u2019 President Biden also has a history of making statements against gay marriage during his time as a senator from Delaware and also as Vice President of the United States \u2014 before he famously changed his position.<\/p>\n
In September 1973, while responding to a question about homosexuals serving in the U.S. civil service or the military, Biden suggested that homosexuals were \u2018security risks.\u2019<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s comment at the time, according to Wilmington\u2019s The Morning News, came in response to a question from Robert Vane, a gay activist who questioned the then-senator about discrimination.<\/p>\n
\u2018My gut reaction,\u2019 Biden told Vane at the time, \u2018is that they (homosexuals) are security risks, but I must admit I haven\u2019t given this much thought . . . I\u2019ll be darned!\u2019<\/p>\n
In February 1993, Biden voted in favor of an amendment to codify the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 prohibition of the permanent immigration of individuals who were HIV positive.<\/p>\n
Following his vote, Biden claimed he was \u2018ambivalent on the issue\u2019 but voted for the amendment anyway, saying the issue was \u2018bigger than whether HIV should be on the list or off the list,\u2019 according to a report at the time from The Washington Times.<\/p>\n
The same year, Biden also voted for the National Defense Authorization Act of 1994, which included the \u2018don\u2019t ask don\u2019t tell\u2019 policy that barred gay Americans from serving in the military.<\/p>\n
Signed by then-President Bill Clinton in November 1993, \u2018section 571 of the law, codified at 10 United States Code 654, described homosexuality in the ranks as an \u2018unacceptable risk . . . to morale, good order, and discipline,\u201d according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). \u2018The law codified the grounds for discharge as follows: (1) the member has engaged in, attempted to engage in, or solicited another to engage in a homosexual act or acts; (2) the member states that he or she is a homosexual or bisexual; or (3) the member has married or attempted to marry someone of the same sex,\u2019 CRS noted of the measure.<\/p>\n
The Guardian reported in 2011 that approximately 14,500 individuals had been removed from the military for violating the \u2018don\u2019t ask don\u2019t tell\u2019 policy from 1994 to 2011.<\/p>\n
In August 1994, Biden joined 22 of his Democrat colleagues to vote in favor of an amendment that cut off federal funds to any school district that taught the acceptance of homosexuality as a lifestyle, The Associated Press reported at the time.<\/p>\n
Biden has also held a variety of views on same-sex marriages, which have changed over time as he has worked to appeal to voters.<\/p>\n
In 1996, Biden voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which amended \u2018the Federal judicial code to provide that no State, territory, or possession of the United States or Indian tribe shall be required to give effect to any marriage between persons of the same sex under the laws of any other such jurisdiction or to any right or claim arising from such relationship.\u2019<\/p>\n
Signed into law by Clinton on September 21, 1996, the measure established a federal definition of \u2018marriage\u2019 as \u2018only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife\u2019 and a definition of \u2018spouse\u2019 as \u2018only a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife.\u2019<\/p>\n
Reiterating his support for the DOMA in 2004, Biden stated, \u2018This has long been a state issue, and it should remain that way.\u2019 Biden would later vote for the law, which defined marriage as between men and women for federal purposes, and explicitly permitted states to refuse to recognize same-sex unions in other states.<\/p>\n
At the same time, he twice opposed an amendment to include a gay marriage ban as part of the Constitution.<\/p>\n
In 2006, Biden told CNN: \u2018Look, marriage is between a man and a woman. Tell me why [a constitutional marriage amendment]\u00a0has to be put in the Constitution now? We already have a federal law that has not been challenged. No one\u2019s declared it unconstitutional. It\u2019s the law of the land, saying marriage is between a man and a woman.\u2019<\/p>\n
Biden went on to doubt that it would constitute \u2018discrimination\u2019 to define marriage as between men and women.<\/p>\n
\u2018Look, I don\u2019t \u2014 I don\u2019t know whether it would be writing discrimination into the Constitution,\u2019\u00a0Biden continued.\u00a0\u2018But it doesn\u2019t warrant the Constitution. There\u2019s a lot of things that don\u2019t need to be in the Constitution. And what we have always \u2014 marriage has always been something we left to the states.\u2019<\/p>\n
In June 2006, while speaking to NBC News\u2019 \u2018Meet the Press,\u2019 Biden was more forceful.<\/p>\n
\u2018You know, think about this. The world\u2019s going to Hades in a handbasket,\u2019 Biden told anchor Tim Russert at the time.\u00a0\u2018I can\u2019t believe the American people can\u2019t see through this. We already have a law, the Defense of Marriage Act. We\u2019ve all voted \u2014 not, where I\u2019ve voted, and others have said, look, marriage is between a man and a woman, and states must respect that. Nobody\u2019s violated that law, there\u2019s been no challenge to that law. Why do we need a constitutional amendment? Marriage is between a man and a woman.\u2019<\/p>\n
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Biden maintained his opposition to gay marriage.<\/p>\n
\u2018I have to ask you this because it does affect me and my family directly,\u2019 Biden was asked at a campaign event in Iowa in 2007.\u00a0\u2018But if, in the next five years, if you\u2019re president, do you see gay marriage in the future?\u2019<\/p>\n
Biden responded: \u2018I don\u2019t. Here\u2019s what I do see. I see an absolute guarantee of civil union with the exact same rights. Now, here\u2019s the dilemma. Here\u2019s the dilemma. The truth of the matter is, states have made legal, through licensing, the performance of marriage what religions have essentially consecrated. That\u2019s how they view it.\u2019<\/p>\n
During the October 2008 vice presidential debate, Biden vowed that \u2018in an Obama-Biden administration, there will be absolutely no distinction from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple,\u2019 but that \u2018[neither] Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage.\u2019<\/p>\n
Moderator Gwen Ifill pressed: \u2018Let\u2019s try to avoid nuance, senator. Do you support gay marriage?\u2019 Biden answered simply, \u2018No.\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite his past comments, Biden has claimed in recent years that he was one of the first leaders who held public office to support same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
\u2018I was the first major leader holding public office to call for same-sex marriage. So I don\u2019t know what about the past of Barack Obama and Joe Biden was so bad,\u2019 Biden said in New Hampshire in February 2020, during his campaign for president.<\/p>\n
In March 2020, in Washington, D.C., Biden doubled down: \u2018I\u2019m the first person to go on national television in any administration and say I supported gay marriage. I supported gay marriage when asked. And so it started a ripple effect. I\u2019m not taking all credit for it, but I\u2019m the first major player to say I support gay marriage on national television.\u2019<\/p>\n
However, major figures from both parties had already done so, including Dick Cheney and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.<\/p>\n
When reached for comment, Johnson\u2019s office pointed Fox News Digital to comments he made during a recent appearance on Fox News Channel\u2019s \u2018Hannity\u2019 about the matter.<\/p>\n
\u2018I respect the rule of law. When the Supreme Court issued an opinion, that became the law of the land,\u2019 Johnson said. \u2018I respect the rule of the law, but I also genuinely love all people regardless of their lifestyle choice.\u2019<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n
Gregg Re contributed to this report.<\/p>\n