by Rex Wockner
National News Briefs
Bill Clinton said Sept. 25 that he had been "wrong" in opposing same-sex marriage.
Speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper, Clinton said: "I realized that I was, you know, over 60 years old, I grew up at a different time, and I was hung up about the word (marriage). I had all these gay friends, I had all these gay couple friends, and I was hung up about it. And I decided I was wrong. That our society has an interest in coherence and strength and commitment and mutually reinforcing loyalties, then if gay couples want to call their union marriage and a state agrees, and several have now, or a religious body will sanction it – and I don't think the state should be able to stop the religious bodies from saying it – I don't think the rest of us should get in the way of that. I think it's a good thing, not a bad thing."
"I just realized that I was, probably for, maybe just because of my age and the way I've grown up, I was wrong about that," he continued. "I just had too many gay friends. I saw their relationships. I just decided I couldn't, I had an untenable position."
As president, Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and affirms that states don't have to recognize other states' same-sex marriages.
For video of a portion of Clinton's remarks, see http://www.tinyurl.com/iwaswrong.
