PRESIDENT CLINTON SPEAKS TO HUMAN
Reference: The Globe and Mail, a Toronto ON newspaper. 1997-NOV-104, Page A4
President Clinton was the guest speaker at a historic meeting of the largest gay-rights organization in the US: Human Rights
Campaign.He became the first sitting president to address a gay group in history.
He cited an address in 1947 by President Truman which dealt with the race issue. President Truman told African-Americans at
the Lincoln Memorial that "all Americans" must be treated equally. Mr. Clinton said "Well, my friends, all Americans still
means all Americans. We know that it is an ideal and not perfectly real now. We all know that some of the old kinds
of discrimination, [that] we have sought to rid ourselves of by law and purge our spirits of, still exist in America
today. We all know that there is a continuing discrimination against gays and lesbians. But we also know that if we're
ever going to build one America, then all Americans - including you and those whom you represent - have got to be
part of it...All America loses when any person is denied or forced out of a job because of sexual orientation. 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."
Mr. Clinton appealed to Congress to pass the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would outlaw
employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
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