At a time when it was not necessarily politically expedient to be in favor of gay rights, Bernie Sanders stood for full equality for the gay (now LGBTQ) community, writing, in the early 1970s
"The Liberty Union believe that there are entirely too many laws that regulate human behavior," Sanders wrote in an open letter. "Let us abolish all laws which attempt to impose a particular brand of morality or ‘right’ on people. Let’s abolish all laws dealing with abortion, drugs, sexual behavior (adultery, homosexuality, etc.)."
Sanders was running for Governor of Vermont under the banner of the Liberty Union Party, a coalition of various progressive organizations. Their party platform thus called for “making taxes tougher on corporations and lighter on families, an end to the Vietnam War and a number of measures to get government out of people’s private lives.”
Sanders may have lost that race, but he did so in a way that showed both principle and courage. This principle and courage would be on display, on the issue of gay rights, while a member of the House of Representatives. He voted, for example, against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, and which was signed into law by then-president Bill Clinton
There is, also, for example, this shining moment, in which he calls out the blatant bigotry of the odious Randall Cunningham on the issue of gays in the military/”Don’t ask, don’t tell”
And then there was the time when, as Burlington’s mayor, Bernie Sanders fully embraced Burlington’s first ever pride parade, in spite of some flack from some local religious organizations.
About this, Bernie Sanders remarked
In the city of Burlington and in the state of Vermont, people have the right to exercise their lifestyles," Sanders said. "It's an American right, anyone's right to have a march... This is a civil liberties question."
Now, of course, it has been suggested that Sanders was slow to embrace marriage equality. So, too, of course were most elected officials. Mark Joseph Stern, writing in Slate, offering, for example, that
Sanders is not quite the gay rights visionary his defenders would like us to believe. Sanders did oppose DOMA—but purely on states’ rights grounds. And as recently as 2006, Sanders opposed marriage equality for his adopted home state of Vermont.
However, Stern goes on to acknowledge a number of pro gay equality positions that Sanders has put forth, ranging from opposing DOMA to endorsing Vermont’s successful Marriage Equality Act in 2009 to cheering the Supreme Court’s marriage rulings to co-sponsoring the Equality Act, a sweeping federal LGBT rights bill that advocacy groups place high on their post-marriage agenda.
Sanders progressive positions, and some contrasts between him and Hillary, also come across in this interview with Rachel Maddow
Bernie Sanders is to be commended for his very progressive history on LGBTQ issues. I hope that even Hillary supporters will be willing to acknowledge that and to thank him for that history