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Compiled By GayToday
Washington, D.C.—President Bill Clinton, addressing a dinner for the governors
of the United States Monday, challenged the nation to constantly push back the frontiers of
discrimination.
The Chief Executive specifically championed ENDA, or the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill currently before the U.S. Congress which prohibits employment discrimination against lesbians and gay males. Only three paragraphs into his speech (text follows) the President purposefully cited-- as an example of his vision of a more ideal society--the Employment Non-Discrimination Act saying that he 'strongly' supports it. The President:
"And we have to honestly say the great test of our democracy in the end is whether in good times and bad America not only tries to do good abroad, but to be good at home. In the end, we will be judged by that. We have to be a country where we all serve together, which is why I've worked so hard for AmeriCorps. We have to be a country where we're pushing back constantly the frontiers of discrimination, which is why I have supported so strongly the employment nondiscrimination act. (Applause.) "And we have to be a country that relishes our racial, our ethnic, our cultural diversity and says, we celebrate all this, but we know that underneath what God gave us all in common -- in spite of all of our differences -- is more important; that the framers of our Constitution so long ago were pretty smart when they talked about the inalienable rights given to every human being. And if we recognize that, then we ought to be able to find a way to live together. "I have done everything I know to do for six years to move us toward that one America. Should we have differences, should we have arguments, should we have elections, should we have discussions? Of course we should. "But when you leave here tonight if you don't remember another thing I said, you just remember this: no country throws away its common values and common humanity, even for an instant, without paying a price. (Applause.) And every night -- every night -- I thank God that we have the chance to be a force for peace from Northern Ireland to the Middle East to Kosovo to Africa. "I ask for the opportunity every night to make one stab to work out the problems between Greece and Turkey on Cyprus, to try to bring India and Pakistan closer together. And I thank God every night that we have not been cut apart by those things. "But America is growing more and more diverse. One of our new governors here, Governor Davis, while he is governor -- while he is governor -- may preside over a state that has no majority race. "Now, this is a good thing in the world of the 21st century if -- but only if -- America not only preaches our doctrine to people abroad, but lives by it at home. (Applause.) The Democratic Party in the 1990s has constantly been for opportunity, for change and for community. "I like to joke that at the end of the 20th century, looking back on over 200 years of American history, our party leaves this century and enters the next as not only the party of Jefferson and Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt, but also now the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. And I am very proud of it. I want you to stay proud of it. And I want us to live by it. "Thank you and God bless you all. (Applause.)" |
