2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Sanders admitted on Rachel Maddow that he was originally against Gay marriage. [View all]markpkessinger
(8,401 posts)Bernie admitted that he opposed a specific marriage equality measure proposed in Vermont, because it had been only a few years since Vermont had legalized civil unions. Vermont was the first state in the union to do so (and Bernie had supported the effort), and it had been a very divisive fight for the state. He said that he felt the timing was not right to pursue the marriage equality measure, and that the state needed to "let the dust settle a bit" before pushing the issue further. That was, by no means, opposition to gay marriage, and is a far cry from the actions of HillBill.
And, I would add, as a 54-year-old gay man myself who has supported marriage equality since I came out at the age of 19, I would have tended to agree with Bernie's calculus at that time.