President Jimmy Carter dead at 100 — here’s his history as an LGBTQ+ Ally

by Curated December 29, 2024 · Gay News / Gay Pride / Gay Rights / The Advocate

Attendees were asked to draft a white paper on an issue of importance to the community that would then be circulated to federal agencies. One of them, George Raya, wrote about health issues. He found out that hepatitis was the disease most affecting gay people at the time, and his paper led the federal government to fund a hepatitis research project in San Francisco, and a few years later it provided valuable information to AIDS researchers.

In 1978, Carter was in San Francisco campaigning for the reelection of Gov. Jerry Brown. In that same election, Proposition 6, also known as the Briggs Initiative, was on the California ballot, asking voters to bar gays and lesbians from teaching in the public schools. Former President Gerald Ford and future President Ronald Reagan had already spoken out against it, and Carter did so as well, albeit with a nudge from Brown. Urged on by the governor, Carter “leaned into the microphone, asking voters already inclined to check No on 6 to do so. The crowd roared its approval,” according to the Journal of Policy History.

Carter left the White House in 1981 after a single term, losing to Reagan amid economic problems and the Iran hostage crisis. With his work in international diplomacy and global human rights, plus his volunteer efforts for Habitat for Humanity and other organizations, Carter became known as the nation’s greatest ex-president. His advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights became stronger too.

In 2005, upon the publication of his book Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis, he gave an interview to The Advocate. Reporter Sean Kennedy said, “You’re a Christian, but you don’t have a problem with gay men and lesbians as many other Christians do. Why?” Carter responded, “I’m a worshipper of Jesus Christ, who never mentioned homosexuals in any way — certainly not in a deleterious fashion. And when it has been mentioned in the New Testament, it’s been combined with things like selfishness or something like that. So I’ve never looked upon it as any sort of reason to condemn a person. I think it’s an inherent characteristic just like other things that we do with our lives.”

He was not yet a supporter of national marriage equality, however. In 2006, speaking to an audience at Emory University, he said marriage rights should be decided state by state. “You can’t take away what people believe in, and laws should be based on what each state believes in,” he said, “because each one has their different beliefs.”

By 2015, though, when the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling took marriage equality nationwide, Carter approved and said it fit within his religious beliefs. “I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else,” he said in a HuffPost Live interview. “And I don’t see that gay marriage damages anyone else. … I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage. That’s just my own personal opinion.”

He agreed that no church should have to perform a marriage it didn’t approve of, but he had also long advocated for greater acceptance within faith bodies. He left the Southern Baptist denomination in 2000 over what he called its “rigid” beliefs. Among other things, the church teaches that being LGBTQ+ is wrong, and it does not allow women to be ministers.

Carter spoke out for equal rights in the military as well. In 2007, he called for an end to “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “The nation’s commitment to human rights requires that lawmakers revisit ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ the current policy that prevents lesbians, gays, and bisexuals from serving openly in our armed forces,” he said in a statement issued through the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is the only law in America today that regulates a group of citizens, then prohibits them from identifying themselves and speaking up on their own behalf. Gay soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are unable to tell their member of Congress or their commander that the policy is an abject failure, and they are living proof because they will face discharge. Those who defend our liberties and freedoms deserve better…. There are great differences in public opinion on social issues today compared to 20 years ago. When I served as president, the majority in our country did not support equality for gay Americans, but that has now changed.” The policy ended in 2011 under President Barack Obama.

The Carter Center announced that public observances will be held in Atlanta and D.C. in addition to a private interment in Plains. The scheduling will be announced soon.

Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Trudy Ring,Alex Cooper