“The reason I signed DOMA was – and I said when I signed it – that I thought the question of whether gays should marry should be left up to states and to religious organizations, and if any church or other religious body wanted to recognize gay marriage, they ought to. We were attempting at the time, in a very reactionary Congress, to head off an attempt to send a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the states. And if you look at the 11 referenda much later – in 2004, in the election – which the Republicans put on the ballot to try to get the base vote for President Bush up, I think it’s obvious that something had to be done to try to keep the Republican Congress from presenting that. The president doesn’t even get to veto that. The Congress can refer constitutional amendments to the states. I didn’t like signing DOMA and I certainly didn’t like the constraints that were put on benefits, and I’ve done everything I could – and I am proud to say that the State Department was the first federal department to restore benefits to gay partners in the Obama administration, and I think we are going forward in the right direction now for federal employees.”

“They (the White House) didn’t get any of my facts right. Did you see all the – how many titles I won? I was cracking up. Not even in the ballpark. I thought it was adorable. ... The Grand Slam’s at 39 not at 12.”

“Any closeted gay person who votes against the interests of gay people and is outed because of it is getting what they deserve. My only concern is that sometimes the sensational aspect of outing somebody gets us to lose sight of just what it is that was so bad about them. And they get drummed out of office and are replaced by somebody who is just as bad.”