OnTheIssues interviews with presidential candidates: on Civil Rights

Paul Adams: Same-sex unions ok; but don't redefine marriage

A: I am opposed to redefining the definition of marriage every five years as new minorities seek equal rights. However, I am for giving same sex unions, and any other type of union by consenting adults, equal rights under the umbrella of civil unions. I am a traditionalist when it comes to the definition of marriage. I see heterosexual marriage as the best model for the propagation of our species. It reflects the natural order of things in the animal kingdom, and coincides with the definition of marriage in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I also believe children should have a say in what kind of family they want to be raised. We have completely ignored children. (I have both gay and transgender friends, by the way, and I don't consider myself a bigot). Ultimately, I think that social issues that profoundly impact our society should be held to referendums, and not left to the interpretation of SCOTUS Justices.

Paul Adams: Preference to women & minorities who perform equally

A: I am for giving preference to women and minorities provided they can perform equally well as the applicants coming from a majority hub.

Marc Allan Feldman: No government role in hiring; no affirmative action

A: Oppose. Government should have no role in controlling reasonable hiring processes of private employers. Hiring practices based on prejudicial discrimination, which use superior market power to deprive others of life, liberty or property, are unacceptable.

Marc Allan Feldman: No government role in marriage, same-sex or traditional

A: Support. Government should regulate marriages like baptisms and bar mitzvahs: not at all. Although same-sex marriage runs counter to my religious faith, I do not believe it is a proper role of government to impose my religious faith on others.

Mark Stewart: Private lawsuits ok for affirmative action; not government

A: We should formally assist only when the discrimination takes place in government employment. In the Free Market, private action is almost always better than legislation. We don't need lawyers to sue and determine whether an employer is underpaying women or not hiring them due to misogyny. Women who feel discriminated against have the ultimate power -- go elsewhere. I believe in private advocates, who'll help a woman who is potentially timid about speaking up for her skills and her value to the company. That to me is a very good kind of feminist legal aid: "my client is worth more to you than the man you are paying $5/hr more; compensate her fairly now, or she's going to work for your competitor." Alternatively, "Compensate her fairly now, or she's going to work for your competitor, you Pig".

Mark Stewart: Benefits to same-sex partners, but marriage by churches only

A: Government should stay out of the marriage business. Marriages will continue to be consummated and blessed by a couple's religion and community the way they have for hundreds of years before governments began to intrude. To the extent government is offering benefits to a spouse, it is sensible and fair that they be offered to same-sex partners.

I do ask same sex couples, and the LGBT community to yield the word "Marriage". It angers devout people who mean you no harm. They just don't want to see their private, holy institutions besmirched.

LGBTers have come such a long way in such a short time; it would be a shame if political militancy causes your potential allies among the religious (I am one of them) to be severed. You can have every benefit of government by calling is a "domestic partnership"; just refrain from calling it "marriage".

Jim Hedges: Not always practical to enforce affirmative action

A: skeptical, not always practical

Jim Hedges: Comfortable with same-sex marriage

A: acceptable

Jill Stein: No discrimination based on orientation whether it's LGB or T

OnTheIssues:In the wake of national same-sex marriage, what about transgender rights?

Stein: I include transgender rights in GLBT protection. Sexual orientation should not be a basis for discrimination whether it's LGB or T. In my first run for office in 2002, when this issue was first brought to my attention, I was for marriage, not just civil unions. It wasn't until 3 years ago that the leadership of the Democratic Party changed its tune--even in 2004 Hillary was still opposing gay marriage. Vice President Joe Biden finally broke the ice [by saying he was "comfortable" with gay marriage in 2012]-- by that time gay marriage was rating highly favorable in the polls--is that leadership? I believe in doing what is right and leading the way. The Democratic Party is doing the opposite of that.

Jill Stein: "Religious Freedom" is surrogate for patriarchal domination

Stein: Yes, like Hobby Lobby. I ask, "Whose freedom?" Freedom of corporations and the economic elite, or freedom of employees and consumers? We need to be about freedom for everybody. We need to uphold the law of the land--everybody's freedom needs to be respected--if your freedom means dominating someone else, then you don't get it--businesses cannot discriminate based on gender or religion or lack thereof--businesses are public entities that exist in the public marketplace and need to respect the dignity and human rights of everyone, period.

OnTheIssues: How do you respond to Hobby Lobby's argument?

Stein: Religion is used there as a surrogate for patriarchy--usually male--to dominate women's reproductive lives. It's a misuse and an abuse of the concept of religion that is simply be used as a surrogate.

Jill Stein: After marriage equality comes workplace equality

Stein: My sense is that we need to end discrimination in the workplace and housing. There are 28 states that have not enacted protection in the workplace. Suicides are four times elevated among LGBT youth.

OnTheIssues: You mean you're worried about same-sex couples being "Married on Sunday; fired on Monday?"

Stein: Yes that's right.

Roseanne Barr: Require companies to hire more women & minorities

Q: Strongly Support

Roseanne Barr: Support same-sex domestic partnership benefits

Q: Strongly Support

Virgil Goode: On affirmative action: fairness, but not quotas

A: No, fairness, but not quotas.

Virgil Goode: No same-sex domestic partnership benefits

A: No.

David Walker: Same-sex domestic partnership benefi but not marriage

A: Yes, for civil unions. I oppose "same sex marriage".

David Walker: I believe in affirmative action but not quotas

A: Oppose. I believe in affirmative action but not quotas. I believe that people have to demonstrate that they're taking affirmative steps to prevent discrimination within the population that's available to fill the jobs that they have. If the evidence is they're not doing that--and the presumption should be that they are doing that--then only in those circumstances should the government intervene.

Q: What do you mean by "the population that's available to fill the job"?

A: The key is the qualified population. I used to run a worldwide practice. There are sometimes very few people from protected groups, rightly or wrongly, who are qualified for a particular job. You need to increase the supply to increase diversity.

Rocky Anderson: Require companies to hire more women & minorities

A: Support

Rocky Anderson: Same-sex domestic partnership benefits

A: Strongly Support

Andre Barnett: Opposes requiring companies to hire more women & minorities

A. disagree, enforce equal opportunity.

Andre Barnett: Opposes same-sex domestic partnership benefits

A: Disagree.

Robert Steele: Full transparency for Department of "Justice"

• End all federal predation on US citizens including federalization of state and local police, construction and manning of internment camps
• End all drone attacks and all undeclared wars and covert operations overseas
• Demand full transparency of the federal government starting with Department of "Justice"

Robert Steele: Supports requiring companies to hire more women & minorities

A. Support. However, all small businesses and businesses operating primarily within a single state's domain should be excluded.

Robert Steele: Supports same-sex domestic partnership benefits

A: Support. There are ample legal options for any individuals who wish to have a close legal partnership. Civil marriages offered by the state are at the state's discretion, and religious marriages offered by any faith are at the faith's discretion.

JL Mealer: Require companies to hire Americans, period

A: OPPOSE: How about require "companies to hire Americans PERIOD"? Men, women, minorities of both persuasions! No particular preference but the unemployed must NOT be ignored for the hiring of simple job-changers.

Scott Keller: I fully support same-sex domestic partnerships

A: I fully support same-sex domestic partnerships and the equality of these partnerships under law. I believe that any two people should be able to enter into a contract, and have that contract honored. Benefits that comes as a result of a marriage contract should be viable in a civil union contract as well. I am an advocate of freedom. This is supposed to be a free country.

Scott Keller: Marriage is a state and local issue

Scott Keller: Empower women & minorities but no affirmative action

A: I fully support equality in the workplace and in hiring practices, and the end of discrimination against women and minorities. However, I do not support affirmative action, which is effectively reverse discrimination, and doesn't ultimately solve the problems of racism and sexism. I favor new and innovative approaches to truly empowering women and minorities through local economic & business models. Local coop non-profit businesses, local economic models, untying the hands of non-profit and alternative model businesses greatly increase the career options available to all people because of the new employment needs they create. By working on a local level, community members who know each other and have a stake in their community will be working together, and corporate imposed discrimination will dissolve. We are all people, and we should not discriminate on the basis of race or gender.

Brian Moore: Ban military tribunals, and restore habeas corpus

A: We call for an end to use of “secret evidence” in deportation hearings, a ban on all immigration detentions and military tribunals, and full due process and habeas corpus right in US courts for all non-citizens.

Brian Moore: Promote a multicultural/multiethnic presence

Brian Moore: Blacks & women have been historically discriminated against