ABC Reports Gross asked Clinton multiple times whether the reason she now publicly supports the issue was because her own position changed from the 1990s or because the U.S. public’s had shifted. Clinton did not answer to the satisfaction of Gross, so the host asked her repeatedly to clarify. The exchange incited a heated back and forth between the two women, and showed a rarely seen, defensive side of the potential presidential candidate.
“You know I really, I have to say, I think you’re being very persistent, but you are playing with my words and playing with what is such an important issue,” Clinton said, after Gross suggested Clinton’s opinion had changed since the ’90s.
“I’m just trying to clarify so I can understand,” Gross responded.
“No,” Clinton snapped. “I don’t think you are trying to clarify. I think you are trying to say that I used to be opposed and now I am in favor and I did it for political reasons. And that’s just flat wrong. So let me just state what I feel like I think you are implying and repudiate it. I have a strong record. I have a great commitment to this issue and I am proud of what I’ve done and the progress were making.”
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Gross, whose Philadelphia-based show is distributed nationally by NPR, told Clinton that’s not what she meant either. “I was saying that you maybe really, believed in gay marriage all along, but felt for political reasons America wasn’t ready yet and you couldn’t say it. That’s what I was thinking,” she said.
“No. That is not true,” Clinton said, audibly annoyed. “I did not grow up even imagining gay marriage and I don’t think you did either. This was an incredible new and important idea that people on the front lines of the gay rights movement began to talk about and slowly, but surely, convinced others about the rightness of that position. When I was ready to say what I said, I said it.”
“OK,” Gross responded. “Thank you for clarifying that.”
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