http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2001/10/29/1

by Tom Musbach
Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network

In an interview published Monday, former President Gerald Ford said the federal government should provide the same benefits for same-sex couples and married couples.

His comments make him the highest-ranking Republican ever to publicly support equal treatment for same-sex couples.

Ford told Detroit News columnist Deb Price in a telephone interview that the provisions should include Social Security, tax and other federal benefits.

"I think they (same-sex couples) should be treated equally. Period," he said.

In addition, he stated support for a federal law banning workplace discrimination against gays: "That is a step in the right direction. I have a longstanding record in favor of legislation to do away with discrimination."

President Bush has recently been criticized by factions on the right for going too far to accommodate gays and lesbians, but the former president offered praise.

"I applaud that President Bush has appointed three people who are gay," he added. "That is a big step in the right direction." The appointments include the head of the White House office on AIDS and the ambassador to Romania, whose appointment was attacked by the Family Research Council and the Culture and Family Institute, among other conservative groups.

Ford also denounced suspicions that he didn't appropriately honor the gay man who thwarted an assassination attempt on the former president in 1975. Bill Sipple, a Vietnam veteran, hit the hand of the would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, just before she fired at President Ford. Three days after the incident, Ford wrote a letter of thanks to Sipple, and he told the Detroit News he didn't know Sipple was gay until later.

"I don't know where anyone got the crazy idea I was prejudiced and wanted to exclude gays," Ford said.

Posted October 29, 2001