Clinton Urges Gay Tolerance

Urging Americans to "purge the darkness in our hearts," President Clinton called on the nation Saturday to reject the type of hatred that led to shootings in California and the Midwest.

The president delivered his message of tolerance before gay and lesbian supporters at a black-tie dinner that raised $850,000 for Democratic congressional candidates - the largest amount of Clinton's three-day West Coast swing.

"The biggest problem we've got is the primitive age-old fear and dehumanization of the other people who are not like us," Mr. Clinton said to extended applause. "I'm going to do everything I can, every day that I have, to remind people of that."

He said it is expected for Americans to disagree over specific issues. But he said there should be no disagreement over "whether we share a common humanity" despite differences in race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

"We have to be one America," Mr. Clinton said. "And we cannot be under the illusion that either material prosperity or technological breakthroughs alone can purge the darkness in our hearts."

Serving as host for Saturday's dinner was ANGLE, or Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality, which initially met with Mr. Clinton eight years ago. ANGLE was the first gay rights organization to endorse his candidacy then, and remained supportive despite disappointments from his "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays in the military and his 1996 decision to sign a law denying federal recognition of same sex marriages.

The president alluded to those disappointments even as he appealed for continued support.

"I wish I could have done better. But we've done pretty well, and we're a long way from where we were," he said. "I still believe in the future of America, and you are a part of it."

Organizers said the dinner was one of the largest events of its kind outside Washington. About 1,000 guests attended, each making contributions ranging from $250 to $50,000; Besides Mr. Clinton, California Gov. Gray Davis, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.; and Reps. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., were scheduled speakers.

Afterward, Mr. Clinton was addressing a separate dinner at the home of director Rob Reiner, which was raising $550,000 for the Democratic National Committee.

Also later Saturday evening, California governor Gray Davis signed into law three new laws guaranteeing rights for homosexuals.

The president tested themes at two smaller events Friday night with Silicon Valley executives.

He repeated his support for legislation barring job discrimination against gays and hate crimes. Mr. Clinton urged the crowd to fight for "the innate dignity and equality of every human being" and work to ensure "a place at the American family table" for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or income.

The president noted that technologoffers vast potential for transforming American society, but cannot deliver as long as some segments of the population cling to prejudices because they are afraid of change.

"Isn't it ironic that the thing that's holding us back most ... is our inability to form a community around our common humanity because of our vulnerability to mankind's most ancient fear, the fear of the other?" he asked.

Mr. Clinton said he has devoted much of his time in office to dealing with "the emotional and practical and national security demands" of international conflicts spurred by hatreds.

The same elements in those problems, he said, have appeared in America over the past two years.

Specifically, he recalled the slayings of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming; James Byrd, a black man, in Texas; a Korean student and a former college basketball coach in a shooting spree by "a crazy guy" in Illinois; and the death of a Filipino postman and wounding of a Jewish child in shootings in California.

"What is the biggest problem in the world in America? We are dragged down by the most primitive of hatreds," Mr. Clinton said.

Earlier Saturday, the president spent time in Palo Alto visiting with his daughter Chelsea, a junior at Stanford University, and doing some work on his presidential library.

Mr. Clinton returns to Washington early Monday.