Friend In 1999: Bill Clinton Told Me Hillary Found Gay Rights "Harder To Swallow" Than He Did

In an audio recording published by the Washington Free Beacon, confidant Taylor Branch recalled a conversation in which Bill Clinton revealed that Bill thought Hillary would be uncomfortable with gay people "acting out."

Bill Clinton told a close friend in 1999 that Hillary had a "conservative religious temperament" and was unlikely to be comfortable around those pushing for the expansion gay rights during her campaign to be a New York senator, according to audio recordings unearthed by the Washington Free Beacon.

Clinton confidant Taylor Breach can be heard on the recordings recalling a conversation he had with Bill Clinton in which Clinton expressed regret over signing the Defense Against Marriage Act and said Hillary was "put off" by gay rights.

"[Bill] came in and he said, 'You know I've had much more contact in my life with gay people than Hillary has,'" Branch says on the recordings. "He said, 'I think she's really a little put off by some of this stuff.'"

Branch recalls how Bill told him that some of the issues around gay rights were hard for him to swallow, but that Bill told him that Hillary "emotionally speaking still finds the issue harder to swallow" than he did. According to Branch, Bill said it could be difficult for Hillary in New York politics "how far she'll be asked to go," and said Hillary's "conservative religious temperament" would make her uncomfortable with gay people "acting out or pushing her to the limit."

Hillary Clinton, who came out in support of same-sex marriage in 2013, was against it during the 2008 presidential race. Marriage equality has been a central part of her current campaign.

Listen to the audio:

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