Hillary Clinton: I'm Not a Lesbian

New York Senator and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton tells The Advocate that she is not a lesbian in an interview set for publication in the October issue of the magazine.

"It's not true, but it is something that I have no control over," Clinton tells the magazine.

"People will say what they want to say," she added.

The comments came in response to a direct question posed by Sean Kennedy, The Advocate's news and features editor, on what she thinks of the long-standing lesbian rumors about her: "How do you respond to the occasional rumor that you're a lesbian?"

Kennedy tells CNN he asked Clinton about the rumors because "they are a point of solidarity between her and the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community."

"Because her political opponents, and others, have used the word 'lesbian' to hurt her personally and politically, she knows first hand the stigma associated with homosexuality just as gay people do," Kennedy said. "She did not seem surprised by the question in the least and responded like the experienced politician she is."

The rumors about Clinton being a lesbian started circulating just after her husband was inaugurated in 1993. "Where that came from, I just could never figure out," said Neel Lattimore, who served as press secretary to Clinton for five years when she was first lady. "It was so ridiculous." One man would call the press office repeatedly, posing as a reporter for different newspapers, seeking comment on his scoop that Clinton was gay. Lattimore eventually transferred him to the Secret Service, letting them deal with him.

"I never talked to Mrs. Clinton about it, but we had to be responsive to that question in a way that didn't make it sound like being a lesbian was a bad thing," he says. "No, she's not a lesbian, move on. Next story."

If she wasn't aware of the speculation then, she surely heard about it when author Edward Klein brought it to the surface in his 2005 smear job The Truth About Hillary, in which he dubiously asserted that "the culture of lesbianism has influenced Hillary's political goals and personal life since she was a student at Wellesley."