In his first four years of office, his views on gay rights were often difficult to ascertain, but many experts feel that the Bush White House wanted to avoid bad publicity without alienating evangelical conservative Christian voters. Thus, he did not repeal President Clinton's Executive Order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in the federal civilian government, but its critics felt it was ignored. He did not attempt to repeal Don't ask, don't tell, nor try to change it. He threatened to veto the Matthew Shepard Act, which would have included sexual orientation in hate crimes.