August 10, 2007
Queer Eyes On The Candidate Guys
The gay vote will be reliably Democratic for the foreseeable future, but the LGBT community has a real beef with the party: the M word.
That's marriage, of course. Most of the Democratic leadership and all the 2008 presidential front-runners essentially back marriage rights for gays but without the "marriage" part. During last night's Human Rights Campaign/Logo forum, Barack Obama (perhaps unknowingly) summed up that contradiction succinctly. "You know, semantics may be important to some," he said. "From my perspective, what I'm interested in is making sure that those legal rights are available to people."
The question was whether his backing of civil unions but not marriage for gays was tantamount to a separate-but-equal policy. Gay marriage-backers have a point in that criticism, and Obama's response wasn't much of an answer.
Let's be clear here: There isn't unanimous support for gay marriage even among gays. Some are perfectly content with civil unions, while others side with the Republican platform. But for gays eyeing the M word, being told they can have all the legal rights heterosexuals have but it just can't be called marriage really does smack of separate-but-equal status. Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton contend that they are for full comprehensive equality for gays, even though they oppose gay marriage. John Edwards is in that camp, too, but he, quite smartly, told the community last night that he was "on a journey" on the issue.
It also helps that his wife, Elizabeth, does back gay marriage. That has enabled the candidate to leave the door open on the issue by saying things like, "I'm not quite where Elizabeth is yet."
Bill Richardson seems to be the most intellectually honest about his opposition to the M word in this slate: “I am doing what's achievable, and I'm not there yet and the country's not there yet." He's certainly right that the country isn't there yet. Not only is Republican opposition to gay marriage still formidable, but certain states might do anything short of seceding from the union in protest if gay marriage rights were forced on them.
Too bad Richardson stumbled with this faux pas, though:
Q: Do you think homosexuality is a choice?
A: Yes.
Oops. Post-forum, his campaign rushed out a press release stating that no, he did not think being gay was a choice.
The winner of the evening was none other than Dennis Kucinich, who is joined only by Mike Gravel in his support for gay marriage. The longtime Ohio congressman has practically no shot at the nomination, and in previous forums has tended to lose the audience with his sunny spin on Islamic fundamentalism. He was definitely in the zone last night.
"What we're really talking about here is human love. And there's no power on this earth greater than human love," Kucinich said. "To me, this isn't even a close question," he added, explaining in moving but simple terms why he was for the M word.
Kucinich knows about improbable relationships. His wife, Elizabeth, is 31 years his junior and towers over the pint-sized candidate. And that made his soaring closing-statement rhetoric all the more believable.
"I can't imagine what it would be like to have met the love of my life and to have such a depth of feeling for her and be told, 'No, you just can't be married'... That would be devastating," he said, speaking directly to the audience.
Questioner Melissa Etheridge wasn't the only famous face in attendance. Doogie Howser, er, Neal Patrick Harris, and comedic actress Jane Lynch were in the audience, serving as a reminder that gay-friendly Hollywood is a powerful (and wealthy) Democratic constituency.
As for the other HRC, she deftly explained why her husband, former President Bill Clinton, signed the Defense of Marriage Act and pushed through the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. The audience reception was positive, but that might be in part because many of the attendees believed they were looking at the eventual Democratic nominee.
Logo's Web site has video of the forum. Joseph Biden and Christopher Dodd didn't make it because of "scheduling conflicts"; Dodd's campaign issued a release outlining his positions on LGBT issues. All the Republican candidates were invited, and none accepted.
Graphic: Reuben Dalke
Posted at 12:51 PM
Posted to:
Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Christopher Dodd, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, Gay Rights, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Joseph Biden, Mike Gravel, Republicans, WH 2008
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