Forget Civil Unions: The Issue is Marriage
Heading into the 2004 campaign, nervous liberal politicians thought they had a sufficient answer to the gay marriage issue, which everyone knew would be the cultural wedge issue the Republicans would use this year.
How many liberals have you heard giving the pat answer, “I’m not for gay marriage, but I support civil unions”? I suppose even that answer would have been considered to be a fairly bold one prior to the recent clarification by the Massachusetts Supreme Court that same-sex couples should be afforded full marriage rights. And so the issue has been rather rapidly redefined. The nonsense of the pro-civil unions/anti-gay marriage distinction has been exposed.
Here’s what John Kerry says, he being our quintessential liberal for 2004, according to the New York Times:
"While reaffirming his opposition to gay marriages, Mr. Kerry also reiterated his support of civil unions between same-sex partners.
'I think marriage gets in the way of what you are really fighting for, which is rights,' he said, saying that he thought same-sex couples should be entitled to the same spousal and civil rights accorded partners in a heterosexual marriage."
So there you have it: Same-sex couples would like marriage rights, but actually giving them marriage rights gets in the way of giving them marriage rights. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
(OK, in fairness, I haven’t heard a better answer from John Edwards on the subject. In fact, he wants to emphasize "states rights.")
What liberals need to do in this campaign is tell the truth on the issue, not worry about the public backlash, and move on to the broader issues they want to talk about.
Alas, Bush has made it easier to do just that by kow-towing to the cultural conservatives and supporting a Constitutional amendment to deny same-sex marriage. It’s a nasty, mean-spirited response to the issue that liberals ought to exploit. We don’t tamper with our Constitution to enshrine the denial of rights to a subgroup of our citizens.
There are a lot of people out there who may express opposition to same-sex marriage when they’re talking to a stranger on the telephone asking them poll questions, but as they increasingly see the human side of the issue – and they are seeing that right now – I think public opinion is going to continue its trend toward support for same-sex marriage and certainly against taking the extreme step of amending the Constitution.
How many liberals have you heard giving the pat answer, “I’m not for gay marriage, but I support civil unions”? I suppose even that answer would have been considered to be a fairly bold one prior to the recent clarification by the Massachusetts Supreme Court that same-sex couples should be afforded full marriage rights. And so the issue has been rather rapidly redefined. The nonsense of the pro-civil unions/anti-gay marriage distinction has been exposed.
Here’s what John Kerry says, he being our quintessential liberal for 2004, according to the New York Times:
"While reaffirming his opposition to gay marriages, Mr. Kerry also reiterated his support of civil unions between same-sex partners.
'I think marriage gets in the way of what you are really fighting for, which is rights,' he said, saying that he thought same-sex couples should be entitled to the same spousal and civil rights accorded partners in a heterosexual marriage."
So there you have it: Same-sex couples would like marriage rights, but actually giving them marriage rights gets in the way of giving them marriage rights. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
(OK, in fairness, I haven’t heard a better answer from John Edwards on the subject. In fact, he wants to emphasize "states rights.")
What liberals need to do in this campaign is tell the truth on the issue, not worry about the public backlash, and move on to the broader issues they want to talk about.
Alas, Bush has made it easier to do just that by kow-towing to the cultural conservatives and supporting a Constitutional amendment to deny same-sex marriage. It’s a nasty, mean-spirited response to the issue that liberals ought to exploit. We don’t tamper with our Constitution to enshrine the denial of rights to a subgroup of our citizens.
There are a lot of people out there who may express opposition to same-sex marriage when they’re talking to a stranger on the telephone asking them poll questions, but as they increasingly see the human side of the issue – and they are seeing that right now – I think public opinion is going to continue its trend toward support for same-sex marriage and certainly against taking the extreme step of amending the Constitution.
posted by JFH @ 4:27 PM
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