Despite growing indications that voters are turned off by anti-gay rhetoric rather than drawn to it, the remaining GOP candidates have by and large remained committed to reminding their constituents at every opportunity just how much they don’t want us to have equal rights. Although an observer might notice that Rick Perry’s “Strong” ad didn’t win anyone over, not even anti-gay groups like the American Family Association, Republican candidates just can’t stop talking about how much they love to hate us. As the field of candidates narrows, Michele Bachmann is insisting to everyone who will listen that she’s got the most anti-gay bang for your voting buck. And while it wasn’t intentional on Ron Paul’s part, he’ll also now be associated with some pretty vitriolic anti-gay beliefs after the revelation of the New Republic newsletters from the nineties. Rick Perry hasn’t renounced the homophobic views he hoped would improve his polls in Iowa (although he was also revealed to be pretty clueless about Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark gay rights case in the Supreme Court that came from Perry’s own state).
So, we know how the Republican party is playing this one. But how are the Democrats dealing with gay issues and gay voters? Well, as the NYT notes, the White House has made some strong statements lately about equal rights for gays, but they haven’t come from President Obama. For instance, when the United States made a historic statement that on a global scale, “gay rights are human rights,” it came from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, not our president. The NYT speculates that, while the Republican candidates are actively attacking the queer community, Obama is “reluctant in an election year to be drawn into a culture-war issue.” Even though his public statements — like “Every single American — gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, transgender — every single American deserves to be treated equally before the law” — would seem to suggest that he believes in marriage equality personally, he’s shied away from saying so in those words.
But not everyone thinks that Obama’s administration will go gentle into that good night and remain silent on the issue of marriage equality before what could potentially be his last term as President. There are those, like Richard Socarides, a former political strategist on gay issues for Bill Clinton, who think that we could see Obama taking a public stance for marriage equality.
“It works for the White House on several levels, particularly in an election year,” said Richard Socarides, a Democratic political strategist who advised former President Bill Clinton on gay-rights issues. “Gay voters will be more enthusiastic for him than we would have been a year ago…” “My core argument is that you’ve got a lot to win and not a lot to lose,” said Evan Wolfson, the founder of Freedom to Marry, a group that advocates for marriage rights. “It would remove a constant irritating false note, and it would allow him to tap into an unmitigated good stream of energy.”
So far this year the White House really does seem to have committed on some level to doing what’s right, and standing by the international community of marginalized gay and lesbian people. But what if it’s not only about doing the right thing? One of the victories the gay community has won this year is a new majority of hearts and minds — for the first time, more than half of America supports same-sex marriage, and the majority of Republicans wish their party would give it up as a central issue. What if Obama making a statement in support of gay marriage wasn’t just an issue of working for equality even though it’s a political risk, but was something that could actually help him keep his job? If campaigning against gay people is hurting GOP candidates, could speaking up for them actually help the Democrats? If Wolfson is right, then Obama could actually win key groups for 2012 by supporting marriage equality, whereas Rick Perry hasn’t managed to win anti-gay organizations even by speaking out against it. In 2008, queer people all over America felt their hearts twist in their chest as Barack Obama and Prop 8 took their place in America’s history at the same moment. Maybe this time, it won’t be a case of what we end up losing as the country marches forward, but a case of our community’s progress and the progress of our nation finally happening together.
Anybody else look at that picture of Santorum and think he looks like that grocery store manager guy from Raising Hope? Because I like the guy from Raising Hope better.
I was already planning on voting for him basically for that reason…I just couldn’t in good conscience vote for anyone who can see a group of people as anything less than people-no matter how I felt about their other policies.
The problem is that the anti-gay zealots will absolutely go out and vote against Obama if he comes out in favor of marriage equality while those that would support it wouldn’t feel quite as motivated unless they see it as a central issue. It’s not that they would vote Republican- they just wouldn’t vote. So, all the gays will vote, and all the bigots will vote…it’s just a matter of motivating our straight allies that may have been disappointed with Obama in other ways. We need to make them see how much we have to lose if any of these Republican candidates win, and hope they will take the time to pick what they may see as the lesser of two evils. It’s a tricky issue, but I have no doubt that if Obama doesn’t come out in support before the election, he most certainly will after, especially if he wins.
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i hope no democrat is stupid enough to give gays/ perverts any rights! they call themselves gays but thats not what they are their full blown perverts and should be treated as such! you can call me anything you want but god will take care of all the sodomizers men and women!
I shall call you Squishy and you shall be mine and you shall be my Squishy. Come on, little Squishy. Ow! Bad Squishy!
‘god will take care of all the sodomizers men and women’
i think god is so nice like that. the way he takes care of everyone, whatever they do in bed and whatever their gender.
happy new year!
Right? I might have to reverse my position on the whole god thing if he’s going to start paying my rent and buying me pasta and produce. :>
Whoa mate, trans* erasure.
Do you even go here?
these are my feelings: a lot of people (especially gay people) are complaining that obama hasn’t done/isn’t doing enough for gays, the economy, health care, etc. but a lot of good has come from his presidency that absolutely would not have resulted from john mccain. and there is potential for a lot more good to come from obama that absolutely will not come from romney/perry/gingrich/bachmann/santorum/whoeverthefuckelse. plus those guys could reall fuck our shit up. so basically we need to get obama reelected and sort out congress and THEN we can start worrying about pressuring him/them to get things done. and i think next term would be more productive anyway because it’s guaranteed to be his last.
I agree. Congress is also going to see a big change when their election time comes up. The House Republicans have a really bad reputation due to their inability to compromise or not make stupid suggestions. I believe the public is going to lean toward a mostly Democrat Congress that will actually work with the president (if it still is Obama).
I can’t think of any queer person in their right mind that would vote Republican for the 2012 election. It’s would be like a black person voting for a KKK member to be president.
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