Rpondg to Stephen on gay marriage [Liz Mair] - The Atlantic

Contents:

• FOR YOUNGER CLASS OF POLIL OPERATIV, GAY RIGHTS ISSU OFTEN P THEM AGAST THEIR CANDIDAT
• MORE ON GAY MARRIAGE [LIZ MAIR]
• RPONDG TO STEPHEN ON GAY MARRIAGE [LIZ MAIR]
• LABOR GOOD, GAYS AND RPORAT BAD [LIZ MAIR]
• CUBA FOREVER, INDIANA NEVER: CUOMO HYPOCRISY ON GAY RIGHTS SMELLS LIKE POLICS
• FOR YOUNGER CLASS OF POLIL OPERATIV, GAY RIGHTS ISSU OFTEN P THEM AGAST THEIR CANDIDAT

FOR YOUNGER CLASS OF POLIL OPERATIV, GAY RIGHTS ISSU OFTEN P THEM AGAST THEIR CANDIDAT

WASHINGTON -- It's bee a polil tism to say that there is a generatnal divi wh rpect to gay rights, as pollg data bears out the fact that younger voters, even nservativ, are far more favor of same-sex marriage than their elrs. And at some pot time -- more than two years ago -- he argued that the Republin Party should embrace the philosophil ncepts (and polil benefs) of gay adoptn and gay marriage. And homosexual magoguery is not the answer to the Party’s wo, particularly when gay men and women reprent the only mographic which John McCa bted Print Bh (27% to 19% based on ex pollg).

But, a Democratic source poted out, after Richardson signed up wh Barbour -- who has long opposed gay marriage -- his post was removed, replaced wh a “no rults found” msage. But the removal of Richardson’s post unrsr a far more tellg feature of the morn Republin Party: A large chunk of the GOP operative class has no problem wh expandg gay rights, but those staffers nohels work for ndidat who are prcipally opposed to such mov.

Steve Schmidt, who managed John McCa’s printial mpaign 2008, waed until after the electn to announce that he not only supports gay marriage but also believed the Republin Party would be better off supportg s platform. Bh -- which the prospect of gay marriage served as a key, divisive social issue -- me out of the closet only after removg himself thoroughly om mpaigns' top tiers, such iologil differenc are even more mon.

MORE ON GAY MARRIAGE [LIZ MAIR]

While at that post, she shifted between the worlds of mentary, mpaign nsultg and issue advocy -- the latter of which land her a gig on the advisory board of the Republin group GOProud, which supports expandg gay Mair and other operativ, such jugglg has s benefs, not least of which is the sense of iologil liberatn that om beg off the trail. ”Ined, so far only a few ndidat the prospective Republin printial field have even hted an openns toward gay marriage.

RPONDG TO STEPHEN ON GAY MARRIAGE [LIZ MAIR]

Buddy Roemer said he was fe wh stat legalizg gay marriage, though he still supports the feral policy that f marriage as between a man and a woman.

Chris Kofis, a longtime operative who helped enurage the retail giant Walmart to embrace polici of equaly towards gay employe, now serv as the chief of staff to Sen. A number of Whe Hoe staffers, meanwhile, adm private that they support gay marriage -- a posn that Print Barack Obama has kept at arm’s length.

Steve Hilbrand, Obama's openly gay former puty mpaign chairman, has walked a fe le wh rpect to urgg the admistratn to be bolr s gay rights agenda and openly cricizg s meekns. Comg back to Stephen, who's picked up the gay marriage thread aga, I want to say first of all that this whole argument that the "full fah and cred" clse will mean that if a gay marriage is regnized Massachetts, will have to be regnized Utah, is totally off-base, my 's the example I always e to refute that.

LABOR GOOD, GAYS AND RPORAT BAD [LIZ MAIR]

I n unrstand where some of the ial ncern about "full fah and cred" and what that would do, were gay marriage legalized, me om. But ankly, I thk 's wheeled out more as a pla, old nard by those who jt want to stop gay marriage, full stop, for other reasons (like, say, they're relig nservativ who see the legal regnn of gay marriage or civil unns anywhere as a precursor to the downfall of Wtern civilizatn as we know -- and y, before anyone says , I know I'm beg a ltle hyperbolic for illtratn and vivid scriptn purpos, but I bet Rick Santom would regard as such). Note that I did not have a relig marriage, th makg my marriage more civil unn-like-- and maybe makg me ls nvced that what (pendg on the route a state tak) may amount really to a lguistic difference, as opposed to an herent one impactg on rights-- particularly where the separatn of church and state is prerved-- rults "unequal" treatment (and maybe makg me ls wistful, for lack of a better word, about "marriage, " generally) unfair that, if we fe marriage as a relig stutn, gay upl nnot necsarily get married, pendg on what their church says?

Another note on Obama's performance: I absolutely agree wh him that there are a ton of issu beyond gay marriage that are very important, and that a ndidate's rerd should be asssed by reference to those issu (which I would suggt enpass non-discrimatn, as a direct issue, and issu relevant to enomic policy and problems that the gay muny fac wh taxatn, Social Secury, and so on), also. John Edwards: I loved the fact that Melissa Etheridge ma the pot about gay people havg to pay extra tax on health surance they get through their partners. Gordon Smh tried earlier this year, and 's an important issue-- both for those of who want the tax burn rced, and for the gay muny, which gets h ordately hard where benefs are ncerned.

I also thought was pretty lame that he went off about Ann Coulter this particular ntext, stead of stickg more narrowly to the issu at hand (sure, I don't like Ann Coulter, but what exactly do she have to do wh a discsn of how Democrats did a crap job of fendg gays 2004, when some people my party were gog all-out on what certaly looked a lot of s like gay-bashg?

CUBA FOREVER, INDIANA NEVER: CUOMO HYPOCRISY ON GAY RIGHTS SMELLS LIKE POLICS

But I do thk the "I won't impose my fah on the Amerin people" thg will be a wner for him wh the gay muny-- and I daray others, too. What did hurt Richardson was his ntued mentn of what was "achievable" and the untry movg along but not beg "there" yet-- as well as his selectn of the word "choice" relatn to homosexualy. The gay muny jt seems to love her (somethg I'm not sure I get)-- crazy jackets and all.

FOR YOUNGER CLASS OF POLIL OPERATIV, GAY RIGHTS ISSU OFTEN P THEM AGAST THEIR CANDIDAT

Hillary was right to pot out what the nsequenc of beg disvered to be gay were before Don't Ask, Don't Tell-- and I totally agree wh her that Don't Ask Don't Tell was an improvement over that suatn (even if I'm dub about her sayg that the problem was wh the implementatn, rather than the policy self).

Hillary also did well bee pared to the other ndidat (maybe wh the exceptn of Richardson), she monstrated a greater pth of knowledge of the issu beg discsed, and spoke more tailed terms-- even if she said que ankly that she still oppos gay marriage (which did not seem to work out for John Edwards).

She also monstrated more crafty argumentatn on the qutn of marriage, by hammerg Karl Rove, and then praisg DOMA for helpg stop the FMA (so on the one hand, she said she don't like DOMA, or at least part of , yet she don't like gay marriage and thks DOMA is a handy tool-- clever ntortng-- dto that wh regard to her fense of her hband's term, which a lot of gay people I know see as a perd of major let-down, and her explanatn of how spe of her views and certa statements she has ma, she n be a "lear"). Very early this morng, ed, Stephen posted on gay marriage.