eva young
Eva Young is President of Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota and lives in Minneapolis with her cat, Kiddleleewink. You can also read her other blog here.
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September 26, 2004

Craig Crain writes a hard hitting editorial condemning Kerry's Flip-Flops on the issue of anti-family state constitutional amendments.

Recently, including in February on National Public Radio and in last week’s gay press interview, Kerry cited the institution of marriage as religious and “sacramental.”

But when faced with pressure from Catholic leaders to change his stance on another hot-button issue, abortion, Kerry has made clear that private religious beliefs should not influence public policy. On abortion, Kerry has said he personally believes abortion is a sin, but is devoted to protect a woman’s right to choose.

How can he draw the line so clearly on abortion but not on marriage? Would political polling have anything to do with that? Or maybe the acquiescence of left-leaning gay rights groups?

It's seemed rather clear to me that Kerry has gotten worse on gay issues since the Human Rights Campaign endorsed him. The problem is, HRC is VERY good at raising money, and holding glitzy black tie dinners but are less effective at grass roots organizing. Endorsement from the HRC doesn't translate into GLBT votes all the time. Too often the Kerry campaign has used them to take flack when he supports anti-gay amendments like the one in Missouri. That in turn undermines their credibility further.

The HRC message about why to oppose the FMA has been about this issue being a distraction from health care (or whatever else), rather than directly addressing why this amendment is really about trying to marginalize Gays and Lesbians in the constitution. HRC's credibility is also damaged since they acknowledged providing poll testing for New Jersey Governor, Jim McGreevey's "I am a Gay American" speech. I won't go as far as the Independent Gay Forum's Steve Miller to call for Jacque's resignation from HRC.

But I digress... Crain's article continues:

BUSH HAS OFTEN accused Kerry of lacking core principles, and Kerry insisted again this week his guiding standard on gay rights is “equal protection under the law.”

So why has he taken the extraordinary step of encouraging state legislatures to veto — in most cases proactively — the considered opinion of their highest courts that denying marriage to gay couples violates that very “equal protection.”

Every state supreme court to address this issue in recent times — from Hawaii to Alaska to Vermont to Massachusetts — has reached the same conclusion, and yet despite Kerry’s “guiding principle,” he would overrule those judgments.

Kerry emphasized again last week that gays should remember this election is about the U.S. Supreme Court. But if Kerry favors overturning judges in Massachusetts on marriage, why should we expect otherwise of his judicial nominees?

DOES ANY OF this justify voting for Bush? Of course not. On every gay rights issue including marriage, the choice between Kerry and Bush couldn’t be clearer. Where Kerry sees nuance, President Bush sees good vs. evil, and it should be clear to every voter, including gay Republicans, on which side of that divide we reside.

But John Kerry suffers from the reverse malady, and his congenital inability to state a clear, principled view and then stick to it is costing him dearly and may decide the election.

Kerry's had a good week this week - partly because his campaign has been more clear and on message. However, it's clear that his position on marriage has nothing to do with "nuanced principle" and everything to do with saying different things to different audiences.

That's politics though, and that's what politicians do. What the internet does is bring under the radar appeals to the general public, so this method becomes less and less successful. Case in point: the Republican National Committee's Liberals will ban the bible mailing.