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Obama opposes proposed ban on gay marriage
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Republicans want to make this THE issue again like in the past to get away from all the failures of the past 8 years!!
(07-01) 19:35 PDT --
Gay rights moved to the forefront of the presidential campaign Tuesday
after Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's announcement that he opposes a
November ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage in California.
In a letter to San Francisco's Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual
Transgender Democratic Club, the presumptive presidential nominee said
he opposed "the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the
California Constitution" and similar efforts in other states.
Obama's position on Proposition 8 was announced at a club event
Sunday. Last week, Arizona Sen. John McCain, the expected GOP
standard-bearer in November, told officials of Protect Marriage, a
coalition that gathered 1.1 million signatures for the California
measure, that he backs their efforts "to recognize marriage as a unique
institution between a man and a woman."
For both campaigns, the decision to get involved in the same-sex marriage debate carries political risks.
California is one of three states with same-sex marriage bans on the
November ballot. While the state is seen as Obama country, and Arizona
is McCain's home state, Florida, the third state seeking to limit
marriage to a man and a woman, is a swing state that will be a major
prize in the November election.
Obama is skating gingerly past his previous position on the issue.
The Illinois senator has said repeatedly that he believes marriage
should be only between man and a woman. When the California Supreme
Court overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage in May, Obama
released a carefully nuanced statement saying he respected the court's
decision, believed states should make their own decisions on marriage
and "will continue to fight for civil unions as president."
On Tuesday, Obama spokeswoman Shannon Gilson released this statement:
"Senator Obama supports civil unions, and he has consistently
opposed federal and state constitutional marriage amendments because as
we have seen in some states, enshrining a definition of marriage into
the constitution can allow states to roll back the civil rights and
benefits that are provided in domestic partnerships and civil unions."
But civil unions, gay activists argue, aren't the same as marriage,
and they say his earlier stance would put Obama on the wrong side of
what's increasingly seen as a civil rights issue.
Support welcomed
Groups opposing Prop. 8, which would amend the state Constitution to
say that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or
recognized in California," were excited to have Obama on their side and
more than willing to overlook his mixed record on the same-sex marriage
issue.
"It's great to see Sen. Obama's statement, which is consistent with
what he has said in the past about allowing each state to make its own
decision," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality for All,
which is heading the Prop. 8 opposition. "Is it ideal that he doesn't
support same-sex marriage? No. But it's important when political
leaders say gay and lesbian couples should be treated equally."
Still, the Obama campaign didn't go out of its way to announce the
senator's position on a controversial California ballot measure that
will have repercussions across the nation. Instead of a splashy public
endorsement ceremony, complete with beaming supporters of same-sex
marriage, Obama announced his support midway in his letter, which was
read at the club's annual breakfast.
That didn't bother Julius Turman, co-chairman of the club.
"I was thrilled to see the senator step up to the plate and say how
he feels about discrimination," he said. And while Obama might
personally oppose same-sex marriage, Turman said the candidate "is well
on the way to being educated."
But Prop. 8 supporters accused Obama of trying to have it both ways
by coming out publicly against same-sex marriage, but opposing any
efforts to ban those unions.
"His position makes very little sense," said Brian Brown, executive
director of the National Organization for Marriage, California. "If
he's opposed (to same-sex marriage), he should just say so. Instead,
he's trying to appease the wealthy elite who support gay marriage."
It's no surprise to see McCain on the side of the same-sex marriage
ban. While he opposed a GOP-backed federal constitutional amendment to
ban same-sex marriage in 2004, McCain supported a failed 2006 Arizona
initiative that would have blocked domestic partnerships as well as
same-sex marriages.
Both Obama and McCain have called for individual states to decide
how to handle same-sex marriage, and the November elections will show
where voters in those three states stand.
Early polls show that while the Prop. 8 race is likely to be a close
contest in California, many of the young and liberal voters who back
Obama are strongly opposed to the same-sex marriage ban. But those
groups of voters don't have nearly as much clout elsewhere in the
nation. A CBS poll taken early in June showed that only about 30
percent of American voters favored legalizing marriage for same-sex
couples.
A single loss
Only one of the more than two dozen state ballot measures banning
same-sex marriage has ever lost, and that was the 2006 Arizona measure
that also would have eliminated domestic partner benefits in the state.
But while the same-sex marriage question will come up during the
fall campaign, experts don't believe it will have the same effect as it
did in 2004, when politicians like California Sen. Dianne Feinstein
suggested that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's open door to same-sex
marriage might have cost Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry the presidency.
Nationwide, the country's economic woes and the war in Iraq are
likely to play much more of a role than same-sex marriage in the
November election, said Bruce Cain, a UC Berkeley political science
professor.
"Obama's position (on same-sex marriage) can be used against him in
a few states, like Ohio and Pennsylvania," Cain said. "But same-sex
marriage is unlikely to have anything like the impact it did in 2004
since issues like the economy and the war will provide him with a lot
more cover than Kerry had."
