Democratic Candidates Address Gay Rights Issues.
I guess they didn’t please this crowd.
Written by GussAt the first-ever televised presidential forum devoted to gay rights issues, the Democratic front-runners, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), were sharply questioned on why they do not support same-sex marriage, while the two joined the other candidates in backing civil unions and the end of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military.
Obama said it is less important to focus on the semantics of the word “marriage” than to focus on equal rights, and Clinton — responding to a comment by singer Melissa Etheridge that gays were “thrown under the bus” during Bill Clinton’s administration — said “I am a leader now” on gay rights.
Activists were even more frustrated with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who when asked whether people are born gay or choose to be, said, “It’s a choice” and later explained, “I’m not a scientist.”
At the two-hour event in West Hollywood, Obama was asked several times why he would not back same-sex marriage, and he pledged to ensure that all same-sex couples have the same rights as married couples, the stance adopted by most of the Democrats.
“Semantics may be important to some,” he said, adding that if gay couples had equal rights, “then my sense is that’s enormous progress.”
The forum, organized by the Human Rights Campaign and Logo, a gay-themed television network operated by MTV, underscored the increasing importance of the constituency to the Democratic Party. When a similar forum was held in 2003, one of the top contenders, then-Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), did not attend, and the event was not televised.
This time, Edwards appeared, along with Obama and four other Democratic candidates who each spent more than 15 minutes taking questions from a four-person panel that included Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, and Etheridge.
When pressed on gay marriage, Edwards said, “My position on same-sex marriage has not changed.” He then used the question to challenge the Clinton administration on its approach to gay rights — and by implication to challenge his rival, Sen. Clinton. ” ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is not just wrong now, it was wrong when it began,” Edwards said.
Clinton took a stance similar to Edwards’s and Obama’s, not backing marriage but saying she wanted same-sex couples to have equal rights. She also said states were making better progress on gay rights than the federal government.
University Update - John Edwards - Democratic Candidates Address Gay Rights Issues Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 6:54 amVisit University Update - John Edwards - Democratic Candidates Address Gay Rights Issues
[...] Clark Contact the Webmaster Link to Article john edwards Democratic Candidates Address Gay Rights Issues » Posted at J’s Cafe [...]
~J~ Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 12:00 pmVisit ~J~
This is just another example of pandering to special interest groups. Why do gays have to constantly be shoving their ideas down our throats? Do what they have to do and try to get the legislation to pass it, but I don’t see anyone holding a forum asking me what concerns I have as a hetero-sexual woman.
The Democrats also pandered to big labor this week, with John Edwards evidently a convert to the union movement. He opposed it when running for the Senate and North Carolina, like most of the Southern states, is a Right to Work State, meaning joining a union is optional and if the job is unionized the non-member gets the same benefits as the member without paying the dues, and the dues are high. I know.
When I was out on strike for a month my first paycheck was a partial check because we settled between pay periods. The union took out all the back dues from that check and taxes ate up most of the rest. My check was less than $2.00. I never cashed it so I could screw up the company’s accounting system, and sure enough, they contacted me to cash it. I didn’t and kept it for a long time as a lesson of what the union did for me after I walked in the record heat for almost four weeks.
Guss Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 12:02 pmVisit Guss
What pandering?
~J~ Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 12:05 pmVisit ~J~
When you go before the special interest groups and proclaim all you will do for them, telling them what they want to hear, it’s pandering. From either party.
Guss Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 12:06 pmVisit Guss
I guess they want to have the same rights as everyone else. I don’t find that outrageous at all but then I don’t feel threatened by Gays.
~J~ Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 12:12 pmVisit ~J~
I don’t feel threatened by them but I am sick of them always shoving their agenda down my throat.
I actually had an experience with a lesbian we both know who tried to put the make on me two days after I married. It was a scary experience, but I was only 20 years old. If another friend had not come to my house I don’t know what would have happened.
I think it’s morally wrong, but I’m not the majority of Americans and if they want to grant them the same privileges of marriage then they should do the same with hetero couples who are living together and not married.
Guss Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 12:14 pmVisit Guss
Maybe it’s time we stopped pandering and talking and actually help people who are discriminated against. There’s nothing wrong with showing a little compassion.