A Washington Blade headline: "Gay delegates hail Kerry speech: Omission of 'G' word 'not an issue.'" And I take it that Kerry's opposition to gay marriage (and decision not to vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment) is "not an issue." And his failure to mention gays in the military or anti-discrimination legislation (which I have strong reservations about, but which gay activists support) is "not an issue." Is there anything their nominee could do or not do regarding gays that would be an issue to these partisans?
What apparently sent the "not an issue" crowd to party heaven was an appearance by Teresa Heinz Kerry at the GLBT delegates' caucus (a non-smoke-filled back room, I suppose).
The
Washington Blade reports that in her remarks before the
caucus:
Heinz Kerry appeared to mix policy issues with motherly love, drawing repeated shouts of appreciation from both lesbians and gay male delegates. She told of how she was moved at a campaign appearance a few months ago in Washington state, when a man told her in a question and answer session that his relationship with his mother was strained and told her, "I want you to be my mother."
"It was clear that he had not made that peace with his mother and he wanted someone who loved him," Heinz Kerry said. "And so, at least, if nothing else, you'll have a mom in the White House," she told the crowd. Added Heinz Kerry, "You can call me Mama T."
That remark prompted the gay delegates to jump to their feet while chanting, "Mama T!"
And they didn't find any of this even the least bit
infantilizing, nor take offense at the suggestion that "nothing
else" may be all they're likely to get from her husband. Or if they
did, it was "not an issue."