Theweddingparty.org, a pro-gay marriage site, runs an excellent
news digest of gay-marriage-related items and links. Recently
posted: an AP story on Howard Dean's forthcoming book, which
includes
this interesting tidbit:
Dean recounts that one of the people Clinton called was a Dean supporter who described how the former president said that Dean "had forfeited his right to run for president." That was because, Dean writes, he had signed a law creating civil unions for gay and lesbian couples and Clinton believed Dean couldn't be elected as a result.
Not so surprising, given Clinton's history of supporting, signing, and ballyhooing (on ads that ran in the South) his support for the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex nuptials. Interestingly, Log Cabin refused to endorse George W. Bush owing to his support of the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment, while the Human Rights Campaign and lesbigay liberals gave orgiastic support to Bill Clinton despite DOMA.
Speaking for myself and not on behalf of our heterodox IGF fellowship, I wish I could support Bush, since I'm in his camp on a wide range of issues (the War on Terror, entitlement and tort reform, pro-investment tax cuts). But I can't. He's sold my vote to the religious right.
Yet I won't be voting for Kerry, with whom I disagree on most foreign and domestic policies, not to mention his wishy-washy position on topic G (he opposes gay marriage and supports state amendments to ban 'em, but claims he also opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment - just not enough to vote against it).
Addendum: I should also have noted that when
asked about the military gay ban, Kerry equivocates and talks about
"unit cohesion." But to those gays who are first and foremost
liberal Democratic Party activists, it matters not.