One unfortunate byproduct of presidential elections is that they make really acute people say really obtuse things in an effort to help their preferred candidate. Supporters of John McCain have done plenty of this, of course. But since this is a gay newspaper, where you're likely to read nonstop criticism of McCain and all things Republican, I want to focus on some recent commentary by gay supporters of Barack Obama.
Start with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the flagship national gay-rights organization. It makes perfect sense for a group focused solely on gay equality to back Obama, as HRC has done. (The analysis is different for the Log Cabin Republicans, whose mission is to work for gay rights within the GOP.) On paper at least, Obama is better than McCain on every gay issue.
So you'd think HRC would have enough material to justify its choice without stretching the truth. But just as the Republican National Convention ended, HRC sent out an email littered with distortions about McCain's record on gay issues.
HRC flatly claimed that McCain "believes same-sex couples should never be allowed to adopt children." It's true that McCain initially told the New York Times in an interview that he "doesn't believe in gay adoption." But his campaign later explained that he had expressed only a "personal preference" - not a policy view.
More importantly, McCain recognizes that when the biological parents are gone, the child needs "caring parental figures." This gender-free language seemingly includes adoption by same-sex couples. It's a bit ambiguous, I agree, but there's no ambiguity in HRC's criticism. Explaining the context and nuance requires more thought than HRC thinks we deserve.
In the same email, HRC also charged (in bold type) that McCain supports "writing discrimination into the U.S. Constitution" through a federal constitutional amendment on marriage. This is both misleading and deeply unfair.
McCain has said he would support a constitutional amendment allowing states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages from other states if a federal court ruled otherwise. Arizona should not have to recognize gay marriages from Massachusetts if it doesn't want to, he believes. That's the law now and it's entirely consistent with McCain's defensible view that states should decide the issue for themselves.
For the same reason, he courageously and loudly opposed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage - and twice voted against it as Senator. He paid a heavy political price within his own party for taking that stand. Yet HRC doesn't mention it.
HRC even chides McCain for saying things slightly favorable to gays. For example, McCain supports letting gay couples "enter into legal agreements" to get some benefits of marriage because he wants them to "have the rights of all citizens."
Instead of noting this, HRC criticizes him for not supporting full marriage. "If GLBT Americans don't have marriage rights then they don't have 'the rights of all citizens' - simple as that," HRC lectures us. That's true, but Obama also opposes gay marriage, a fact unmentioned by HRC.
In fact, few gay supporters of Obama ever acknowledge that he opposes gay marriage for explicitly religious reasons. Defending his view that marriage is between "a man and a woman" at the Saddleback Church forum in August, Obama told the faithful that "God is in the mix."
This is blatant pandering to religious conservatives. Worse still, rhetoric like this legitimizes much of the opposition to gay marriage. If McCain justified his views about marriage solely on religious grounds, you can be sure gay-rights groups would be huffing and puffing about the separation of church and state.
Ordinarily independent bloggers, too, have donned election-year blinders. Chris Crain, an incisive gay commentator, recently castigated GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin because her Down's Syndrome baby, Trig, "requires far greater attention than Palin could give as vice president or president." There are plenty of reasons to be dubious about Palin, but contrived and sexist concern about her maternal duties isn't one of them.
Andrew Sullivan, an often inspiring and visionary gay writer, has recently turned his blog over to constant and fevered opposition to the Republican ticket. A low point was reached when he peddled baseless and vicious rumors that Trig might not even be Palin's baby.
Finally, even gay "news" sources have let their bias distort their reporting. The Republican National Convention was notable for its lack of gay-bashing. In contrast to George Bush in 2004, McCain made no mention of gays or gay issues in his acceptance speech. He didn't even take a swipe at gay marriage, which is especially tasty red meat for social conservatives.
The Advocate, however, reported that McCain's speech had nevertheless been "slyly" anti-gay. First, McCain chided judges "who legislate from the bench," which the story claimed was a "coded" complaint about the recent California marriage decision. GOP opposition to judicial activism does indeed include concern about judicially mandated gay marriage, but it's much broader than that. And more than a few of us who support gay marriage believe it should be achieved legislatively.
The second reference said to be a "thinly veiled dig at gays" was McCain's observation that education is "the civil-rights issue of this century." McCain was referring to the poor quality of education available to minorities. It takes special powers of indignation to see this as a derogatory comment on gay rights.
Support Obama, if that's your preference, but turn on your bovine-offal detector.