CAMPAIGN OUTSIDER Married to the mob
By Muhammad Cohen
SAN FRANCISCO - It began Monday at 5:01pm local time, as Phyllis Lyon and Del
Martin, a pair of octogenarian gay rights advocates, tied the knot with San
Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom presiding. The wedding ceremony marked the start
of same sex marriages in California, declared legal by a state Supreme Court
ruling last month.
The national hoopla over the decision could mark the start of the Democratic
Party's defeat in what should be a slam dunk election victory this autumn.
This year's same-sex marriage outburst echoes the 2004 elections season when
so-called gay marriage became an issue
in the presidential race between George W Bush and Democrat John Kerry. That
year Massachusetts, Kerry's home state, began issuing same sex-marriage
licenses in May, following a late 2003 state Supreme Judicial Court ruling in
favor of a discrimination lawsuit by brought by seven same sex couples. San
Francisco, northern California's haven for gays and liberals, also began
issuing same sex marriage licenses, later voided by state judges.
The Massachusetts decision, and the marriage of hundreds of same-sex couples
under the media spotlight, unleashed a nationwide backlash by a mob of
conservative groups. Bush, campaigning for reelection, championed a
constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriages. The senate killed the
amendment by in 48-50 vote, well short of the 67 votes need to pass the
measure.
Lucky 13-for-13
But ballot measures to ban same-sex marriages were introduced in 13 states, and
passed in all 13. Pundits credited the gay marriage debate with energizing the
Republican Party's conservative base, and exit polls found Republican voters
ranked values issues as their top priority. One study found same-sex marriage
initiatives in Ohio and Arkansas boosted voter turnout. Bush's narrow victory
in Ohio (still disputed by some Democratic diehards) clinched his re-election.
Democratic conspiracy theorists went even further, saying Republicans suckered
the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) community into pushing marriage
equality, creating a diversion from the war in Iraq, tax cuts for the wealthy,
and other core issues where Bush may have been vulnerable. Same-sex marriage
also deflected focus on the Bush administration's lack of success on the
conservative family values agenda. Some Democrats even blame gays for the
defeat in 2004 - just as they blame Ralph Nader for Al Gore's loss in 2000 -
because they wouldn't shut up about same-sex marriage.
Public opinion expert Kenneth Sherrill has a one word answer to those charges:
"Bullshit."
A professor of political science at the City University of New York's Hunter
College, Sherrill says, "First of all, the data indicate that marriage equality
did not distract people from other issues. Second, the timing of the demands
for marriage equality came more from rank-and-file people. The major national
organizations thought it was bound to be a loser and were pushing for workplace
nondiscrimination."
State of gay
Sherrill is a co-author, with Patrick J Egan of New York University and Murray
S Edelman of Rutgers University, of "Findings from the Hunter College Poll of
Lesbians Gays, and Bisexuals", the first academic survey of LGB adults on
politics and public affairs. (Sampling constraints made it impossible to
produce a statistically significant sample of transgender individuals.) The
survey, conducted in November 2007, questioned 768 LGBs from a representative
US sample.
Findings included that LGBs, 2.9% of the US population according to the survey,
tend to be more interested in politics than Americans overall, and more likely
to participate in civic and political activities. LGBs are also younger - half
of Americans are over age 45, but only 38% of LGBs are, with only 3.5% of LGBs
over 65, compared with 16.3% of total US population. LGBs are also better
educated, a third holding college degrees versus a quarter of the population at
large. But the poll debunks the myth the LGBs are richer than average: half of
US households report incomes above US$50,000, but only 37% of LGBs households
do.
Unsurprisingly, LGBs tend to be more liberal than average Americans and the
stronger their gay identity the more liberal they tend to be. LGBs show their
liberal bend on range of issues not associated with LGB causes. For example,
60% of LGBs believe protecting the environment is more important than
protecting jobs, a view held by 45% of Americans overall. Sixty-three percent
of LGBs favor increased social spending, versus 50% of all Americans.
On abortion, 63% of LGBs say it is a matter of personal choice, a view held by
36% of Americans overall. LGBs join the 58% majority of Americans favoring
withdrawal of all troops from Iraq with 12 months, but 77% of LGBs support it.
Sixty percent of LGBs favor giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship,
compared with 51% of Americans overall. Half of Americans identify themselves
as Democrats, but 83% of LGBs do, and 88% of the strong identifiers.
Sixty-three percent of LGBs identify themselves as liberals, a label that just
26% of all Americans apply to themselves.
Doing their parts
According to the poll, LGBs are a third more likely to participate in civic and
political activities, measured by a list of eight activities, including
contacting a government official, contributing or working on a campaign,
writing a letter to the editor, and attending a rally or protest. Four out of
ten LGBs participated in at least one of those activities, compared with three
out of ten Americans overall. The only category where LGBs lagged was holding
political office.
Despite being politically engaged, the poll found only 38% of LGBs could
correctly answer all four of these questions about gay rights: whether same-sex
marriage is legal in their state (depends); whether gays and lesbians can
openly serve in the US military (no); whether the US Constitution bans same-sex
marriage (no); and whether a national law prohibits workplace discrimination
against LGBs (no).
Sherrill epitomizes the politically engaged LGB. The first openly gay elected
official in New York, he served as Democratic district leader on Manhattan's
Upper West Side from 1977-85 and was a delegate to the 1984 Democratic National
Convention in San Francisco. "I was raised in a political home," he says. "A
lot of research on civil rights and antiwar activists in the 1960s indicated
that we came from homes in which values were discussed, particularly involving
the evil of remaining silent in the face of injustice."
Sherrill married his companion of 30 years, dancer and choreographer Gerald
Otte, in Toronto in 2003, but for many LGBs marriage equality is not a top
priority. The Hunter Poll finds that despite the brouhaha over same-sex
marriage, it ranks sixth (of eight) priorities among all LGBs, behind
protection against workplace discrimination, hate crimes protection, federal
benefits for same-sex partners, and parental and adoption rights.
But marriage rights are the top priority for LGBs aged 18-25. "While the oldest
generation of LGBs places a high priority on obtaining freedom from
discrimination and bias," the report says, "the youngest generation instead
believes it is more important to win the freedom to live their lives in ways no
different from heterosexual Americans."
Dreaded wedge?
So where does that leave the same sex marriage issue in 2008?
"The Republicans will try again to use it again as a wedge issue," Sherrill
says, "but, between the war and the economy, it will have no traction. The
Democrats will be less afraid of the issue this year than four years ago.
There's polling data to support the view that it's not a bugaboo."
Still, neither party's presumptive nominee, Democrat Barack Obama and
Republican John McCain, wants to stick his head up on same-sex marriage.
Neither candidate's website explicitly mentions gay marriage, though McCain's
talks about appointing judges who will leave the definition of marriage to the
states. McCain voted against the federal constitutional amendment to ban
same-sex marriage in 2004, claiming it's a state matter. In 2006, he campaigned
for a failed Arizona state initiative to ban same-sex marriage.
The Barack Obama campaign did not respond to inquiries about his position on
marriage equality. It's a loaded shotgun for Obama pointed at his foot, exactly
the kind of issue that Republicans will pin on the presumed Democratic nominee
every chance they get. The Illinois senator and his party don't need this issue
to cement support from LGBs, but backing same sex marriage helps Republicans
portray Obama as too liberal and out of the mainstream, their best hope for
victory.
At least one key state will have a same-sex marriage ban on the ballot in
November, California, a state the Democrats must have to capture the White
House. You can bet Obama, like many LGBs, won't give marriage equality top
priority. But Republicans surely will.
Former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen told America’s story to the
world as a US diplomat and is author of Hong Kong On Air (www.hongkongonair.com),
a novel set during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal,
high finance and cheap lingerie.
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