During this blizzard of debate over Constitutional Amendments, gay marriage and state's rights, I can't help but think back to the Norman Rockwell illustrations about segregation during the 50s and 60s. The one featuring the young African-American school girl being escorted by military comes to mind as she tries to sheepishly enter school amid taunts and tomato tossing.
Critics of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom might best think back to separate-but-equal legislation. It took Rose Parks to sit in the front of the bus and other forms of civil disobedience to enact political change. There was a time when interracial marriage was as illegal as gay marriage is today.
The comparison to Rockwell features into a very good column posted today in the National Journal by William Powers, who calls into question journalists own "cold feet" when it comes to reporting on the story fairly. He describes a "tabloidization" of the gay marriage issue in most cases, citing the New York Post's "Gays Wed" shock cover or Newsweek's gloomy "Is Gay Marriage Next?" cover line. It's the first article I've read that addresses this issue from within the industry, pitting journos within the same awkward sphere shared by politicos who are also tip-toeing around this debate for fear of alienating voters.
As a result, I doubt that a viable Democratic Presidential candidate could really be public about supporting gay marriage initiatives without losing votes (sadly, polls suggest that most Americans are against such a move), although I'm not as certain that spinning intellectual criticism about amending the Constitution will really lose votes. In an ideal world, voters will understand the criticism to preserve state's rights. Considering that Republicans often tout this very virtue, it may backfire now that Bush wants to limit state's rights.
Yesterday, Tim Grieve's brilliant "Bush's War Over Gay Marriage" on Salon recounted several instances when the Bush tribe used dirty politics to turn the tables on political threats, like spreading gay rumors about opposing candidates to win the very right wing constituency, or in this case, focusing on one issue to detract from other much more dangerous ones. The article is very well-researched and provides astute political analysis about a complicated issue.
Meanwhile, congratulations to Rosie and Kelly. How...taboo?
11:32:29 AM 
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