|
The New York Times
Politics
If Elected...
Hopefuls Differ as
They Reject Gay Marriage
 |
|
Darryl Bush/Associated Press
While
same-sex marriage is not expected to play a major role in this
election, passions remain high for voters on both sides. |
By PATRICK HEALY,
nytimes.com from the Web, November 1, 2008
Several gay friends and wealthy gay
donors to Senator Barack Obama have asked him over the years why, as a matter of
logic and fairness, he opposes same-sex marriage even though he has condemned
old miscegenation laws that would have barred his black father from marrying his
white mother.
The difference, Mr. Obama has told them, is religion.
As a Christian — he is a member of the United Church of Christ — Mr. Obama
believes that marriage is a sacred union, a blessing from God, and one that is
intended for a man and a woman exclusively, according to these supporters and
Obama campaign advisers. While he does not favor laws that ban same-sex
marriage, and has said he is “open to the possibility” that his views may be
“misguided,” he does not support it and is not inclined to fight for it, his
advisers say.
Senator John McCain also opposes same-sex marriage, but unlike Mr. Obama’s, his
position is influenced by generational and cultural experiences rather than a
religious conviction, McCain advisers say.
But Mr. McCain, reflecting his strongly held views on federalism, has also
broken with many Republican senators and joined Mr. Obama and most Democrats to
oppose amending the United States Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, arguing
that the issue should be left to the states to decide.
The candidates have very different positions, though, when it comes to the state
level. Mr. Obama opposes amending state constitutions to define marriage
as a heterosexual institution, describing such proposals as discriminatory.
Mr. McCain, however, has been active in such efforts: On the most
expensive and heated battle to ban same-sex marriage this year, a proposed
constitutional amendment in California known as Proposition 8, he has endorsed
the measure and sharply criticized a State Supreme Court ruling that granted
same-sex couples the right to marry.
Mr. Obama has spoken out against Proposition 8, and opponents of the measure
hope that a huge Democratic turnout in California on Nov. 4 — and, possibly,
depressed turnout among conservatives — will help defeat it. At the same time,
some Democrats say that if many socially conservative blacks and Hispanics turn
out to support Mr. Obama, but oppose same-sex marriage, the amendment’s chances
for passage could improve.
While same-sex marriage is not expected to play a consequential role in the
elections on Tuesday — unlike in 2004, when a proposed ban in Ohio was widely
seen as hurting the Democratic presidential nominee that year, Senator John
Kerry — passions remain high for voters on both sides. Some gay Democrats
had hoped, in particular, that Mr. Obama would extend his message of unity and
tolerance to their fight on the issue.
“Barack is an intellectual guy, and I know he has been thinking through his
position on gay marriage, and what is fair for all people,” said Michael Bauer,
an openly gay fund-raiser for Mr. Obama and an adviser to his campaign on gay
issues. “But he is just not there with us on this issue.”
Some gay allies of Mr. Obama thought, during a televised Democratic forum in Los
Angeles in August 2007, that he might come out in favor of same-sex marriage,
after he was asked if his position supporting civil unions but not same-sex
marriage was tantamount to “separate but equal.”
“Look, when my parents got married in 1961, it would have been illegal for them
to be married in a number of states in the South,” Mr. Obama said. “So,
obviously, this is something that I understand intimately. It’s something
that I care about.”
At that point, he veered onto legal rights, saying that — both in 1961 and today
— it was more important to fight for nondiscrimination laws and employment
protections than for marriage.
Mr. Obama has spoken only occasionally about his religious beliefs influencing
his views on same-sex marriage, and he has indicated that he is wary of linking
his religion to policy decisions.
“I’m a Christian,” Mr. Obama said on a radio program in his 2004 race for
Senate. “And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate
or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and
my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and
a woman.”
In one of his books, “The Audacity of Hope,” however, Mr. Obama describes a
conversation with a lesbian supporter who became upset when he cited his
religious views to explain his opposition.
“She felt that by bringing religion into the equation, I was suggesting that
she, and others like her, were somehow bad people,” he wrote. “I felt bad,
and told her so in a return call. As I spoke to her, I was reminded that
no matter how much Christians who oppose homosexuality may claim that they hate
the sin but love the sinner, such a judgment inflicts pain on good people.”
“And I was reminded,” Mr. Obama added, “that it is my obligation, not only as an
elected official in a pluralistic society but also as a Christian, to remain
open to the possibility that my unwillingness to support gay marriage is
misguided, just as I cannot claim infallibility in my support of abortion
rights.”
Advisers to Mr. McCain, meanwhile, say that he is not especially fervent on the
issue — he simply believes that marriage has always been between a man and a
woman, and that this is a culturally accepted norm that he sees no need to
dispute.
Mr. McCain discussed his views with the openly gay entertainer Ellen DeGeneres
in an appearance on her television talk show in May.
The California Supreme Court had just cleared the way for same-sex marriage, and
Ms. DeGeneres had announced on her program that she planned to marry her
longtime girlfriend. “We are all the same people, all of us — you’re no
different than I am,” Ms. DeGeneres told Mr. McCain as they sat next to each
other in plush chairs. “Our love is the same.”
Mr. McCain called her comments “very eloquent” and added: “We just have a
disagreement. And I, along with many, many others, wish you every
happiness.”
Ms. DeGeneres said: “So, you’ll walk me down the aisle? Is that what
you’re saying?”
Mr. McCain replied, “Touché.”
As a matter of policy, Mr. McCain approaches same-sex marriage from his strong
federalist viewpoint. He was one of seven Republican senators to vote in
June 2006 against a proposed federal amendment banning such marriages, saying it
was an issue for the states. That same year, he also worked to try to
amend Arizona’s Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
That amendment failed — the first rejection in 28 statewide votes on similar
measures since 1998; a new effort is on the ballot next week in Arizona, and Mr.
McCain has endorsed it.
“He is a true federalist, seeing no need for the federal government to dictate
laws on who can marry who,” said Jim Kolbe, a former Republican congressman from
Arizona and a friend of Mr. McCain’s, and who is openly gay.
“As a personal matter, I think this is entirely a generational and cultural
thing for him — he just doesn’t see a need for gay marriage,” Mr. Kolbe said.
“I just think gay marriage is not part of the world and background that he comes
from.”
|
