Gay Marriage

Want to see some fancy footwork? Try pinning down a Democratic presidential candidate on gay marriage, said Tim Grieve in Salon.com. The leading contenders all say they oppose gay marriage. But when pressed at a televised candidates forum in Los Angeles last week to explain why they do so, they danced furiously around the subject. 'œI prefer to think of it as being very positive about civil unions,' responded Hillary Clinton. John Edwards was similarly evasive: 'œI do believe strongly in civil unions and the substantive rights that go with that.' Barack Obama went into a long aside about ensuring that 'œthe rights that are provided by the federal government, and the state governments and local governments are ones that are provided to everybody.' Too bad no one had the guts to admit the obvious: They oppose gay marriage because otherwise, 'œthey can't get elected president.'

The Democrats' 'œhigh political anxiety' is understandable, said Mike Dorning in the Chicago Tribune. Their party includes an important constituency of gay donors and activists, to say nothing of social liberals who see gay rights as a 'œbellwether' for commitment to a broader progressive agenda. But polls show that most Americans believe state-recognized marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman. In fact, the public is 'œclosely divided on whether homosexual relations are morally acceptable' at all. And Democrats haven't forgotten how in recent campaigns, Republicans successfully used the issue of gay marriage to galvanize their conservative base. Given a choice between taking a principled stand or being seen as out of step with mainstream values, guess which one most politicians will pick?

Jonathan Capehart

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