Hey, I'm not an stupid idealist. I realize that politicians are not going to take courageous positions. I've been around long enough to know that.
Then again, it was pretty courageous for Lyndon Johnson to stand on the side of civil rights. It was pretty courageous for any politician in the South, or many other places in the country to take the right position on civil rights. Many of them received death threats, were personally harassed by white supremacists groups, the like.
Gay marriage seems to stoke the same passions. In response to a proposal in Connecticut to legalize gay marrage. Catholic League President Bill Donahue said:
I hope this is the last time I have to address this issue. Rep. Lawlor and Sen. Gomes should rest assured that if this continues, my response next time will not be in the form of a letter.
I think most people here at Kos are in support of full marriage rights for any couple that loves each other. By the way, according to a Quinnipiac University poll, the rest of the country at least supports civil unions.
On the flip.
As noted above, polls have confirmed that the country is warming up to gay marriage. A vast majority at least support civil unions.
Quinnipiac University Poll. Nov. 13-19, 2006. 1,623 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 2.4.
"If you had to choose in your state, which would you prefer: allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions or allowing same-sex couples to get married?"
Civil Unions: 44%
Marriage: 24%
Neither: 27%
Unsure: 5%
CBS News/New York Times Poll. Oct. 27-31, 2006. N=1,084 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
"Which comes closest to your view? Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry. OR, Gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally marry. OR, There should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship."
Civil Unions: 28%
Marriage: 29%
Neither: 38%
Unsure: 5%
I could post some more, but you get the picture. You can find the rest here. In between 68% and 57% of the country at least supports civil unions (the logic there is that if you support full marriage rights, you are likely to support civil unions also).
So you could understand why I am a little peeved that candidates are so defensive over their gay marriage views. I believe that most of the Democratic candidates would have no problem supporting full legalization of marriage rights, if they thought the public was behind it.
So my question is, why are politicians behind the curve and when are we finally going to get a candidate that supported marriage rights?