ALL GAY MARRIAGE, ALL THE TIME.

Dumb and DOMA (Doug Ireland, Alternet, 4/26/2000)

Election-Year Demagogy around the issue of homosexuality is nothing new in American politics: Ever since a legendary Southern politician named Pitchfork Ben Tillman defeated an opponent by labeling him a 'thespian,' dumping on same-sexers has been a staple of conservatives in both parties. Bill Clinton, however, has the distinction of being the first sitting president to endorse a specific piece of gay-bashing legislation as a campaign tactic.

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a Republican bill that sailed through final Congressional passage last week with the president's blessing, was spawned by the strategic musings of Republican ideologue Bill Bennett, who urged his party to attack same-sex unions as a way of underscoring the alleged 'decadent liberal permissiveness' of the Democrats. Clinton's endorsement of DOMA undercut the opposition to it within his own party; two-thirds of House and Senate Democrats followed their president and voted for it.

Leaving the merits of the issue to one side, gay marriage is a perfect example -- even better than the possible nomination of Howard Dean -- of the major problem their base poses for the Democrats this year. The Democrats know perfectly well that this issue is poison in the country at large. After all, Bill Clinton, boy genius, made clear to them that they had to get to the right side of this issue to neutralize it. He knew that, on the one hand, support for gay marriage would raise an unnecessary obstacle to the election of Democrats in red America and that, on the other hand, like other Democratic special interests, gays would give the party a pass. So he got the Defence of Marriage Act (gag) passed, got Democrats to vote for it and signed it. There's not a professional Democrat around who would argue that being pro-gay marriage will be a vote getter come November, '04. Yet, the logic of the Democratic primaries and the continued success of Governor Dean forces the candidates to, at best, fudge this issue and, as time goes on, become increasingly supportive of some recognition of gay unions. The candidates have no choice but to dig for primary gold, but come the convention they're going to find themselves in a hole. Posted by David Cohen at August 14, 2003 11:58 PM