The Gay Debate

by Ryan Sager
Thu, 9 Aug 2007 at 8:55 PM
updated Thu, 9 Aug 2007 at 8:57 PM

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Stay tuned here for some liveblogging of the first-ever gay-issues debate, being held by the Democrats in Los Angeles and carried on the LOGO network... [You can watch live on the Logo Web site here.]

9:01: Margaret Carlson is moderating. She has a three-person panel on stage with her, which will ask the candidates questions. Apparently, they will be coming out one-by-one and sitting down Oprah-style. The three panel members are: Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, Melissa Etheridge and Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart.

9:03: Candidates are to come out in the order they accepted the invitation to the forum. First up, Barack Obama.

9:05: Mr. Obama makes sure to point out he "got the ball rolling." The first question, from Mr. Solmonese, is on gay marriage. Mr. Obama is for "strong" civil unions, but it's up to churches to decide what they consider a marriage.

9:06: Mr. Obama: "We should try to disentangle what has historically been the issue of the word marriage, which has religious connotations to some people, from the civil rights that are given to couples." That means hospital visitation, transferring property, Social Security benefits, etc. So, essentially, marriage without the word.

9:07: Mr. Solmonese: Isn't this separate but equal?

9:08: Obama notes that his parents couldn't have gotten married in Virginia in the year they got married. He then says he would have told the civil rights movement of that time that anti-miscegenation laws were lower priority to overturn than, say, ending employment discrimination or securing voting rights. While he wouldn't presume to tell the gay-rights movement what to do, his job as president would be to make sure that the legal rights "that have consequences" for "loving same-sex couples" are enforced.

9:09: Carlson asks: Does this mean the church owns the word "marriage"? Doesn't calling it something else make it lesser? Obama: "Semantics may be important to some," but I'm concerned with the civil rights.

9:11: Melissa Etheridge asks the next question. Leave it to a celebrity to ask the most vapid question of the debate: How are you going to bring this country back together? (I'm speculating that there won't be a more vapid question. I think I'm on solid ground.)

9:12: Obama responds with some platitudes about "hope." Did you see that coming?

9:15: Capehart asks about homophobia in the black community. Obama says he's already spoken out on this issue, referencing in particular a speech he gave at Howard University.

9:17: The first testy exchange of the night (props to Capehart for getting Obama to be testy)... Capehart asks: You're supposed to be the candidate of change, so why is your stance on same-sex marriage so decidedly old school? Obama: "Oh, come on, now. Look, guys, we can have this conversation for the duration of the 15 minutes, but there's a reason I was here first. ... I've got a track record of working on these issues."

9:19: Carlson asks Obama whether the gay-rights struggle is equivalent to the black civil-rights struggle. Obama answers delicately, seeming to want to say "no," but giving a very politic answer about both involving people being treated unequally.

9:21: With that, his time is up and he gives a closing statement. He says he talks about LGBT issues all the time, not just when it's convenient. That's the kind of political courage we need, he says, less than modestly.

9:23: John Edwards is next up. He gets his first question from Melissa Etheridge on health care. Nothing too remarkable in his answer.

9:26: Melissa Etheridge asks about reports that he's said he's uncomfortable around gay people. "Are you OK right now?" she asks. God line. Edwards: "I'm perfectly comfortable." Edwards denies that he ever said the quote in question.

9:27: Melissa Etheridge then asks whether public schools should teach about same-sex families. Edwards says yes.

9:29: Edwards mentions Ann Coulter and comes out against "hatemongering."

9:31: Edwards: "I think that what Ann Coulter does is the worst kind of public discourse. I think she demeans everything that all the rest of us do. And I think it is intended to go to the lowest common denominator in the American people and to divide us."

9:34: Solmonese: Asks what Edwards meant when he said his faith informed his opposition to same-sex marriage. Edwards: "I shouldn't have said that. ... I will not impose my faith beliefs on the American people."

9:43: Kucinich is up next. Capehart asks: Is there anything the gay community wants that you're against? Answer: no. This will be a looooong segment.

9:46: If I have to hear Kucinich say the words "human love" again, I'm going to scream.

9:47: Melissa Etheridge LOVES Kucinich.

9:48: Kucinich is for medical marijuana.

10:04: Gravel is up. He supports gay marriage. "You're a little bit unusual," Melissa Etheridge says. You're a straight white guy who supports gay equality. How do you talk to people like yourself to convince them?

10:05: It's a generational issue, Gravel says, and that's how it will be resolved. "Five years from now, the marriage issue will be a non-issue in the next presidential campaign."

10:08: Gravel says he resents religion claiming "marriage" as a religious term. Marriage predates religion, he says.

10:24: Bill Richardson is up. He's against don't ask, don't tell. He voted against it while in Congress. He's against DOMA. He says he was wrong to vote for it while in Congress. He says he only voted for it to head off a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. (I'd ask him: Isn't it still necessary to hold off such an amendment? You may not like it, but it serves a purpose that is largely positive in the battle for gay marriage.)

10:27: Solmonese asks: If the New Mexico legislature handed you a bill for gay marriage, would you sign it. Richardson dodges the question, saying he's trying to get the legislature to expand domestic partnerships. "The country isn't there yet," Mr. Richardson says. "You do what is achievable." To me, this sounds like he's saying — all but outright — that he's for gay marriage but doesn't think it's politically achievable. It's an odd, awkward position.

10:30: Richardson seems not to understand a question posed by Melissa Etheridge about whether he thinks homosexuality is a choice or whether one is born gay. His answer is quite bumbling.

10:36: Finally, back to a candidate that matters: Hillary Clinton.

10:40: Solmonese, from Human Rights Campaign, asks: "What is at the heart of your opposition to same-sex marriage?" Clinton, "Well, Joe, I prefer to think of it as being very positive about civil unions. [laughter from Solmonese and the audience] ... It's a personal position."

10:41: Clinton: I am in favor of civil unions with full equality and letting the states retain control over marriage. She wants to repeal Section 3 of DOMA, which prevents the expansion of benefits to same-sex couples.

10:45: Clinton says FMA would have enshrined discrimination in the Constitution for the first time. I'm pretty sure that's, sadly, wrong.

10:46: Melissa Etheridge: We were all so hopeful when your husband was elected, but "Our hearts were broken, we were thrown under the bus. ... What are you going to do to be different than that."

10:47: Clinton: "I don't see it quite the way you describe it. ... I believe that there was a lot of honest effort going on." While running for Senate, I marched in a gay pride parade.

10:55: And it's over.

Related Topics: Dem Primary

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