Submitted by Brent, Feb 3, 2008 03:42

Rocky, I'm sure there is nothing that can be said to dissuade you from support McCain, and his probably runningmate, the amazingly pro-gay Huckabee, but the reason the "Democrats" didn't pass anything pro-gay in 2007 was, of course, because they were blocked by, yes, Republicans.

There were any number of bills, including the anti-discrimination bill, that would have passed the house and the Senate if they hadn't received more than a handful of Republican votes, if they received any Republican votes at all. In the Senate, Republicans fillibustered and threated to fillibuster all kinds of pro-gay bills. And, of course, the president repeatedly threated to veto pro-gay bills, and nominated a whole score or incredibly homophobic judges.

You can argue that you're going to vote Republican despite its horrible, horrible record on gay rights (a record in which Democrats are far superior in absolutely every single way), and despite the Republicans shameless demogogery of their horribly anti-gay record. Fine, that's your choice. But please don't say black is white and argue that "the Democrats" don't do anything for gay folks. They've tried, again and again and again. Would I like them to do more? Sure, but I know if they did, the Republicans would use it like a hammer, which, in turn, inspires the Republican base, which seems to hate gay people even more than their representatives.

But the fact that the Democrats got no major gay legislation passed...well, that one is 99% percent the fault of the Republican party.

How do I know this for a fact? Compare the "blue" Democrats states on their gay rights records; they're vary from pretty good (Washington, Oregon, etc.) to really, really good (Massachusettes, Vermont, Connecticut, RI). What about the "red" Republican states? They range from really bad (South Dakota, Wyoming) to really, really shamefully offensively bad (Alabama, Texas, etc.).

That's a pretty indication of how "the Democrats" treat gay rights without Republicans blocking them. And it's a good indication of how Republicans or conservatives treat gays without Democrats to hold them accountable.

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