Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Behind the Curve on Gay Marriage
That's why politicians aren't saying the obvious but you can infer it. A critical factor is how much support for gay marriage is too much, and enough to push evangelicals and religious moderates to the right side of the column? Obama didn't have a lot of support from these categories - though while he only had 26% of the evangelical vote, he had 46% of the white catholic vote. Think that can be repeated if he supports gay marriage? Probably not. Below is a graph that shows why Obama should be worried and on the fence.
And as the issue gains support amongst those who are not gay and who are not themselves actually affected, it's no longer a "gay" issue but a civil rights one. Some have even called gay marriage the "civil rights" fight of our era. That may be a bit much. Any analogies to the struggle of African-Americans will surely be considered beyond the pale by some. But legally and morally (from a constitutional perspective, in my opinion) it is analogous.
(Hat tip to Professor Jelani Cobb for this CNN piece)
*UPDATE*
CNN is reporting that Obama will sign a memorandum sometime this week granting benefits for same-sex partners of federal workers. Recently, Hillary Clinton had initiated an understanding for State Department employees. This is a much broader step.
Graph courtesy of the Pew Research Center
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