McCain Backs Anti-Gay Arizona Amendment

So, are the Log Cabinites going to work as hard for McCain next year as they did in 2000?


Despite his reputation as a liberal Republican, Sen. John McCain has announced his support for an amendment to the Arizona Constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions.

McCain last year voted against amending the US Constitution, but in a statement released late Thursday McCain said that the state amendment "would allow the people of Arizona to decide on the definition of marriage."

A spokesperson for McCain said the senator released the statement after a meeting with backers of the amendment who asked for his formal support.

[ August 26, 2005, 01:22 PM: Message edited by: theodoresdaddy ]

McCain is liberal when it's convenient for him politically. Otherwise he's just more of that same pathetic repuglican ilk.

The concept of a gay republican baffles me.

Isn't it kind of like a Jew holding the gates of Dachau open.

No, and it isn't like an African-American joining the KKK. It's certainly a case of a person working against his own seeming best interest, but there is a far cry between the Nazi Party and the Republican party. Like many false associations this both minimizes the horrors the Nazis brought upon this world and, by making such an obvious mischaracterization, makes the Republican Party look better than it is. If the extreme opposition is calling them Nazis, and they're clearly not, perhaps they aren't as bad as the more moderate oppositions says either. Gay Republicans, like most other non-extremist Republicans, don't like paying taxes. I'm sure there are other attractions to the Republican Party despite their unholy alliance with the likes of Pat Robertson and Lou Sheldon, but I'll leave those to the able posters who have said it all before (really, I did listen the last time, but it's not my job to defend your party choices).

I've always heard about the self-hatred experienced by some gays. I guess that's how you become a gay Republican, joining people who don't like you as much as you don't like yourself.

I like this interview with sex columnist Dan Savage where the self-detructiveness of gay Repubs is one of many issues he has his usual blunt say about.

I particular like his description of how his apparently straight son DJ joined the "pro-gay marriage camp", and some allusions to Savage's experiences as a gay dad of a son. I am tempted to read his book now. Did anyone else read that?

[ August 27, 2005, 12:44 AM: Message edited by: sportinlife ]

Very interesting. He certainly has some really right-on things to say about the way it is though, doesn't he? Speaking of self destructing Repugs. The name Jim West comes to mind......

There are a number of pro-gay, moderate or gay-indifferent Republicans. Consider the political stances and policy actions of George Pataki (who signed the gay protection bill in NY), Rudy Giuliani (who lived with a gay couple during his divorce proceedings), Mike Bloomberg (pro-gay), Paul Cellucci, William Weld (had gay men in his Cabinet), Olympia Snowe, Arlen Specter, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chafee, the former Republican mayor of Los Angeles, Dick Riordan (that was his name, right?), the governor of Rhode Island, and so on. Not ALL Republicans are anti-gay, and not all gay Republicans are self-loathing and hate themselves.

The NATIONAL Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, the psychotic fringe organizations clustered around the Rethuglican Party like the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women of America, the Eagle Forum, Focus on the Family, etc., are EXTREMELY anti-gay. This theocratic element of the Rethuglican Party, which many of the moderates and liberal Republicans once dominated, now has control. McCain sees this and is going along with them because he wants to be president. Why else did this smart man decide to get on board the "intelligent design" bandwagon?

When gay Republicans support the theocratic element, they are supporting the very people who want to destroy them. It never ceases to amaze me that Phyllis Schlafly, a wealthy Catholic fanatic whose eldest son John is gay is so strongly against homosexuals. When she starts fulminating, does she forget about her child? Because he hasn't changed or "converted" or become "ex-gay" or whatever, and he's over 50 years old, I think.

I've only had two boyfriends my entire life, and (as it happens) both have been Republicans. Both were well-read, intelligent, and not self-loathing.

All my life, I've tried to learn both sides of issues, try to get in other people's shoes, and come to my own conclusions. Apparently, I'm either anti-American or in league with Satan (depending on who you ask).

LXN

I've heard that Weld, who was in favor of same-sex marriage while governor of Massachusetts, now has come out AGAINST it now that he's planning to run for governor of NY. So he's like McCain: they're nothing more than political opportunists and hypocrites.

The new book is out in September. I had no idea -- thanks for posting that link. I read his previous books, "Skipping Towards Gomorrah" and "The Kid." I highly recommend that you read them both.

[ August 27, 2005, 04:55 PM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

Say it ain't so, John. You are the only Republican I would have seriously considered voting for, but not now. Oh well, Mrs. Clinton is still running, isn't she?