Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : The Boxing Ring Revived -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (6770)	7/16/2003 6:54:15 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7720

When I read this, the bolded part, I thought of you. 3 Support Same-Sex Marriage Democrats Appear At Rights Forum By Darryl Fears Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 16, 2003; Page A08 Seven contenders in the Democratic race for president told the nation's largest gay rights organization yesterday that they strongly embraced the goal of equal rights and equal protection for gays. Three of them said they support same-sex marriage. But four stopped short of that. Sens. John F. Kerry (Mass.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) drew hisses from the audience when they declined to support gay marriage, essentially saying that marriage is a historic, cultural institution. Former Vermont governor Howard Dean and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) were met with silence when they made similar remarks. Three other candidates -- Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Ohio), former senator Carol Moseley Braun (Ill.) and Al Sharpton of New York -- said they supported gay marriage. Sharpton brought a thunderous round of applause when he said that asking him if he supports gay marriage "is like asking me if I support black marriage or white marriage. The inference of the question is that gays are not human beings and cannot make a decision like other human beings." Sens. John Edwards (N.C.) and Bob Graham (Fla.) did not attend the forum here. The candidates all said that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that silences gays who join the military is wrong, but it was the issue of gay marriage that took center stage at the forum because of a recent Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas law banning consensual sex between adults of the same sex. Married heterosexual couples have 1,049 rights and privileges that are not extended to same sex couples, a Human Rights Campaign official said. Moderator Sam Donaldson of ABC News asked the candidates who were against gay marriage to explain how they could support one contract, a civil union, over marriage. And he asked candidates who supported gay marriage how they would convince Congress to enact laws allowing same-sex couples to wed and receive the same benefits as heterosexuals. Kerry appealed to the audience saying, "I will be a president for all Americans." But when Donaldson asked him about if he supported gay marriage, Kerry stumbled before saying, "I do not support marriage itself," because he said that "marriage is viewed as a union between men and women." Kerry said there was no distinction between what he proposes -- equal rights bestowed upon civil unions -- and the rights in marriage. "I think [marriage] is a hang-up for the states," Dean said, adding, "Marriage is a church institution." Donaldson reminded Dean that marriage was also sanctioned by justices of the peace and, at one time, ship captains. Vermont is the only state that allows civil unions; no state allows gay marriage. After the forum, Gephardt appeared with his daughter Chrissy Gephardt, who is gay. She credited him for supporting other rights for gay couples, but, unlike her father, she said. "I'm definitely a proponent of gay marriages." Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, said the candidates stumbled on the issue of marriage versus civil union because most of them think the difference "is too difficult to explain to the American people." Throughout history, she said, the interpretation of marriage is that "it has always been a religious, sacred ritual, holy matrimony, blessed by the church and the synagogue." But the top candidates support "a secular contract that has nothing whatsoever to do with religion. It's a hard distinction for Americans to make, and for politicians to make, and so they struggle with it." Birch said Braun had the best answer. As president she would be powerless to change existing laws barring gay marriage, because "I haven't seen a federal marriage certificate yet," Braun said. "That's what states do." What the nation needs, she said, is leadership on the issue, and a ruling such as Loving v. Virginia in 1967, in which the Supreme Court struck down laws against interracial marriage. "The federal role is to say that it's not constitutional." Sharpton, however, was the crowd favorite. Supporting only civil unions, he said, "is like saying you have the right to shack up, but not to marry. I would use the bully pulpit of the White House to set a tone. . . . Congress must vote in a climate that's different." © 2003 The Washington Post Company