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Mr. And Mrs. John Edwards Split On Gay Marriage
Remember the old adage: “Politics makes strange bedfellows…” when you read this:
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, kicked off San Francisco’s annual gay pride parade Sunday by splitting with her husband over support for legalized gay marriage.
“I don’t know why someone else’s marriage has anything to do with me,” Mrs. Edwards said at a news conference before the parade started. “I’m completely comfortable with gay marriage.”
She made the remark almost offhandedly in answering a question from reporters after she delivered a standard campaign stump speech during a breakfast hosted by the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club, an influential San Francisco political organization. California’s presidential primary is Feb. 5, one of the earliest contests in the nation.
She conceded her support puts her at odds with her husband, a former senator from North Carolina who she said supports civil unions among gay couples _ but not same-sex marriages.
OOPS. Or IS IT oops??
“John has been pretty clear about it, that he is very conflicted,” she said. “He has a deeply held belief against any form of discrimination, but that’s up against his being raised in the 1950s in a rural southern town.”
No serious presidential candidate from either major political party has publicly supported gay marriage.
“John believes that couples in committed long-term relationships should enjoy the same rights, benefits and responsibilities regardless of whether they are straight couples or same-sex couples,” Edwards said earlier during her speech. “He supports civil unions.”
There are several ways political junkies can look at this:
–It will hurt John Edwards because those who oppose gay marriage will think he’s just opposing it so he won’t lose social conservatives’ votes.
–It will help John Edwards because some will think Ms. Edwards is saying what John REALLY thinks.
–It will be the best of all worlds since John Edwards opposes it, Elizabeth Edwards supports it.
–It will be a wash.
But there is one certainty. Elizabeth Edwards is an independent person and reportedly quite issue-oriented. And — no matter what — her comments will draw additional media (and blog) attention to her husband.
Which they already have.
6 Responses to “Mr. And Mrs. John Edwards Split On Gay Marriage”
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Good for Mrs. Edwars!
Good for Mrs. Edwards certainly, but I’ve never really understood why we care what a presidential spouse thinks about anything, outside the curiosity. The spouse will not be in the Oval Office. At the most you could see the spouse as a reflection of the candidate; I certainly think it’s positive that his wife is “allowed” to disagree publicly with her husband, a sign of a healthy relationship. However, I don’t see that it will have any influence at all in the way he runs his presidency. If she were a powerful person in her own right, a senator, or even a former high official in some administration, I might see it differently.
The only presidential spouse that could influence me in the slightest would be Bill Clinton, because he’s already BEEN president. This gives him honest to goodness power and influence. But it’s not his opinions that matter to me, it’s the fact that he would be a huge tool for his wife in a potential presidency. Mind you, I don’t really like Hillary and Bill’s presence isn’t enough, but as spouses go, he’s the only one I see as important.
Lynx.
You and I may not care what spouses do, but the press does and so do political opponients.
I applaud Mrs. Edeards precisely because she did her own thing in spite of what the commnents about it might be.
AT SAN FRAN GAY PRIDE EDWARDS WIFE SAYS ::
“John believes that couples in committed long-term relationships should enjoy the same rights, benefits and responsibilities regardless of whether they are straight couples or same-sex couples,” Edwards said earlier during her speech. “He supports civil unions.”
“”Edwards wife can’t make the changes and so her statement means nothing but a ploy to get votes.”"
Again Edwards backs up what i said after i read his stsatement at HRC = http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/danielleclarke/CtYR
By Danielle Clarke USA Vietnam Vet Jun 21st 2007 at 8:45 am EDT
MY CONCLUSIONS TO WHAT THEIR WORDS REALLY MEAN LEGALLY STANDING.
Edwards
“”I believe that couples in committed, longâ€term
relationships should have the same rights,
benefits, and responsibilities, whether they are straight couples or sameâ€Sex couples.”"
Edwards above statement, is the only one in the area of
civil unions i am concerned about. Because straight
people don’t have to be in long term committed relationships to get married / civil unions.
However, edwards does want to repeal the DOMA bill
that the clintons levied on us in the 90′s, which is a
good thing for edwards.
Clinton says
“”I would like to see federal benefits extended to
same sex couples that meet certain standards.”"
“”I support repealing the provision of DOMA that may
prohibit the federal government from providing benefits to people in states that recognize same sex
marriage. “”
“”I strongly support ensuring people in stable,
long-term same sex relationships have full equality of
benefits, rights, and responsibilities.”"
Clintons above three statements have me very concerned
that she is side stepping in what she says so as not
to commit to anything officially.
she would amend the provisions of DOMA in certain
standards. Her husband and her were the ones who got us DOMA which Barack has wanted to erase ever since
the clintons had it installed as law. Barack obama
and john edwards want to repeal DOMA which is good for
us.
“Obama is the only candidate who supports long-term,
same-sex relationships regardless of length of time those couples have been together. In the
united states no heterosexual couple is ever
challenged to demonstrate length of relationship in
order to obtain the privileges of marriage.
By supporting Barack Obama, you can join me in supporting the candidate who stands for providing
equal rights to same sex couples–with NO
qualifications.”
NOTE: Lastly please send this to your friends who are either gay or lesbian or supporters so they may know the truth of these three candidates.
Anyway that is the way i see this one issue of civil unions.
I would love for you to evaluate the “rest” of these three candidates statements below. You will see how Hillary Clinton and John Edwards try to use words which give them room to squeeze out of fulfilling their commitment to all of us in the LGBT community.
JOHN EDWARDS
http://a4.g.akamai.net/f/4/19675/0/newmill.download.akamai.com/19677/anon.newmediamill/pdfs/edwards.pdf
HILLARY CLINTON
http://a4.g.akamai.net/f/4/19675/0/newmill.download.akamai.com/19677/anon.newmediamill/pdfs/clinton.pdf
BARACK OBAMA
http://a4.g.akamai.net/f/4/19675/0/newmill.download.akamai.com/19677/anon.newmediamill/pdfs/obama.pdf
respectively yours
Danielle Clarke = Your friend at philapride 6-10-07
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