John McCain, Sarah Palin and Gay Rights
People will laugh, but I’m beginning to think that the McCain-Palin GOP ticket is one of the most gay-friendly Republican tickets in history.
No, they aren’t where Obama and Biden are at. But in light of past GOP tickets, this one is much more inclusive of gay and lesbian Americans.
Log Cabin Republicans reports that the Washington Blade, a local GLBT newspaper in the nation’s capital interviewed McCain recently, making the Arizona senator the first Republican candidate to be interviewed by a gay magazine.
That in itself is a major accomplishment, that and the fact that McCain used the word “gay” in a conversation, something the current occupant in the White House couldn’t say aloud.
So, what does this all mean?
I think it’s too early to say that there has been a sea change in regards to social issues, but we might be seeing its beginnings. Gleaning things from McCain and Palin, we see people who are definitely conservative and in some cases socially conservative, but they don’t seem to let these issues be the riding concern. They are much more interested in issues such as foreign policy and energy than in who is sleeping with whom.
Palin’s comments during a CBS interview shows what could be a change among evangelicals and other conservative Christians in regards to gay rights. Witness Jay Bakker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, and his inclusive ministry. A recent poll of evangelicals says this about the younger generation:
A majority of younger white evangelicals support some form of legal recognition for civil unions or marriage for same-sex couples. Older evangelicals remain strongly opposed. At the same time, young evangelicals are as solidly pro-life on abortion as older evangelicals.
The fact is, people like Palin and to a lesser extent, McCain have become used to seeing gays in society lead normal, everyday lives. They may still have trouble with calling a relationship “marriage”, but they are less willing to denounce their friends as hell-bound.
I know this will not move my friends on the Left, but as for me, this is all good.
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6 Responses to “John McCain, Sarah Palin and Gay Rights”
An encouraging sign, indeed. It would be nice to see a true sea change on this from my former party.
Yglesias responds: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008…
I would call the attitude McCain expressed regarding gay inclusiveness a good “beginning” (for a republican), but how much of his response is political in nature, and how much of it reflects his record over the years? I don't know, but I think it's the right question. Palin has a gay friend she has known for many years, and says she is her friend first and gay second, but how that is supposed to relate to her larger views on the subject is unclear to me. Her difficulty in answering this question of Couric's : “If a 15-year-old girl is raped by her father, do you believe it should be illegal for her to get an abortion — and why?” is (again) a complete deal-breaker. I can think of no reason for a straightforward “NO” to this particular question that isn't ultimately based on ignorance.
I'm not buying it for one second. It's the pander to both sides express.
I'm with you Jazz, I don't believe this for a second and that they are just pandering to the social moderates.
When I heard Palin say that one of her best friends was gay, all kinds of alarm bells went off …