The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage

It looks like the issue of gay marriage is shaping up to be a hot item in this year's election. This week President Obama shifted his from his 2008 campaign position and now supports gay marriage. I can't help but think that Vice President Biden's comments on Meet The Press over the weekend had something to do with Obama's sudden change. Biden basically said that he was "absolutely comfortable" with gay marriage which inevitably forced a response from the President. Obama is the first President in history to publicly support same-sex marriage.

Most Republicans argue that traditional marriage should be between a man and woman. Religious views, no doubt, weigh heavily on the right-wing perspective. However, in an attempt to compromise, many conservatives have said that civil unions between same-sex couples would be something that they would support. At the very least, most Americans seem to be open to supporting survivor rights for gay couples.

Democrats, on the other hand, are somewhat split on the issue. While many of them believe that the traditional marriage of man and women should be left in tact, others believe that marriage is a basic civil right. As a whole, our country seems to be split right down the middle on the issue.

On Tuesday, North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. My understanding is that black voters favored the amendment two to one. This makes Obama's support of gay marriage even more risky as he got an overwhelming majority of the black vote in 2008. On a talk radio program today, I heard that roughly twenty percent of Obama's "campaign bundlers" happened to be gay. These also happen to be the folks who raise the big money for the campaign. So, I can't help but wonder if money motivated the President's recent comments.

In my home state of Maryland, Governor O'Malley recently signed a bill into law that permits gay couples to marry. O'Malley, who happens to be Catholic, was urged by the Archbishop of Baltimore to oppose the bill.  But in a battle of politics and religion, the winner in this case was politics. Many Maryland residents feel that O'Malley is setting the stage for his future presidential run. Nonetheless, the new law has drawn a fair amount of opposition and will likely go to a referendum in the fall election.

Complicating the matter to a degree is the Defense of Marriage Act (aka DOMA) which is a federal law that defines marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman. This bill passed  both houses of Congress by large majorities in 1996. And although typically viewed as a liberal, President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law. But nonetheless, many people believe that gay marriage is something that individual states should decide.

As things heat up in the campaign season, this will undoubtedly be a contentious issue. While Obama now says he supports gay marriage, Mitt Romney continues to voice his opposition on it. The number of votes that are up for grabs is anyone's guess. Depending on the source, it's estimated that there are between four and nine million homosexuals in the United States. Perhaps not a huge voting bloc in itself, there are still plenty people who feel strongly enough about same-sex marriage (one way or the other) to let it influence who gets their vote in the November. Assuming that this will be a close election, paraphrasing Joe Biden, this is a big f*cking deal.

Currently, six states, as well as Washington DC, issue licenses to same-sex couples: Massachusetts (ironically where Mitt Romney was Governor), Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. Although Maryland and Washington have recently passed laws allowing same-sex marriage, they will likely wind up on the ballot for public vote in November.

Will state's move progressively to accept same-sex marriage? Or can we expect to see growing opposition as it makes it's way around to various states? No matter where you stand on this, I think it's safe to say that it's not going away anytime soon........

kw