It seems rather obvious now, after Bush's comments yesterday about gay marriage, that Rove feels Howard Dean is the most dangerous of the potential democratic candidates. If the Massachusetts SC rules in any similar fashion to the way SCOTUS did recently in Lawrence vs. Texas I'd say we are going to be in for a political season which in some fashion will resolve around us queers. What a change this is from my childhood when we were the invisible minority. The only time gays were mentioned when I was a child was when they were killed. (Or lame jokes about hairdressers) But now we are increasingly in the center of American life and a touchstone on the campaign for the next president.
I suspect that Bush's coming down on the side of a Constitutional Amendment in favor of second class citizenship status for queers will cause huge amounts of money to be raised among gays to bring down Bush. I can't help but wonder what this going to do to Andrew Sullivan and the Log Cabin Republicans. On a regular basis I approach them at Pride events. I wonder how many of them will be left by the time this all shakes out. I would have thought 1996 would have effectively ended LCR. But apparently Bush will have to draw blood before the extent of his party's scorn will have an effect on some of these people.
These are interesting times we live in, to be sure.
I'm reminded of Prof. Richard Florida's studies (see Rise of the Creative Class) and his identification of gays as the canaries in a community; communities in which gays thrived also thrived. The gay-friendly community manifested traits essential to long-term sustainability. No surprise, then, that the Bushies' attitudes toward gays are as bad as their attitudes towards economic and social development. Rotten through and through.
Posted by: Rayne | July 31, 2003 at 01:14 PM
The timing of Bush's "position" seems to be well suited to divert attention from the nagging questions about who knew what and when on Iraq and other such matters. I hope the presidential race does not get bogged down with this but that may very well be what is coming.
Posted by: Rob | July 31, 2003 at 03:16 PM
I think it's fairly obvious with the courts waking up the flaws in historical logic that this issue will be front and center in the upcoming elections.
The far right feels backed into a corner about this and will fight with full force.
Posted by: filchyboy | August 01, 2003 at 09:48 AM
I disagree with the comment suggesting that there's some sinister Iraq-related motive in Bush's position. He's taking it because it is the politically expedient thing to do. And yes, gays may contribute to his opponent, but the gay issues are surely going to motivate the right-wingers even more strongly.
I'm longing for the good old days when shark attacks were the summer headlines.
Posted by: Only Connect | August 07, 2003 at 09:19 AM
I'm not sure I understand how you can quantify "gay issues are surely going to motivate the right-wingers even more strongly."
Obviously there are many folks at the table with lots of motivation. Who is motivated more is a question I doubt can be reasonably answered.
Posted by: filchyboy | August 07, 2003 at 09:36 AM
I wasn't quantifying anything. And "who is motivated more" is a question that certainly can be answered once events unfold. At this point it's assumption and speculation. But the anti-gay backlash is already being measured in the polls.
Posted by: Only Connect | August 07, 2003 at 12:30 PM
Perhaps I don't understand english then. If "gay issues are surely going to motivate the right-wingers even more strongly." is not a quantification of who is motivated more then I'll just head back to school to relearn english.
Posted by: filchyboy | August 07, 2003 at 12:43 PM
so, uh, you're gay?
Posted by: HUGH | August 14, 2003 at 10:58 PM
No. Bisexual.
Posted by: filchyboy | August 15, 2003 at 12:06 AM