How the Rising Gay Marriage Issue Affects Cal Gov Race

The cultural war over gay marriage has suddenly re-emerged nationally, setting the stage for volatile political developments in California when the Prop. 8 decision comes down between now and June.

Last Friday's decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found unconstitutional a state ban on same-sex marriage was followed within days by enactment of a pro-gay marriage law in Vermont and passage of another in the District of Columbia. All this could push the issue directly before Congress, as similar measures move ahead in New York and other states.

The flurry of activity triggered an all-hands-alert among religious foes of gay marriage, led by an outfit called the National Organization for Marriage, which rushed to air in California and other key states a dubious TV spot that uses paid actors to mouth lines of supposedly real people whose purported lives are about to be allegedly disrupted by "The Gathering Storm." (And for a good spoof of the ad, try this.)

Foes of Prop. 8 meanwhile are sniffing defeat in court and planning mass demonstrations if the California Supremes uphold the initiative ban on gay marriage passed last November. The court has until June 3 to issue its ruling.

All of which complicates the lives of the candidates for governor. After months of mouthing platitudes about the green economy, as all-recession-all-the-time stories blanketed the news cycle, wannabes now face the unpleasant prospect of getting whipsawed between two highly motivated enemy camps: ardent progressive and gay activists demanding civil rights for all versus impassioned conservative evangelicals and other churched groups, fiercely intent on protecting their most sacred values from doom.

Read how the issue affects the governor's race at www.calbuzz.com

Comments

[Truth789]

03:12 AM on 04/11/2009

Gays are going to vote Democrat....because we deserve our equal rights. That being said... economical issues may shift some gays to the moderate right....and possibly a few other issues but all and all, the Republicans must be socially liberal to get that done and we don't plan to turn our backs on the people that have helped us. If there were more Moderate Republicans...their might be a shift... but the republican party are still viewed as a bunch of right wing whack jobs. Plus...Democrats are just plain nicer.

Obama in 2012. Gavin in 2010 or Feinstein in 2010.
Prop 8 left us hurt. We saw just how crazy the other side was.... But we bullied them right back.. Prop 8 was good for us because it awakened the Great Gay Civil Rights Issue of our Time. A new Gay Leadership has emerged in combination with the old Gay Leadership... Our time for World Equality has come.

[johnbdonovan]

06:50 PM on 04/11/2009

Gays deserve equal rights but not the privileges involved in marriage. Human beings need a mother and they need a father or else they are growing up with a handicap that has to be overcome with role models from some other place, such as coaches, teachers, etc.

[M1]

04:37 PM on 04/12/2009

Obama turned out just fine.

[M1]

04:46 PM on 04/12/2009

Two other points. Not all marriages involve children. Also, Gay folks have families with or without Gay marriage. So, your point is actually moot and without logic. Denying marriage to a minority class of persons is just a way of giving them second class citizenship while you take their tax money.

[allthings]

12:33 PM on 04/10/2009

I just read over at Daily Dish that now there is a huge movement of the LG community in the UK over to the Conservative Party. I wonder how many LGBT folks in the united states are in the right wing of the Democratic Party only holding on because of that one issue?

[diogenes1967]

11:12 PM on 04/12/2009

Possibly. But remember that Britain is a much more secular society than the US and the Tories have become somewhat gay friendly. They worked for that vote, I don't see the GOP doing the same.

By the same token, possibly the only reason that African Americans and Latinos are holding on to the Democratic Party is because of the blatant racism of the far right wing of the GOP (and African Americans were, at one time, a solid Republican voting bloc).

[diogenes1967]

11:27 PM on 04/12/2009

Before you post something like this, please post accurate information.

http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2009/04/british-labour-party-gets-gay-shock.html

You're right (and I figured that you were) but you provided absolutely no context. The Tories are handling things way different from the Republicans (although if I were a Republican, I would look at what the Tories are doing).