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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2003)
20 J“«1 «*"< • |uly IB. 2003 ITTHTiTm news Pastor Kathy Tackett The City Church, Portland Openly Gay & Diversified All Sexual Orientations & Gender Expressions Welcome Services: Sunday 10:00am & 6:30pm 503-775-5024 3830 SE 62nd Avenue P opping the Q uestion Bush, Democrats dance around marriage amendment by Bob Roehr available for commitment ceremonies Girl, you need to get OUT more! Have you tried the Just Friends voice personals? Check out pages 45 and 46, or submit your own FREE 50 word ad right now at www.justout.com! YOUR WILLAMETTE VALLEY FAMILY REAL ESTATE CONNECTION I support GALA chorusesl Contact Clark to list your upcoming GALA Chorus Event (Free public service provided by Clark) (541) 758-1234 x 21 1 CLARK HOUSE Sales Associale e-mail: ctarkshousesOaol.com 1575 NW 9th Street • Corvallis. OR 97330 President Bush doesn’t know if the Federal Marriage Amendment is necessary yet Refinance Now! Lowest refinance rates in years! First time buyers O and low down payment options Call me for a free consultation Russell Leggroan • 503-249-0843 • northstarmortgage@qwest.net Mortgage Galleria (FKA Northstar Mortgage) • 4320 NE Halsey, Suite 123 RE/MAX S ignature P roperties ! Furniture Homes for Rent I) Available August 1st. Townhouse. 3BR. 2 bath, 1500*1 near Mississippi Pizza/Pub area. $900/mo. 2)Available August 1st. 2BR. I BA house near New Seasons. Concordia area. $850/tno. Tina Schafer, I iic .. gri . abr Associate Broker •••furniture ❖ Litflitintf •> Indoor Garden •••Home Decor Afulti-Afilliim Dollar Producer 282-4000 x 122 RE/MAX Signature Properties e-mail: tinas@remax.net orfico 3630 SE Division 503.230.2522 11-6:30 M-Sat, 11-5 Sun ocial conservatives are trying to make gay marriage a wedge issue during the next election cycle, but the politicians whose names will be on the ballot seem to be resisting the effort. The Federal Marriage Amendment would amend the Constitution to state that marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.” Anti-gay leaders tixsk heart when Republican Senate Majority Leader Rill Frist of Tennessee voiced his support for the amendment on a June 29 television appearance. But any momentum that the comments might have generated seemed to dissipate during the long Fourth of July weekend. Nobody was surprised when President Bush said he supported “the notion that marriage is between a man and a woman” at a July 2 media event. What did surprise listeners was his down playing of the need for a constitutional amend ment to guarantee that fact. “I don't know if it's necessary yet," Bush said. “Let’s let the lawyers kx>k at the full ramifica tions of the recent Supreme Court hearing.” The delivery had a natural, off-the-cuff flow to it, hut most observers believe those lines represent ed a carefully crafted message that offered some thing to Bush’s conservative political base withixit alienating moderate voters in the political center. The leading Democratic political figures, including presidential candidate Howard Dean and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., are a reverse image of that, gliding round gay marriage with equal finesse. They vociferously support the concept of legal equality for gay unions hut studiously assert that does not include the word “marriage.” The semantic game rests upon the principle of "separate hut equal" that proved not to work when it came to racial matters. None of the politicians have explained why it should work with matters of sexual orientation. Even social conservatives are not united in the need for the amendment. “Honestly, I don’t think we need any congressional legislation,” said Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum. None of the social conservatives leading lights in Congress have embraced the House version of the amendment as co-sponsors since it was introduced in 2001. U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., has not taken the opportunity to introduce a companion hill in the Senate. As U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., told The New York Times, “Regardless of S how you feel about gay marriage, I don’t know that it’s a good idea to put it in the Constitution." New York City Mayor Michael Bkxjmberg, a nominal Republican, warned party officials not to condemn same-sex unions in the platform that they unveil at their convention in his city. Recent appointments of gay-friendly politicos to senior positions within the Republican Party and Bush’s re-election committee increase the <xlds that Bloomberg’s advice will be heeded. Those include Ed Gillespie and Maria Cino to the top two party slots and Marc Racicot to lead the re-election effort. Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney, leads her fathers re-election efforts. The Washington Post offered its support for rec ognizing gay couples in a July 5 editorial. “Society as a whole is made stronger when couples—whether opposite-sex or same-sex—cement their love and their commitment in legally sanctioned unions.” The newspaper was “distressed" by Frist’s embrace of the proposed constitutional amend ment. “Changing the Constitution in this way would be an unwise and unnecessary intrusion of the federal government into what is a quin tessential state matter.” So it is perhaps ironic that the latest victim of the far right’s jihad against gay marriage might he the president of the Family Research Coun cil. After three years on the job, Ken Connor quietly announced his resignation July 3, giving just 10 days notice and no good reason save for the generic “professional and personal reasons." The question is, did he jump or was he pushed? And was it because he was not suffi ciently anti-gay? Perhaps Connor, an attorney, read the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on sodomy and decided the anti-gay gig was up. In a strange way, the uproar now over gay mar riage might be the best thing that ccmld happen. Perhaps it will act like a vaccination, inoculating the American public to the idea so that when gay marriage really does come to the United States, probably within the month through a decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court, the Ixxly politic will be better able to handle the idea. JH To fight the F ederal M arriage A mendment visit DontAmend.com, which promises to be the largest online gay mobilization in history. The Web site is the brainchild of Rohm Tyler and John Aravosis, who co founded the successful StofrDrLaura.com campaign. B ob R oehr is a free-lance reporter based m Washington, D.C.
