Right: The beast with two heads?
The presidential election is now being viewed via the prism of Sen. John McCain’s choice for VP, Gov. Sarah Palin. This election can now be defined as pre-Palin and post-Palin. Pre-Palin, gay rights advocates were sure that the social wedge issues that worked so well for George Bush’s reelection in 2004 would be less of a factor, citing numerous polls and pointing to the various strides made on gay marriage in states like California and New York.
But in our post-Palin world, things aren’t so certain. Thanks to his Palin pick, the “base” of the Republican Party, the social conservatives and evangelicals, have coalesced around John McCain, a candidate they were previously lukewarm about.
In this Post-Palin world, the social conservative wing is energized. An editorial in the Christian Science Monitor wonders what the Palin effect will look like in November, noting that two battleground states, Colorado and Florida, have wedge issues on the ballots. In Florida, voters will decide “whether to amend its constitution to recognize only marriage between a man and a woman as a legal union.” Before Palin, the editorial notes, a poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public life cited Americans’ number 1 issue as the economy, with health care and energy following. “Moral values” were a distant seventh place. We’ll see if that holds, come November.
A Reuters article by Ed Stoddard reported on a three-day gathering of “values voters” in Washington this week, which Stoddard described as being “energized by the addition of Sarah Palin.” She is a “perfect fit for this crowd: Devoutly Christian, staunchly opposed to abortion rights, a mother of five, and a moose hunter to boot.”
It goes without saying that this is the same demographic that typically opposes gay marriage and gay rights overall. The article notes that Bush’s reelection was due in part to the “religious base that was galvanized to the polls by issues such as opposition to abortion and hostility toward gay marriage.”
The Contra Costa Times wonders if it’s the “Last Stand on Same-Sex Marriage?” The piece notes that the two opposing sides on Proposition 8, which would amend California's constitution to make same-sex marriage illegal once again, have spent upward of $20 million on the campaign. One of the biggest donors is the National Organization for Marriage, a New Jersey-based Mormon group that has donated nearly $1 million toward passing Prop. 8. The paper quoted executive director Brian Brown as saying that the outcome will “affect what our children will be taught about marriage, and it will affect our religious liberties.”
But gay rights advocates are also contributing, says the Contra Costa Times. A Silicon Valley philanthropist, Kathy Levinson, calls Prop. 8 the “Gettysburg of our times” and is donating $100,000 toward the defeat of the measure.
Other organizations that have spent money to pass Prop. 8 include Knights of Columbus ($1.275 million); American Family Association ($500,000), and Focus on the Family ($414,000). The paper notes that much of the money is coming from outside the state.
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