As the pundits
continue to weigh in on Alaska governor Sarah Palin's
performance in Thursday night's vice presidential
debate -- most agreeing that while she managed to
repair a bit of the damage she'd done to her
own reputation, nothing to come out of the debate proved to
be a major game-changer -- one particular exchange
between Palin and Sen. Joe Biden would seem to leave
her backers flustered.
Does Sarah Palin
support gay rights?
Though much
attention has been paid to Palin's veto of a bill
that would have blocked benefits being provided to the
same-sex partners of state employees in Alaska, Palin
has since admitted she did so because it was deemed
unconstitutional.
She followed the
ruling with a clear statement of her personal viewpoint
-- that she did not believe in the extension of benefits.
Similar opinions on gay-related topics followed,
and amid news reports Palin worshipped at a Wasilla,
Alaska, church that sponsored a prayer event aimed at
converting gay people to straight, one would assume she
does not support gay rights.
But in
Thursday's debate, moderated by PBS's Gwen
Ifill, Palin's position on gay rights seemed to
maneuver a bit closer to that of the Obama-Biden
campaign.
Predictably, both
vice presidential hopefuls agreed they do not support
same-sex marriage. But while Biden said that in a
Barack Obama administration gays and lesbians
would be granted equal rights, Palin didn't
disagree, though her answer was vague.
"If
there's any kind of suggestion at all from my answer that I
would be anything but tolerant of adults in America
choosing their partners, choosing relationships that
they deem best for themselves, you know, I am
tolerant, and I have a very diverse family and group of
friends...some very dear friends who don't agree with
me on this issue," Palin said in Thursday's
debate, according to a transcript by The New York
Times. "But in that tolerance also, no one would
ever propose, not in a McCain-Palin administration, to
do anything to prohibit, say, visitations in a hospital or
contracts being signed, negotiated between parties."
Later, Biden
attempted to nudge Palin's support of gay rights a
bit further.
"The
bottom line, though, is...I take her at her word, obviously,
that she thinks there should be no civil rights
distinction, none whatsoever, between a committed gay
couple and a committed heterosexual couple," Biden
said. "If that's the case, we really don't have a
difference."
Not taking the
bait, Palin simply restated her position on gay marriage
-- it's not something she or McCain supports.
Video coverage of
the candidates discussing the topic of gay rights,
along with the rest of the vice presidential debate, can be
viewed at CNN.com/Videos.
(The Advocate)
