Last Thursday,
during the much-anticipated vice-presidential debate
between Republican Alaska governor Sarah Palin and her
Democratic challenger, Sen. Joseph Biden, both
candidates were asked about their views on equal
benefits for lesbian and gay couples, and, in particular,
their support (or lack thereof) for extending state-level
domestic-partner benefits, like those in Alaska, at the
federal level.
What few people
realized, however, is that the question itself was
flawed, and Governor Palin was allowed to take credit for
progress she personally tried to prohibit.
You see, while
the Alaskan supreme court ruled that the partners of state
employees should indeed enjoy the same benefits as their
heterosexual counterparts, Governor Palin ultimately
disagreed with that decision. And in a series of
events as confusing as her 2008 GOP stump speech, the
governor first vetoed an attempt to overrule the high court
(under advisement of her state's attorney general, who
told her the legislation was unconstitutional) and
shortly thereafter proposed a divisive ballot measure
to overturn the ruling constitutionally.
In other words,
Governor Palin was for treating lesbian and gay Alaskans
with dignity and respect before she was against it. And as
the mother of a lesbian daughter, I think it's
past time that Americans know where Palin stands.
"I am
tolerant," the governor declared on Thursday, as if
that would put the question to rest. But forgive me
if, as a mother, I'm not entirely satisfied
with her pledge to simply be "tolerant" of my
daughter.
In fact, Governor
Palin's response leaves those of us who care about
our lesbian and gay kids with more questions than
answers.
As a mother, I
want my daughter to enjoy all the rights that every other
American child has. And as a Republican who would like to
support my party's nominee, I want a return to true
conservative values of limited government and a
respect for privacy.
My vote was
called into doubt, though, by the events of Thursday night.
With November 4 quickly approaching, it is past time for
Governor Palin to set the record -- pardon the pun --
straight.
Why, for example,
did neither Biden nor debate moderator Gwen Ifill step
in and challenge Palin's assertion that she was
somehow responsible for same-sex domestic-partner
benefits in her home state? In truth, she campaigned
hard to reverse the court decision that permitted those
benefits, aggressively supporting a ballot initiative to
strip them away. Yet no one spoke up when, on
Thursday, she took credit for something she did not
do, and a law she did not support.
And what,
exactly, did Governor Palin mean when she told Americans on
Thursday night that "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." Does the
governor believe the power of the vice presidency gives her
the authority to pick and choose which rights my
daughter would be allowed to enjoy, and which ones
would be denied her? Is there a list of rights and
protections that would be supported in a McCain-Palin
administration, and a list of those which would not
be?
Granted, neither
Senator Biden nor Governor Palin were willing to endorse
full marriage equality, but Senator Biden, who has an
admirable approval rating from the Human Rights
Campaign during his time in the Senate, at least
attempted to step above Palin's antigay fray.
"Look, in
an Obama-Biden administration," the Delaware senator
said, "there will be absolutely no distinction
from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint
between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple."
That's a
clear position that we all can understand.
Governor Palin
should follow Senator Biden's lead and clearly
articulate to me exactly how "tolerant"
of my daughter she plans to be.
