If Proposition 8 on the California General Election ballot passes, the California Constitution will be amended to its former state, eliminating the right to same-sex marriages. Barack Obama has taken a stance against Prop 8, encouraging his supporters to vote "no" on November 4.
While this Democratic support appears promising, Patrick Healey demonstrates how Obama supporters could in fact cause the proposition to pass. His argument lies in the "socially conservative blacks and Hispanics [who support Obama...] but oppose same-sex marriage." Simply, greater Obama-voter turnout is unlikely to translate favorably for the opponents of Prop 8, who had been otherwise eager for Obama’s endorsement.
The Obama-voters of California are likely confused by his position, they may even feel like he is contradicting himself. After all, Obama IS opposed to same-sex marriage, but he stands against an amendment that would ban such marriages? It is easy to miss, but Healey clarifies “Mr. Obama opposes amending state constitutions to define marriage as a heterosexual institution, describing such proposals as discriminatory.” Drawing on his own parents’ biracial marriage, which was illegal in many southern states, he speaks to the same-sex marriage debate in legal terms.
What can be said for Obama’s legal defense, when he has cited religion as the root of his opposition? Unlike McCain, who draws on cultural norms to explain his own opposition, Obama wavers in conviction, is it church or state? He expresses his distress in The Audacity of Hope when he says “no matter how much Christians who oppose homosexuality may claim that they hate the sin but love the sinner, such a judgment inflicts pain on good people.”
Truth behold, his judgment is loaded; it may in fact be more offensive to use God as his witness.
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3 comments:
While Senator Obama is not an advocate for homosexual marriage, I disagree that he is contradicting himself by opposing a proposition to ban it. It’s understandable that a man who is vocal about his faith and Christianity to have trepidation against an issue that’s preached as intrinsically evil. However; I think it is refreshing that a politician admits that his view may be “misguided” and tries not to let his “religious beliefs dominate [his] views” on the issues. Senator Obama explicitly states that he’s “wary of linking his religion to policy decisions,” even if his religion prohibits the support of same sex marriage, he can still defend it against such a discriminating law without “wavering conviction.”
I am not entirely sure what Obama's position is on Gay marriage, other than he has stated that he is against "gay marriage" but in support of civil unions or legal protections for homosexual couples. In this particular instance it appears that the actual legal nature of the bill, the altering of the state consitution of California, is what Obama opposes. It appears to be more of a technical/legal issue than a moral issue with this referendum.
I will never understand politicians on the left who claim to be in support of equal rights for homosexuals, and then say "but I'm not in favor of gay marriage." John Kerry pulled the same cop-out ploy where politicians can say their for it and against it at the same time. In 50 years we will look back at this time in American politics and society in a similar way in which we look back at the civil rights era. Why were we all so blinded by the predjudce and inequality?
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