Yesterday, the state of Washington legalized marriage for same-sex couples. There are now seven states that allow men to marry men, and women to marry women. None of these states have experienced any disasters as a result. The people in these places seem happy about it.
A majority of the American people support marriage equality, but guess what? Barack Obama doesn’t. Obama is too cowardly to come out and join the movement for equality.
Fine. If Obama wants to be that way, let him lose the votes of LGBT Americans. Let him lose the votes of sincere heterosexual allies as well. There are alternatives to Obama.
There’s Rocky Anderson, the Justice Party presidential candidate. Anderson says, of his commitment to full equality for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender Americans, “I’ve been proud to consistently support full marriage equality. When I ran for Congress in 1996, I unequivocally advocated for marriage equality – and opposed the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was signed into law by President Clinton. As Mayor of SLC, I signed an Executive Order prohibiting discrimination in hiring on account of sexual orientation, I was Grand Marshal in the Gay Pride Parade, and I flew the rainbow flag over the City & County Building on Pride Day. I received recognition by HRC as one of the top ten straight advocates for the GLBT community.”
Then there’s Jill Stein who is running for President with the Green Party. Stein issued a statement celebrating Washington’s emergence into equality yesterday, stating, “Now that seven states will have stopped discrimination against same-sex couples, it’s clear that equal marriage rights are here to stay. But it’s simply not acceptable that those married in one state are denied respect and equality when they cross state lines. We’ve been here before in the case of interracial marriages, and we decided the issue in favor of universal recognition of marriages regardless of where they were performed. We need to do the same with same-sex marriages.”
Both Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson are solid, genuine progressive presidential candidates who support marriage equality for LGBT Americans. Barack Obama isn’t. If you believe in an America free of anti-gay bigotry, choose to support Jill Stein or Rocky Anderson – or support them both. Wear a Rocky Anderson button or a Jill Stein button with pride.
Obama isn’t a viable choice
Obama, like John Kerry before him, says that civil unions are good enough for same-sex couples. This isn’t leadership. It’s worth knowing that Jill Stein shook up the Massachusetts political establishment in 2002 when she became the first gubernatorial candidate to call for marriage equality. At the time there were 6 other candidates who would not go beyond endorsing civil unions. When the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that marriage discrimination violated the state constitution, the Democratic Party leadership promptly began pushing a constitutional amendment to ban “gay marriage”. Stein fought that as well. Now public opinion in Massachusetts firmly supports marriage equality. Hat’s off to the Green Party for standing up for what is right.