Political articles/news from local authors
The Supreme Court Justices have left a steaming Washington – a summer heat wave and a searing new dispute over how they made the health care decision – but no sooner had they departed than the next major controversy arrived. Awaiting them at the end of summer will be the issue of same-sex marriage, as […]
In the nineteen-fifties, the State Department went through something like a purge, systematically seeking out and firing gay employees, who, given the times, had been living closeted lives. Linda Hirshman, writing about the episode in her new book “Victory: the Triumphant Gay Revolution,” quotes the former head of State Department security: “The only thing I
If you were to follow the polls put forth by most American media, you’d guess same-sex marriage divides the country wretchedly in half. As it turns out, America is certainly divided. But a new national poll commissioned by iMediaEthics that accounted for intensity of opinion has found the issue decidedly less divisive than widely reported.
President Barack Obama’s support of gay marriage has not translated into more backing from Michigan voters overall, a new poll shows, and four in 10 self-described independents say they are less likely to vote for him because of it. “The fact that only 17 percent of polled independent voters were supportive of the President’s stance
David Blankenhorn, a national figure in the movement against same-sex marriage, has recanted his opposition, saying “the time has come for me to accept gay marriage and emphasize the good that it can do.” Mr. Blankenhorn, the founder and president of theInstitute for American Values, wrote an influential book that argued against same-sex marriage in
When a member of the president’s staff said that his view on gay marriage had “evolved” and when the president explained this evolution during an interview, I felt a peak moment of empathy. Gay marriage is such a complex issue and I completely understand the idea of having evolving opinions regarding it. I also felt
The head of the campaign to defend Maryland’s same-sex marriage law stressed on Wednesday that he remains confident that voters will support nuptials for gays and lesbians in the likely November referendum. “We feel pretty good,” said Josh Levin, campaign director for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, told the Blade in an exclusive interview during a
As President Obama and Mitt Romney articulate competing visions for the future in their presidential campaigns, most LGBT rights advocates agree the choice couldn’t be more stark given the advances the community has seen over the past three-and-a-half years and the anti-gay positions espoused by the Republican candidate. On one hand, President Obama has endorsed
Opponents of gay marriage have an unblemished track record in U.S. elections, chalking up 32 victories in 32 public votes. They’ve won in blue states and red ones, among the most heavily religious areas and among the least-churched. North Carolina punctuated the winning streak just last month by comfortably approving a constitutional amendment to ban
By the end of the year, either the freedom to marry will be restored for gay and lesbian Californians or our federal case for marriage equality will be on its way to the highest court of the nation. The Prop. 8 Proponents now have at least 90 days (September 4, because of Labor Day) to
