I'm very excited that Timothy Egan, and Op-Ed writer for the New York Times, wrote this piece in the first place. Everything stated, I've never even realized, but makes me want to preach.
How CAN Americans praise the sanctity of marriage when our most adored celebrities (ie. Britney and Kim Kardash) stay married for less than a month? Or when politicians continually cheat on their wives and are involved in numerous sex scandals? The answer? We really just can't.
This issue doesn't truly belong in politics. One's private life is not a public policy.
I like that Egan stresses that the gay issue won't be an issue in this new presidential election. We are in a new decade, and hopefully gays won't be seen as a novel problem in any debate.
I was interested and somewhat surprised to learn that Bush received several of his votes due to moral compatibility with his voters. "When George W. Bush won re-election in 2004, political sophisticates were stunned by a national exit poll in which 22 percent of voters picked 'moral issues' from a list of things that mattered most — more than any other concern. This was heralded as the high-water triumph for evangelicals."
This depresses me. One should not be able to simply wave a Bible around and get 20% more votes. The American public should be more educated than that.
And this year, they will be.
Changes in public policy? The gay marriage issue should be a less debatable issue this year. We already have several states that legalize gay marriage, and I think the others will follow suit soon.
Politicians should be focusing on bettering the country, not attacking a part of the people. Gays really do deserve equal rights.
I agree with all Egan has said, although note the strong Democratic bias.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/goodbye-to-gays-guns-god/?ref=opinion
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