4 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE October 10, 2008

www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

BRIAN DEWITT

Palin and Biden have same idea for full marriage: No

by Eric Resnick

St. Louis-Vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden gave the same answer to the question "Do you support gay marriage?" at the October 2 vice presidential debate. The answer was "no."

The question, which was a follow-up to Democrat Joe Biden by moderator Gwen Ifill, blurred the distinction between the campaigns for many with regard to LGBT rights.

Neither the Democratic ticket of Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden nor the Republican ticket of Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin believe in marriage equality for LGBT Americans.

Obama and Biden oppose only full marriage.

McCain and Palin have a longer list of rights they oppose, including military service, immigration equality and benefits. McCain supported Arizona's 2006 attempt to pass a marriage ban amendment to its constitution, and Palin questioned an Alaska librarian about removing LGBT-themed books from the shelves when she was mayor of Wasilla.

However, due to the Democrats' equivocation on marriage, Palin was able to frame the debate in a way that made her sound LGBT-friendly, record notwithstanding.

"Do you support, as they do in Alaska, granting same-sex benefits to couples?" Ifill asked Biden.

"Absolutely. Do I support granting samesex benefits? Absolutely positively. Look, in an Obama-Biden administration, there will be absolutely no distinction from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple,” answered Biden, setting up Ifill's follow-up.

"No. Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage. We do not support that," Biden answered.

Biden then sidestepped the marriage issue

by saying, "There should be no civil rights distinction, none whatsoever, between a committed gay couple and a committed heterosexual couple."

That is already the case in all 50 states so long as the "committed heterosexual couple" is not married, a fact Biden ignored.

Palin answered the first question about expanding Alaska's benefits to the rest of the nation by saying, "Well, not if it goes closer and closer towards redefining the traditional definition of marriage between one man and one woman. And unfortunately that's sometimes where those steps lead."

Palin insisted she is "tolerant of adults in America choosing their partners," but "But I'm being as straight up with Americans as I can in my non-support for anything but a traditional definition of marriage."

"Your question to [Biden] was whether he supported gay marriage and my answer is the same as his and it is that I do not," Palin said.

"Wonderful. You agree. On that note, let's move to foreign policy," said Ifill to audience laughter.

The first criticism of Biden came from San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, a Demo-

crat.

"I'd be lying to you and misleading you and patronizing you as a Democratic club that I was particularly proud of the only thing that Sarah Palin and Joe Biden agreed on is the notion that gay people should only run the 90-year dash on equality," Newsom told the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club two days later.

"Sarah Palin agreed with Joe Biden," Newsom continued. "It's one thing for Sarah Palin—a proud cultural conservative. But it was very frustrating for someone who has done fundraisers for Senator Biden."

That somehow today, our party leadership is arguing that separate is now somehow equal, but only for the gay community," Newsom said, "That's wrong. And we've got to call them out on it. We have to stand up on it."

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About 70 people, most wearing Obama stickers, turned out to see the vice-presidential debate at a Union Station watch party sponsored by the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats and Obama Pride. A few shouted "Nuclear!" every time Gov. Palin mispronounced the word as "nucular."

California

Continued from page 1

Though the three were reluctant to say it outright, the other problem has been that LGBT and ally fundraising has fallen short.

The campaign to pass the ban, Protect Marriage.com, raised $25.4 million through Sept. 30, compared to the $15.8 million in donations raised by opponents.

More significant, ban supporters have $12.8 million on hand. The campaign for marriage equality has only $1.8 million.

"We are now being outspent in every television and radio market," said Kors, which is causing what he calls a "structure problem."

Kors said the strategy to win was to raise enough money to get on the airwaves first, which they did, and to never be outspent once the anti-marriage side got on the air.

According to the polls, the electorate is still moveable. There are about 20 percent of voters who are either undecided or are moving back and forth on this issue. Many of those are young voters who are particularly subject to the volume of the anti-marriage ads they are being subjected to.

Smith said some of the more conservative areas of the state are not getting pro-marriage ads.

According to Kors, approximately 90% of the donors to the pro-marriage campaign are California residents, but only about half the money is from them.

The anti-LGBT campaign is getting 43% of their money from members of the Mormon church, which account for only about 2% of California's population. A Mormon website dedicated to raising money for the marriage ban reports as of October 4 that $8,356,892 is Mormon-identified, and that Mormons are the largest identifiable block of contributors.

"We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined

SOCHEM

ROCHEM

as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage," says a June 30 letter from the First Presidency of the church to all worldwide congregants.

In contrast, celebrity LGBT Californians, including many who have married, are not contributors.

Notably, Ellen DeGeneres, whose marriage to Portia DiRossi was widely celebrated, was absent as a contributor, as of October 7.

Other absent gay celebrities include Rosie O'Donnell, who was wed in San Francisco in 2004. Her marriage was one of thousands later nullified by the California Supreme Court.

Elton John and Melissa Etheridge, two of the best-known and wealthiest LGBT people in popular music, have also not donated, nor have directors Gus Van Sant, Joel Schumacher and Bryan Singer, or producers Greg Berlanti of Brothers and Sisters or Marc Cherry of Desperate Housewives.

"We need another $10 million at least," said Kors, in order to confront the lies the antimarriage campaign is telling.

The Democratic National Committee donated $25,000 to the "decline to sign" campaign attempting to keep the measure off the ballot, but has not contributed to defeating Prop. 8.

One of the largest individual donations in the campaign came from David Maltz of Cleveland, who donated $500,000 to defeat the amendment.

The No on Proposition 8 campaign is the largest mobilization of LGBT activists and allies in history.

"This election is not over. In fact, now that both campaigns are on the air, it has really just begun," said Lake. However, "The advantage created by getting on the air first needs to be protected with a stronger paid-media presence so that target voters hear and see the 'No' message more often than they see or hear the 'Yes' message."

The campaign to defeat California's marriage ban amendment is on the web at www.noonprop8.com.

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