A Democratic friend of Elizabeth Marquardt has criticized Elizabeth for opposing same-sex marriage. Elizabeth suggests this is hypocritical of the friend, since the friend plans to vote for Kerry in the upcoming election. Kerry, like Elizabeth, opposes same-sex marriage (and he’s willing to amend the Massachusetts constitution to prevent gays from marrying) but supports civil unions.<\/p>\n
There’s a key difference between Elizabeth’s friend and Elizabeth, however. Elizabeth’s friend doesn’t have a full range of positions to choose from; among candidates who have a chance of winning in 2004, it’s the Bush position or the Kerry position, and that’s it. Given a system in which the only real choices are the Bush position and the Kerry position, it’s not hypocritical for someone who favors SSM to support (bleh) Kerry. At least Kerry opposes Bush’s plan to amend the Federal Constitution.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth, however, did not face that sort of constraint when choosing her position on same-sex marriage. She had a free choice of all positions, and chose to take an anti-gay position on this particular issue. (As Elizabeth points out, she’s generally pro-gay on other issues.). Thus, Elizabeth’s choice to oppose gay marriage is not equivalent to the choice her friend made to support Kerry.<\/p>\n
I agree with Elizabeth that Kerry’s position on same-sex marriage is morally incoherant (although it seems odd of Elizabeth to say so, since her position is so similar to Kerry’s). However, when the only choices are Bush and someone whose position on SSM is incoherant, then it’s a reasonable position to vote for incoherancy.<\/p>\n
That said, this is another example of what’s wrong with a two-party system. And Kerry’s opposition to equality – whether it comes from heartfelt opposition to gay marriage or from political pandering – doesn’t really inspire my support. (Don’t worry, Bush-haters, I plan to pull a paper bag over my head and vote for Kerry anyway.).<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Democratic friend of Elizabeth Marquardt has criticized Elizabeth for opposing same-sex marriage. Elizabeth suggests this is hypocritical of the friend, since the friend plans to vote for Kerry in the upcoming election. Kerry, like Elizabeth, opposes same-sex marriage (and … Continue reading