Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbySeptember 13th, 2010
Charlie Crist is a bit of an anomaly. He served in Florida as a moderate Republican in the State Senate and two other statewide offices before winning the Governor’s seat in 2006. However his moderation has at times been a bit subservient to his desire to win and his positions of social issues tended to swerve right during primary season.
Crist has long been believed to be gay (and is one of the subjects of the movie Outrage). However, in the summer of 2008 when it became rumored that he was on Sen. John McCain’s short list of potential running mates, Crist quickly became engaged and married in December of that year. His positions on gay issues have been, well, all over the place.
In 2009, Crist announced that he would not be running again for Governor and would instead be running for US Senate. Conservatives were not content with Crist and so Marco Rubio, the House Speaker, challenged him in the primary. As it became clear that Crist could not win the party’s Primary election, he dropped out of running as a Republican and is now running as an Independent.
While campaigning against Rubio, Crist’s social issues veered right. But now that he is not beholding to the conservative wing of the Republican Party, Crist has again become moderate on social issues and released a list of positions on GLBT issues to Raw Story. Specifically, Crist endorses civil unions, ENDA, anti-bullying, adoption, overturning DADT, and immigration.
Crist is running in the polls just slightly behind Rubio while Kendrick Meek, the Democratic candidate, is tailing far behind. This may be a move to give Democrats some comfort with his social issues and to steal away votes from Meek. (Some insiders believe that the Democratic leadership is quietly encouraging support for Crist under the impression that he will caucus with the Democrats in the Senate)
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Emily K
September 13th, 2010
Well, however genuine and whatever the reason for the endorsement, at least he’s finally acknowledging that he deserves the equal rights to which straights are entitled.
Lucrece
September 13th, 2010
That vile, opportunist slime isn’t getting my vote. He endorsed Amendment 2, punted on approval for gay adoption, objected to the strategy for DADT repeal, and now he 180’s.
Why? He lost Republican ground, and to compensate for a lesser conservative base, he pretends to court the healthy gay vote in South Florida.
Equality Florida should fax him the middle finger for a response.
Lindoro Almaviva
September 13th, 2010
Christ is an opportunistic leech and this announcement proves that his opinions are like farts on a windstorm: they will change to whichever side has political gain to be had.
Screw him and his ilk. Whether he is gay or not it doesn’t matter, lots of gay politicians have been able to run while maintaining their integrity, so the whose “societal pressure” excuse has no validity.
I am sure his “sexy silver fox” status will help him with a population within the gay community, still I hope they will remember his past actions, when he needed to be an ally in the middle of the fire and he turned against the gay community because it was popular to do so.
Timothy Kincaid
September 13th, 2010
Actually, Lucrece, Crist did not endorse Amendment 2.
james
September 13th, 2010
its ashame that the democrats could not come up with a better candidate than meek. rubio unfortunatly is going to win. crist is going to pull more votes away from meek than he will rubio. therefore tea party hero marco rubio will win. and if we arent careful alex sink will lose to tea party hardcore scary looking rick scott. its florida… its rednecks… there is a giant confederate flag that is flown at the intersection of interstate 4 and interstate 75. put there by the sons of the confederacy.. ( kkk) who do you think will win.. the white hetero male.well rubio is cuban but fair skinned so thats passable
Emily K
September 13th, 2010
Remember, the Tea Party “heroes” are actually working against them in many ways. By endorsing the fringe, Dems are now having a much better chance at winning elections that otherwise would be unwinnable.
Jim Burroway
September 13th, 2010
I think it’s more accurate to say that Crist has waffled on Amendment 2. He signed the petition, then said he wasn’t interested in pushing it anymore. But then two weeks ago, he answered a question that appeared to suggest that he supported a federal constitutional amendment, before backing away and said that his support was limited to the state constitutional amendment, “reaffirming my position regarding Florida’s constitutional ban that I articulated while running for Governor.” Which, if I recall, his position was that marriage was between a man and a woman.
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/08/29/Crist_For_Then_Against_Marriage_Amendment/
Crist is trying to triangulate while posessing very few, if any, of Clinton’s famous triangulation skills.
Lucrece
September 13th, 2010
Oh, please, Tim.
He signed when he was running for office.
When it came up, he tried to appear uninterested, but he also did not openly oppose it.
And as the poster above me showed, he’s a handicapped Clinton.
Marco Rubio will win because the Republican base has always been more energized than the Democratic one.
Most of what registers Democrat is youth, and younger adults are among the lowest turnout in elections.
He’s definitely got the Cuban American vote, which counts for something.
B John
September 14th, 2010
Meek would have a chance to win here in Florida over Rubio were it not for Crist being in the race. Just look at the polls. Rubio is around 45+% and then Meek and Crist split the other 45% of decided voters.
Certainly, if Crist weren’t in the race, some of his supporters would back Rubio, but Meek would have a shot. As it is, we’re gonna be represented by slime-ball Rubio.
I called the Crist campaign office last night to ask who Crist would caucus with if elected. I pointed out his support of Amendment 2 (he did sign the petition), he support for the ban on gay adoption, etc. The guy was at least honest, and said it was because of party pressure, which is why Crist left the party.
Well, we know why Crist left the party, because he was going to get beat. I noted to the guy I was talking to, so if he wins and caucuses with the Republicans, he’s going to be under the same pressures to go back to hating equal rights for all. All the guy on the phone could do was say he thought Crist might caucus with the Dems, but either way, he wouldn’t go back to his old ways.
And I have some lovely dry property to sell you down in South Florida also. (snark)
Pender
September 14th, 2010
“long been believed to be gay”? How about “Crist is gay”? At some point the evidence is insurmountable and the denials are irrelevant except to support a contention that he’s delusional or closeted.
Timothy Kincaid
September 14th, 2010
Oh, please, Lucrece.
You said he endorsed it. I simply corrected that single assertion; I didn’t say that he was a champion of marriage equality.
As to who wins, we’ll have to see. Personally, I’d far far rather have Crist than Rubio. And as Meeks has almost zero chance of winning – even if Crist dropped out – if I lived in Florida, that’s how I would vote.
But you certainly don’t have to vote for “vile slime” if you’d rather not.
Lucrece
September 14th, 2010
The signed petition constitutes endorsement to me; I don’t know about you.
Sorry for the attitude earlier. I was wrong and it has no place in this wonderful site you and the other boys run.
Timothy Kincaid
September 14th, 2010
no problem, and thanks :)
Paul J Stein
September 14th, 2010
FLORIDA politics are DIRTY, UNDERHANDED,almost never what they seem to be. Oh and PLENTY of MONEY to be handed out to get the vote in. The good ole boys run FLORIDA and you get nowhere without untraceable CASH and CONNECTIONS. I have lived in OHIO and FLORIDA, OHIO is a close second for corruption.
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