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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 lobbyJuly 9th, 2008
Ward Connerly is a conservative black Republican. He opposes affirmative action and has led successful initiative drives in California, Michigan and Washington to remove race from being considered as part of college acceptance or hiring practices.
While some may think that being conservative and being opposed to affirmative action equates to anti-gay, for Connerly this naturally leads to supporting equality for gay persons. In an interview with the Arizona Republic Connerly said the following:
The government shouldn’t be making distinctions about people on the basis of what they do in the privacy of their bedrooms. And those within my party that try to inject the government into that, they’re not the conservative, I’m the conservative. I’m saying, keep government small, keep government out of people’s personal lives. If you’re going to give benefits to people who happen to be straight, give the same benefits to people who are gay. That to me was a very easy call.
I took a lot of heat from “strong conservatives” who said that I was eroding the concept of marriage. I’m not “eroding the concept of marriage.” If marriage is that fragile, that giving people who are gay equal benefit (would cause harm), then we’re in big trouble. I believe in the institution of marriage, but I also believe in freedom. I believe in treating people equally. . . .
I grew up in a time when I was forbidden from marrying people who were not of my race. In 1962, when my wife and I got married, in some parts of the country, we would have been breaking the law. It wasn’t until 1967, when the Supreme Court in the Loving (vs. Virginia) case said that that’s unconstitutional. So, I feel very strongly that the government shouldn’t be treating people differently just because they are gay.
Those conservatives in Arizona who are happy to have Connerly support the end of affirmative action should listen to his advice when voting on the anti-gay amendment in November. And California voters may want to take note of James Kirchick’s article in the Advocate
Connerly, who is black and grew up in the Deep South, told me that efforts to amend his state’s constitution to ban gay marriage remind him of antimiscegenation laws. “For anyone to say that this is an issue for people who are gay and that this isn’t about civil rights is sadly mistaken,” he says. “If you really believe in freedom and limited government, to be intellectually consistent and honest you have to oppose efforts of the majority to impose their will on people.”
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Ephilei
July 9th, 2008
Good for him. Sounds like he should befriend Ron Paul. However, I’m guessing he doesn’t support ENDA since it’s an expansion of government.
Johno
July 10th, 2008
When you hear it put so simply, you’d think it would be a no-brainer for true conservatives. Proof of how completely the fundamentalists have taken over the party that tried to use them for gain and created a monster.
Then again, it’s rare these days to hear a politician from either side examine these issues without religious dogma.
Jarred
July 10th, 2008
I’m not “eroding the concept of marriage.†If marriage is that fragile, that giving people who are gay equal benefit (would cause harm), then we’re in big trouble.
It’s so nice to hear about a conservative who understands that.
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