(Gays > War) And (Abortion > Economy)
Obviously, I was a Kerry supporter, and am very unhappy that he did not win. I’m just disturbed, because basically, the election came down to ‘moral issues.’ More people cited this as the reason they voted than the war or the economy. Hatred for the gay lifestyle won out over deaths in Iraq. It won out over the crappy economy. It won despite Bush being the only president in my lifetime to have net jobs lost during his term. Gay marriage, which many believed to be a non-issue, was THE issue that turned the tide in this election.
Just read what Andrew Sullivan, a widely-read gay conservative blogger, received in email after the election.
‘I wonder if you noticed that yesterday all eleven states that considered the question of gay marriage voted to ban it. ALL ELEVEN. I think this sends a very clear message — true Americans do not like your kind of homosexual deviants in our country, and we will not tolerate your radical pro-gay agenda trying to force our children to adopt your homosexual lifestyle. You should be EXTREMELY GRATEFUL that we even let you write a very public and influential blog, instead of suppressing your treasonous views (as I would prefer). But I’m sure someone like yourself would consider me just an “extremist” that you don’t need to worry about. Well you are wrong — I’m not just an extremist, I am a real American, and you should be worried because eleven states yesterday proved that there are millions more just like me who will not let you impose your radical agenda on our country.’
Then I got this:
“I’ll tell you, being a 16 year-old gay kid in Michigan just got a hell of a lot worse. When I woke up this morning and saw the anti gay marriage proposal had passed, I was shocked. I realized the situation I’m faced with everyday in school – the American people have just shown my classmates that it’s perfectly fine to discriminate. A direct quote from a ‘friend’ at school today: ‘It’s so cool that all these states just told all the faggots to eat shit and get the hell out…’
So to me, 52 percent of the American people do not tolerate gays. It’s not a huge leap to see the similarities between that and minorities, and even that and the jewish community. God help you if you are a gay black Jew! All kidding aside, the religious right have spoken. I just don’t like, or agree with, what they have to say. All men (and women) are create equal? Not in red states.
Many people have just said ‘Deal with it’ or just ‘Move On.’ Well that’s easy to say, but not so easy to do. I respect our political system and I accept the result of the election. I just don’t have to like it.
There’s supposed to be a separation of church and state in our country, and unfortunately the church has BECOME the state. I’ll never be comfortable with that.
November 4, 2004 @ 7:03 pm
what he said. well put john.
November 7, 2004 @ 9:20 pm
The strangest part of the quoted comment from Sullivan’s reader was “…trying to force our children to adopt your homosexual lifestyle”. WTF? Are their people actually believe that? wow.
November 10, 2004 @ 2:49 am
Bush won the election on terror issues. There was absolutely no greater turnout or percentage of people voting on “moral issues” in 2004 than there were in 2000 or 1996. Yes, these people are largely bigoted idiots, but they voted in exactly the same patterns that they did in the prior two elections. They’re the Republican base, who are going to pull that lever with the R no matter what the issues at hand are. It’s no different than the legions of urban minorities that pull the lever next to the D without a second thought.
It’s the 24% of voters who identified terrorism as the key issue and largely swung for Bush that made the difference. (As differentiated from the 19% that identified Iraq as the key issue and largely swung for Kerry.)
Like any election, this one was decided by the margin of voters who still considered the matter one of choice, rather than voting in the default patterns.
That being said, the anti-gay marriage acts are appalling. But then, that’s all just part of the reason I emigrated.