Elizabeth Edwards comes out...in support of gay marriage...
If her husband felt the same way, he would completely have my vote. The smart, articulate and sensible Elizabeth Edwards has made clear that, unlike her spouse John Edwards, she is fully supportive of gay marraige.
"I don't know why somebody else's marriage has anything to do with me. I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage...If he's pleasant to me on the street, if his children don't throw things in my yard, then I'm happy. It seems to me we're making issues of things that honestly ... don't matter."
Mrs. Edwards made the remarks while speaking to more than 300 people during a breakfast sponsored by the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Club during San Francisco's gay pride weekend.
he reiterated John Edwards' position on the issue: ''John believes that couples in committed long-term relationships should enjoy the same rights, benefits and responsibilities regardless of whether they are straight couples or same-sex couples. He supports civil unions.''
She said of her husband's viewpoint:"John has been pretty clear about it, that he is very conflicted. That's up against his being raised in the 1950s in a rural southern town. I think honestly he's on a road that a lot of people in this country are on. ... They're struggling with this. Most of the gay and lesbian people I know ... have seen their friends and family walking down that same road. It's frustrating, I know, but it's a long distance from where we are now to the pews of a Southern Baptist church. So, John's been as honest as he can about that."
My sense is that Mr. Edwards is probably as cool with gay marraige as Mrs. Edwards but, like all the other Democratic candidates who might feel similarly in private, he does not want to suffer the political fallout if he goes out on that limb...even if he would gain the everlasting support of so many of us.
At any rate, Elizabeth Edwards would be the coolest First Lady we ever had...so far removed from Laura Bush who is pleasant and all, but has been very low-key in that role.
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Greg Hernandez, Page 2 "News Lite" columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News, gives you a fly-on-the-wall account of the Oscars and other awards show, movie premieres, film festivals and various star-studded events. He also shares his celebrity interviews as well as specially-selected videos and photos. He writes about all things pop culture through a gay man's eyes ...
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Wow, who knew she would be so open about this. I must say, I bristle when I hear someone say they support 'civil unions'. That still smacks of second-class citizenship to me.
Everyone is cheering Elizabeth, but I find it funny that no one is questioning her motives. It is important to remember that she is part of the campaign to get her husband elected. This game is being played at our expense. Sure her husband can say that he is against gay marriage, but LGBT people her that the Edwards are pro-gay marriage. This is the same scam pulled by bush about Sadam being responsible for 9/11.
What we need to remember is that all the democrats support Civil Unions except for one. Though it is more important to remember that none of them say they will fight for civil unions.
If you look at they issues on all their websites LGBT issues are not listed. The only candidate that lists LGBT issues is Kucinich and we know he is not going to win.
It is time that we as members of the LGBT community demand that our candidates actually support our issues, and not just give us lip service. If Edwards wants my vote he will have to come out himself in full support of gay rights.