Marriage, Arnold, McCain and Ellen

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Lest you think there was a chance that the initiative to take away my and my fellow GLBTers right to get married here in California wouldn't have enough valid signatures, the signatures are being approved at a higher rate than normal and looks like it will easily make it on the ballot.

The verification data on the initiaitve that would ban gay marriage is instructive. It shows that the initiative turned in more than 1.1 million signatures for random sampling. So far the verification rate is very good -- over 83 percent on more than 20,000 signatures that have been checked. If that rate holds, the measure should qualify easily for the November ballot. (In the signature biz, 70 percent).

Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger had an interesting exchange with a gay man who proudly told the governor he had already made an appointment to marry his partner of 22 years at SF City Hall.  He asked Arnold about his position on the initiative.  It is along the same lines as what he has been saying and illustrates how complicated and twisted his rhetoric has been. (flip it)

Well, first of all, I respect the court's opinion, which I think was very important, to not just look at it from a point, do I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman or not, but that it looks at the constitutionality of the whole issue. And constitutionally they said it was not right to tell people you can't do that. Everyone should be treated equally. I think this is a very good way of approaching it, and it's the fairest way of approaching it, and that's why I said I respect their opinion. And, you know, I'm wishing everyone good luck with their marriages, and I hope that California's economy is booming because everyone is going to come here and get married. (Applause) I think all of this is great.

Parsing here, we see that Arnold does not support marriage equality personally, but respects a court ruling that was about the constitutionality of barring same sex marriages.  Though he is anti-gay marriage, he is still wishing those getting married good luck.  It is strange and makes you wonder what he is really saying behind closed doors.  The line about increasing the economy has already made some waves.  Indeed this should been a boon, even if on scale it is small, but there will be more tourist dollars spend here and it will encourage more gay couples to move or stay here in California.

And I think -- and I'm against changing the Constitution. I'm against the ballot initiative that some are trying to put on the ballot. (Applause) Because it's unnecessary. I think that we have rules in place and after the decision was made to then change the rules because you're not happy with the outcome, I don't believe that's the right way to go. So I think that -- and may I remind you, I have said in the past -- you know, I see a marriage between a man and a woman. But that's my opinion. I don't want to force that opinion on anyone. So I respect that opinion, and I think we should live with that and everyone should move forward in the right way.

Yeah, I know, he isn't being that clear here.  However, the general message is don't be a sore loser.  I doubt that will convince many people, but the language about moving forward is productive.

Marriage equality came up as an issue on the campaign trail today.  Instead of being in the Senate to vote for increased benefits for our veterans John McCain was on Ellen's couch telling her that he doesn't think she should get married.  Once again he is flip-flopping on the issue.  HuffPo has a good piece up with a bunch of good links giving the background on McCain twisting himself in even more knots than Schwarzenegger.  In it is this video from Brave New Films.

Ellen will be a wonderful person to really humanize this issue.  She has a huge reach through her show and makes waves any time she talks about her relationship with Portia.  Their wedding this summer will be a great opportunity to message about the need to protect their right to be married.  I think Ellen recognizes this and we will hear more from her about her private life.