Uh huh

I’m not sure I can start to pick apart all that’s wrong with this article in the Advocate.

Well, okay, maybe I can.

The article is a love letter to Schwarzenegger, and claims the GOP helped “bring” gay marriage to California. For the record, yes, as a Republican Schwarzenegger has a good, but not great, track record. I say not great because, while he has taken some firm stances (against the proposed amendment for one), he has also carefully treaded the line so as not to offend his conservative base, who attack him for being too-pro gay anyhow.

But, Schwarzenegger is one man and is not the republican party. In fact, the CA GOP officially is opposed to gay marriage. No Republicans voted for the Gay Marriage bill when it came up in 07. (In fact, the CA GOP is also opposed to same-sex benefits, same-sex child custody, and same-sex adoption, as well as teaching that ‘homosexuality’ is acceptable).

The article also tries to suggest that Arnold’s vetoing the marriage bills (twice) was beneficial to the gay marriage movement. It is debatable whether or not that had a positive outcome over all, but Arnold’s purpose was not to help gay marriage. He had taken the (curious) stance that the decision rested with the courts, not the legislature.

I say curious because his argument was that, since CA had prop 22 (a statutory Marriage Protection act), it wasn’t the place of the legislature to ‘trump’ the people. The fact is, one way or another, the marriage/prop 22 issue was going to the courts. If Arnold hadn’t vetoed the marriage bill, the marriage opponents would have sued to prevent the law from being enacted, claiming the legislature lacked the authority to override the prop 22 measure.

The article then ‘proudly’ points out that only 57% of the California GOP supports amending the constitution to ban gay marriage. A Field Poll done in May show that 69% for CA Republicans oppose gay marriage, while 65% of Ca Democrats approve of letting gays get married.

Not all Republicans are anti-gay. Some are even pro-gay. However, the majority of republicans are anti-gay, and the party, both at a state and national level, are rabidly anti-gay. And, unfortunately, it is the party leadership of the Republicans, as well as the part as a whole, who represent the greatest threats to the civil rights of gay and lesbian rights.