Home > Debate Club > Is the Democratic Party's Gay Marriage Platform Good Politics? > Americans Still See Marriage as Between a Man and Woman

Americans Still See Marriage as Between a Man and Woman

The Democrats' move is politically correct but not politically smart

Reader Comments
Back to argument

Verbally and out loud people are likely to voice their approval of gay marriage, while in a private voting booth proclaim otherwise. Just shows how intimidating and what a big bully the Left is. If you say you are against gay marriage you are proclaimed a hater. There is no tolerance on the left, only hate. You either agree 100% about everything coming from the left or you are a hater. I am not a big fan of the Republicans but the intimidation and bullying from the Left is so great that I will have to vote 100% Republican just to show my disapproval of the bullies on the Left.

Waterpeace of CA 6:20PM August 03, 2012

Oh Peter Sprigg, you foolish and dare I say 'evil' man associated with a certified hate-group that has been demonstrably shown to spread lies, fear, and hatred toward LGBT people. Or as YOU so very much love to say homo*SEX*uals!

Your so sad and pathetic and will one day die with not only a terribly shameful legacy but with the knowledge that you wasted your entire life.

Now whatever shall you do when a State votes at the ballot box (a Constitutionally impermissible action when it comes to civil rights by-the-way) FOR same-gender marriage equality? That stands a very good chance of happening this November.

Most of your 32 of 32 States happen to have taken votes from several YEARS ago and you know as well as I that public opinion has been changing rapidly during those years. Chances are a fair number of those States wouldn't vote the same today, and that number will only increase in the ensuing years.

You ALSO know that polls which ask the broad and inaccurate question of "Should marriage be defined as one man and one woman" gets more votes because the alternative to the question leaves open EVERY other possibility, like 1 man and 30 women, 3 men and a goat, or 1 man and his teenage daughter.

Whereas polls that ask the more specific question "Should same-gender couples be given the equal right to be married" gets FAR more people siding with the Pro-Equality side. But... you do so much prefer the obfuscating charlatan version of the question, don't you. You really are a reprehensible tool.

And now why make the claim that marriage-equality isn't a monolithic position of everyone in the Democratic Party. It isn't a monolithic position of everyone in the Republican Party. Have you already forgotten New York and New Hampshire, where marriage equality was enacted and preserved respectively with the help of Republicans? The bottom line is marriage-equality is an ever growing position of both Democrats and Republicans, among legislators and voters alike, and that trend shows no sign of slowing down let alone reversing.

And regarding Chick-Fil-A, it's not quite so unprecedented to get right-wing leaning people who've been instructed to go to Chick-Fil-A on a single day by their churches, right-wing blogs, and right-wing talking heads. Ultimately a partisan divide being perceived by the general public in regard to Chick-Fil-A is NOT going to be good for their bottom line and they know it, which is why the company issued a statement notifying people that they as a company had NOTHING to do with the Chick-Fil-A appreciation day, and they surely didn't THANK those who organized this display, turning their low-profit margin business into a political battlefield.

You're simply not going to win this Peter Sprigg. You are on the wrong side of history, and sadly for you, you will have to live with the shameful legacy of having fought against it.

Glen of CO 5:16PM August 03, 2012

The only risk here is for Republicans that decide to take this up. Young conservatives and independents do not understand the allure to this issue and poll after poll shows that. On a side not it is sad that US News would let Peter comment here. Just a sampling of what he has said about gay people...

- “I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them into the United States, because we believe that homosexuality is destructive to society.”

- Says he wants to see being gay punished by law: “I think that the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned the sodomy laws in this country, was wrongly decided. I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.”

- Claims “There is, for example, a single and simple solution for smoking-related illnesses, and we have all heard it—‘If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do smoke, quit.’ It’s long past time for public health authorities to say the same” about being gay

Craig Stowell of NH 4:30PM August 03, 2012

An overwhelming majority of Democrats (about three to one) favor making same-sex marriage legal. (No "It may be true" about it.) The party platform simply reflects that consensus -- which is surely also the right position, as a narrower majority of Americans (about five to four) would now agree. There seems to be little obvious downside in the Democrats affirming what is now the consensus among both Democrats and Independents. The real risk arises for Republicans, who may be tempted to take up social issues for which the nation as a whole has little appetite.

Bruce Frier of MI 3:59PM August 03, 2012

My wife and I consider ourselves to be politically moderate. We voted for Obama in 2008 and planned to again until he recently came in open support of gay marriage (definitely a flip-flop). It was a deal breaker for us. Can't speak for others, but he lost our votes over this issue.

Louis Fry of TX 3:25PM August 03, 2012

<1 2