Gavin Newsom “is a terrific mayor,” said Arnold Schwarzenegger
on Meet the Press yesterday as he tried to minimize the
homosexual marriage flap in San Francisco.
It is no wonder Newsom can say that he feels “no anxiety” about
his blatant violation of California law. In an interview with the
Associated Press, Newsom revealed that some of the politicians
condemning his issuance of marriage certificates to homosexuals are
privately rooting for him. They “are telling me one thing and
saying another publicly,” he said.
To the extent that Newsom is criticized, it is not for a legal
or moral transgression, just a political one. The Barney Franks and
Barbara Boxers want to ease the American people into homosexual
marriage a little bit more slowly. So for now they have to feign
concern about Newsom’s move, lest bad publicity push back their
timetable for homosexual marriage. But if Boxer or Dianne Feinstein
were asked — so you are henceforth opposed to homosexual marriage
as a matter of principle? — they would punt, just as
Schwarzenegger did when Tim Russert asked him if he would veto
homosexual marriage legislation in Sacramento.
But has Newsom even made a political mistake? If he can openly
break the law and still be called a “terrific mayor” by the
governor, it would appear that he is more in political control of
the issue than the state. What would have once landed Newsom in
jail now lands him on front pages as a champion of “constitutional
rights.”
For San Francisco politicians, breaking the law is always a good
career move. Recent San Francisco district attorney (until last
year) Terence Hallinan is a former felon. The California State Bar
didn’t even want him to become a lawyer, but relented after Willie
Brown and cronies vouched for his “good moral character.” Hallinan
had racked up various crimes as a Haight-Ashbury hooligan —
beating up Coast guardsmen, slugging a Sierra ski-lodge owner,
protesting the police — but it didn’t matter in San Francisco.
Hallinan won election to the city’s chief law enforcement post on
an anti-cop, pro-criminal platform. He disparaged his opponent in
the DA’s race for having “an approach to the criminal justice
system [of] trying [criminals], convicting them, and sending them
to prison.” Then shortly after entering office, DA Hallinan got
into a fight with a real estate developer at a steak n’ chops
restaurant in the Marina District. “Blow-by-Blow Description of
DA’s Tussle,” said the local paper.
San Francisco is liberalism in its most vivid form. It takes
liberalism and unfolds it to all of its logical conclusions.
Consequently, it makes Democrats, always trying to pass off radical
liberal policies as “moderate,” uncomfortable. They don’t want
Americans to see too clearly the real character of liberalism as
lawlessness writ large.
IT IS FASHIONABLE AMONGST both Democrats and some Republicans to
oppose homosexual marriage while loudly supporting “civil unions.”
As if that would solve the controversy. It hasn’t solved the
controversy in California. Under Gray Davis, California instituted
sweeping domestic partnership legislation. Did that lessen calls
for homosexual marriage? No, it strengthened them. Civil unions
will not make the drive for homosexual marriage grind to a halt;
they will accelerate it. San Francisco is proof that domestic
partnerships lead to homosexual marriage, and that the movement is
not fundamentally about benefits but about an agitation for
cultural approval which will not rest until it is total.
By driving the debate so far to the left, activists like Gavin
Newsom pull the “moderate” position toward them. This year’s
moderate position looks like last year’s radical one.
The politicians publicly criticizing Newsom while privately
patting him on the back understand that civil unions lead to
homosexual marriage. But they can’t say that out loud yet. Nancy
Pelosi, Boxer and Feinstein are simply saying they oppose
homosexual marriage…for now. But if they can get Californians
comfortable with civil unions, and get the polls to turn in favor
of homosexual marriage, it will suddenly become the “moderate”
position.
Carole Migden, a recent member of the state assembly who
engineered much of the domestic partnership legislation centrist
Democrats assured Californians wouldn’t lead to homosexual
marriage, had Newsom preside at her homosexual wedding last week.
California Democratic leader John Burton, who is their President
Pro Tem in the state Senate, showed up for the wedding.
So much for the Democrats opposing Newsom’s lawbreaking. “If I
didn’t support him, I wouldn’t be here,” Burton said to a reporter.
“I never have seen the big deal.”
