Democrats are starting to embrace same-sex marriage in places
where they think they can use it to beat Republicans. And all of a
sudden — poof! — it is no longer as a “wedge issue.”
In 2001, seven homosexual couples sued Massachusetts, arguing
that the state violated their rights by not allowing them to marry.
Two years later, the state’s Supreme Judicial Court agreed,
declaring in November 2003 that people have a right under the state
constitution to marry someone of the same sex. And though liberal
activists and a liberal court brought this issue to the forefront
of American politics just as the 2004 presidential campaign was
getting underway, it was somehow the Republicans who dug it up to
divide the country, according to Democrats and the mainstream
media.
In November 2003, days before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court issued its famous ruling, The Boston Globe reported
that Republicans were considering using the issue in the election
if the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
“Under pressure from social conservatives who want President
Bush to campaign against gay marriage in 2004, GOP officials say
they are studying battleground states where same-sex unions could
be a wedge issue in national and state races, and they are weighing
endorsement of a proposed federal constitutional amendment
sanctioning only heterosexual marriage,” the Globe
reported.
The Globe portrayed Republicans as highlighting party
differences on same-sex marriage solely for political advantage in
states where they would benefit from the contrast. No doubt
Republicans had an ear to the ground on that issue. That a
political party might also genuinely oppose same-sex marriage seems
not to have occurred to the Globe — until this week.
The “wedge issue” angle became a Democratic Party and mainstream
media talking point for the 2004 election. In December 2003, DNC
Chairman Terry McAuliffe told the Globe that same-sex
marriage was a “wedge issue” brought up by Republicans to distract
from the real issues. “George Bush wants us to talk about those
other issues, because he can’t talk about jobs, he can’t talk about
health care, he can’t talk about education,” McAuliffe said. “This
election is not going to be about these wedge issues that the
Republicans and George Bush want us to talk about.”
In a February 6, 2004 interview, PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley
asked RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie about same-sex marriage, saying,
“Might that be a wedge issue? I’ve been reading some memos that you
guys might use this as a wedge issue to pick up some black
votes.”
But that was last year. Now Democrats are starting to embrace
same-sex marriage, and suddenly it is no longer a “wedge
issue.”
The Massachusetts Democratic Party is planning to endorse
same-sex marriage in its party platform next week. Might the
Democrats, in a state in which some polls show broad support for
same-sex unions, be searching for a wedge issue? Not according to
the Boston Globe.
“While platforms exert little influence on candidates’ positions
on issues, they tend to reflect the widespread sentiments of a
party’s core membership,” the Globe stated in its
Wednesday story on the state Democrats’ insertion of same-sex
marriage into their platform. It followed with polling data showing
that a majority of Democrats support same-sex marriage.
Also on Wednesday the Denver Post reported that
Colorado’s Democrat-controlled Legislature killed a bill to ban
same-sex marriage and passed a bill to ban discrimination against
homosexuals.
“The recorded vote Tuesday fell along partisan lines in the
Democratic-controlled legislature, which Michael Brewer, policy
director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community
Center of Colorado, said takes basic gay rights seriously,” the
Post reported. No mention of “wedge issues” or
behind-the-scenes Democratic strategy anywhere in the story, of
course.
Democrats in Iowa and Colorado have written the support of
same-sex marriage into their party platforms. Massachusetts will
follow next week. As this trend widens and Democrats perceive
championing same-sex marriage to be advantageous, watch for the
words “wedge issue” to start disappearing from news reports on the
subject — until Republicans come out in opposition to the
Democrats’ tactics. Then suddenly it will be a purely political
issue again. When Republicans talk about same-sex marriage, it’s a
wedge issue. When Democrats do, it’s a civil rights issue. Because
as everyone who believes the big media knows, Democrats care only
about doing the right thing; Republicans care only about winning
elections.
