Post-Religious Right Politics: Gay Rights

Color me optimistic. My earlier post, which assumed McCain would stridently oppose the California Supreme Court’s pro-gay rights ruling, and that the Democrats would keep silent, assumed that we were still in a religious-right dominated nation, and therefore a religious-right dominated campaign.

Based on their reactions, my assumption could be wrong. The McCain campaign voiced their candidate’s support for states’ rights to decide the issue (while subtly commenting on “judicial activism”), while Obama and Hillary both suggested that they would fight for civil unions on the national stage. These are bold moves from all the candidates. Nothing less than outright condemnation from McCain could appease the religious right, but McCain’s response was slightly more than “neutral” on the issue. Anything more than silence from the Democrats could be damaging, but they boldly lent their voices to the cause for equality.

Apparently none of the candidates are willing to foster or suborn bigotry just to win.  The tide may be turning.  I’m very proud of our country today.