BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Thursday, February 26, 2004
Kerry's not-so-gay moment.
If an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage
passes the legislature on March 11, Senator John Kerry will have had
a lot to do with it. Perhaps it's not fair to be too critical, since
the position he takes in today's
Boston Globe - for a
marriage ban, but also for civil unions - is exactly the one he's
taken throughout the presidential campaign.
Still, it's disheartening that the
man who would be president is now helping to enshrine discrimination
in the Massachusetts Constitution. What would John Adams
say?
The defeat
of three amendments earlier
this month was cause for celebration, but it obscured a fundamental
fact: an overwhelming majority of legislators is in favor of a
gay-marriage ban. The only disagreement is over civil unions -
whether to guarantee them in the constitution, or to leave them to
the whims of the legislature.
Kerry's statement will likely
hasten the process of the moderates and conservatives finding
language they can all agree on - leaving progressives out in the
cold. It's a shame.
Certainly Kerry knows that whatever
he does, the gay and lesbian community will find him infinitely
preferable to George W. Bush. By siding with the right-wing
extremists in his own party (read Howard
Kurtz's round-up of media
reaction), Bush has left the middle wide open to Kerry.
But Kerry shouldn't be allowed to
skate on this, either.
New in this week's
Phoenix. Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton, is
racking up negative headlines every day. But here's a Halliburton
story you rarely hear about: an accusation being investigated in
three countries that the company, while Cheney was CEO, was involved
in an alleged $180
million bribe to the former
Nigerian government.
Also, talk-radio legend
David
Brudnoy plots his latest
comeback.
posted at 8:55 AM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
