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TALKING POLITICS
Nice day for a gay wedding
BY SETH GITELL

The culture wars are winding down in Massachusetts, and gays and lesbians appear to have won. At least for the time being.

In just the last week, one gubernatorial candidate, former labor secretary Robert Reich, came out in favor of civil marriage for gays and lesbians. And another, Senate president Tom Birmingham, used strong-arm Beacon Hill tactics to serve the forces of good for a change: Birmingham opened a constitutional convention on Wednesday, only to adjourn moments later — a maneuver that delayed, perhaps indefinitely, a vote on the Protection of Marriage Act ballot initiative, a state version of the national anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.

The extraordinary thing about both actions is that — aside from a bit of sniping by an extremely vocal minority, which includes groups such as Massachusetts Citizens for Marriage, and some hollering on talk radio — almost nobody is looking askew at Reich and Birmingham. On the Democratic side of the ticket, all five candidates now support either civil unions or marriage for gays and lesbians. On the Republican side, even Mitt Romney supports at least some partnership benefits for gays and lesbians. And both Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian candidate Carla Howell favor marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.

National Democratic fundraiser and gay activist David Mixner says that while he appreciates the positions of all the Democratic gubernatorial candidates, he especially admires Reich’s move. "I’ve seen candidates equivocate for the last 10 years, tell us we had to accept ‘domestic partnerships’ and ‘civil unions’ and all kinds of other words they’ve had to invent," says Mixner. "I was blown away to see somebody unequivocally, unapologetically come out for marriage." For that reason, Mixner, who helped raise $3.5 million from the gay community for Bill Clinton’s 1992 run for president, sent out an e-mail missive to more than 400 gay political activists urging them to send donations to Reich’s campaign for its "act of political courage."

While Reich’s new position and Birmingham’s legislative action may move the Democratic pack to the left on gay-related issues, the campaigns of former Democratic National Committee chair Steve Grossman, Treasurer Shannon O’Brien, and former state senator Warren Tolman say they won’t be changing their positions supporting Vermont-style civil unions, rather than full-fledged marriage rights, for gays and lesbians.

That said, O’Brien is stepping up her activity in the gay community. She held a financial conference for gays and lesbians on Tuesday night and will hold a fundraiser in the South End on July 10 and another in Provincetown on July 27 (sponsors of both fundraisers include Mary Breslauer, Peter Flynn, and Katherine Triantafillou). O’Brien’s financial conference played to the practical concerns of the community. The Treasurer focused on issues such as providing financial security for a same-sex partner in a legal environment where pension benefits, for example, cannot be transferred — although such transfers are permitted for married couples. Grossman, who has already held several fundraising events among gays and lesbians, plans more for later in the summer.

In a short comment about Reich’s move on his Web log, Andrew Sullivan, noting that Reich was influenced, in part, by openly gay high-school football player Corey Johnson, wrote, "This is an issue which the younger generation sees as a no-brainer." If the reaction among the state electorate is any indication, it’s a no-brainer for much of Massachusetts as well.

Issue Date: June 27 - July 4, 2002
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