John Kerry And The "L" Word

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John Kerry And The "L" Word

By Eric George
Oct. 15, 2004

So - John Kerry actually said the "L" word in a presidential debate - and the heavens have fallen in. Dick Cheney's wife made a public attack on what he said, and the news media have been divided about how they handled that. Would they just show the attack, or would they show the attack AND some previous comments from Cheney which make the attack look like a political smear?

Just to give the story a little more light and less heat, let's just check on what what the candidates actually said about the gay/lesbian question. Both were against simply accepting gay marriage - both felt that was a 'step too far' for the American people. If there was a referendum on the topic, I guess they would be proved resoundingly correct.

In detail, Bush was clearly very uncomfortable with the idea of a gay/lesbian lifestyle, but did not say so. We can guess from previous opinions that he does not like the idea. Many of his fellow fundamentalists feel that the answer to the 'problem' is to cure the people concerned.

Kerry felt able to say more tolerant things. Did I catch that he approved of some sort of person contract to solve the legal issues of gay/lesbian unions? (I was listening on the net and it was not clear.)

He then went on to mention Cheney's daughter. He said that she was who she was, and we should reespect that. For her it was not a lifestyle choice, it was just her.

Of course, he's not stupid and realised that by mentioning the Vice-President's daughter, he was focussing on the difficulty many hard-line Republicans have with the issue, and the hypocrisy involved in securing their votes with anti-gay statements. So was Kerry impolite to mention her? Well, Cheney had put the issue on the table previously, so I guess you could say it was fair comment. Whatever - it was not a smear on the daughter. John Kerry was supportive of her.

So there you have it - Bush is probably strongly anti gays/lesbians but will only talk in code about it for electoral reasons. Kerry sees that a more tolerant stance is better for him, and is not afraid to say so (perhaps because he doesn't have much fundamentalist support anyway).

What no one needs at the moment is more hypocrisy and hysteria about the issue.

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About the author: Eric lives in tropical Queensland and writes books - some naughty, some nice - that can be found through Renaissance eBooks (renebooks.com) He reads widely and when he is not thinking about lunch, worries about the state of the world.

Email: ericge@westnet.com.au

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