Poor Barack Obama -- he wasn't able to be the first black president because Bill Clinton took that title. But, now, thanks to Newsweek magazine, he gets his own title: "The First Gay President":
I have always sensed that he intuitively understands gays and our predicament—because it so mirrors his own. And he knows how the love and sacrifice of marriage can heal, integrate, and rebuild a soul.
Does this mean a man can be the first female president? Just asking. Have to be a beta-male Alan Alda type, though, and I'm not sure any of those could even contemplate running for president.
The president's craven political move new enlightenment isn't going over too well here in the Hoosier state:
President Barack Obama might favor same-sex marriage, but the Democratic candidates who will join him on the top of Indiana's ballots do not.
The gubernatorial candidate, former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg, reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage last week. Then Senate candidate U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, did the same.
Their positions mean they agree with the Republican candidates, gubernatorial hopeful U.S.Rep. Mike Penceand Senate candidateRichard Mourdock, the state treasurer.
"Joe believes marriage is between a man and a woman. He believes it is an issue that each state should decide, and his is opposed to an amendment to the U.S. Constitution," Donnelly spokeswoman Elizabeth Shappell said.
But we really should come around on the issue, says an Indianapolis Star columnist, because . . .well, just see:
Instead, he's using cold, hard scientific facts, evidenced-based research that shows statewide constitutional bans on gay marriage have a horrible effect on public health and cost taxpayers more money than they probably ever dreamed.
It's all about the "minority stress" model -- a long-established scientific theory that shows people who are shoved onto the outskirts of society, either through policy-driven discrimination or more subtle forms of marginalization, suffer greatly. Those who are thought of as second-class citizens end up with more mental health disorders, have less access to private medical care, are more likely to rely on drugs and alcohol, and are more often the victims of abuse and bullying.
If the comparison of gay rights to the black civil rights struggle seems somewhat of a stretch, the "minority stress model" is really a giant reach. OK, gays can't marry, but when in history have they ever been more accepted? The change in attitudes I've seen just in my lifetime has been downright astonishing. And isn't this the kind of sweeping social change that's best tackled state by state, as is now happening and as President Obama and Mitt Romney both seem to favor?
We might have a chance to have a say here, a fact that's kind of dropped out of the public consciousness. If the General Assembly gives a second nod to the proposal in 2013, a constitutional ban on gay marriage will go to the voters in a referendum in 2014. We seem a little mixed up on the subject these days. A couple of recent polls have said a majority of Americans favor gay marriage, and a new one says "54 percent of those surveyed said homosexual relationships were 'morally acceptable,' while 42 percent called them 'morally wrong,' with four percent undecided." But when the issue does go before the voters, gay marriage tends to lose by overwhelming margins.
