Friday, January 25, 2008

Al Gore endorses equal marriage for LGBT citizens

Former U.S. Vice-President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore gives us yet another reason to wish he'd become President in 2000 with this recent internet video in which he endorses equal marriage rights for gay and lesbians.

Gore hits the nail on the head when he asks, "Shouldn't we be promoting faithfulness and loyalty to one's partner regardless of sexual orientation?"

If only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama had his courage. I suspect both current Democratic candidates, deep down, believe in full equality for LGBT Americans. They're just playing it safe this election year.

But statements like this from Gore will go a long way to encouraging more Americans to consider the folly of continued inequality under the law in their country. At least, I hope so.

It's been a joy watching this great man transform from a tightly scripted Presidential candidate in 2000 to the true leader he is today.

For more on Gore, read this.

2 comments:

S.K. said...

I think you are projecting alot, particularly onto Barrack Obama. He is an active and devout member of a fringe church, to say the least, that praises and honours Farakhan. HIs is not a gay friendly church. He has been endorsed by rabidly antigay ministers.

He is not suported by BLGT groups in the US. Although they welcome his mentioning that the black community had not been inclusive of gays in his MLK Day address, that's a long way from advocating for Gay marriage, a long way.

He probably did this to try to win votes in San Franscisco and NY more than anything else.

Even Clinton, who would be much more likely to support the idea of actively promoting gay rights and has BLGT steering commities and endorsments on her campaign web site, was raised republican, midwestern, and strictly Methodist, which she is to this day.

I think gay marriage is a long way off in the US. She would probably allow states to decide themselves, and certainly not ammend the constitution to prevent it.

Matt Guerin said...

s.b. I think you're projecting much as well onto both Obama and Clinton. Both have mixed records supporting LGBT rights over the years. Now both are virtually identical in terms of support for civil unions, etc. but not (yet) marriage. Does Obama have homophobic people working on his campaign? It seems yes. Does Clinton? Without a doubt.

Do I think that Obama personally agrees with these ex-gay/homophobes on his campaign? No. How about Clinton? No. I take their public statements and promises on this issue at face value...