Does the Left Really Care About Gay Marriage?

Does the Left Really Care About Gay Marriage?
By Aaron Goldstein on 8.8.12 @ 6:08AM

Only if it's a white conservative Christian who opposes it. Otherwise…

It has been almost exactly four years to the day since Barack Obama attended Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Forum. You may recall that during this forum, candidate Obama said, "I believe marriage is the union between a man and a woman."

Remember the hue and cry that followed from outraged liberals and progressives?

Well, of course you don't.

The reason you don't remember is that there wasn't any outrage from the Left concerning Obama's position on gay marriage. If anything, the Left loved Obama even more. Ellen DeGeneres didn't see fit to question Obama on gay marriage during an October 2008 appearance on her show via satellite. Instead, Ellen grilled him on such pressing matters of state such as Halloween, George Clooney, and dancing. Let's just say that Ellen didn't give John McCain the kid glove treatment even though his position on gay marriage was exactly that of Obama's. And if not for Vice President Biden's loose lips, Obama's public position on gay marriage in 2012 would have been the same as it was in 2008 and, for that matter, the same as it was during much of 2012. I submit that if President Obama still maintained that marriage was between a man and a woman that he would not lose a single liberal or progressive vote. Did the Left ever give Dick Cheney props for supporting gay marriage before his distant cousin President Obama? When push comes to shove, the Left doesn't really care about gay marriage all that much.

This, of course, isn't to say the Left doesn't care about gay marriage at all. The Left certainly cares about gay marriage when it's a white, Christian conservative who says marriage is between a man and a woman. If said white, Christian conservative happens to own a successful chicken restaurant franchise, then the Left sees fit to deploy tar and feathers. This tarring and feathering has taken the form of liberal mayors telling Chick-fil-A not to come to their town, Chick-fil-As being defaced with graffiti, and Chick-fil-A employees being berated by customers with an insatiable appetite for liberal tolerance.

Yet in the midst of all this tarring and feathering of Chick-fil-A, a campaign in favor of traditional marriage was launched with little fanfare at the National Press Club last week. This campaign was launched by the Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP). Its president, Reverend William Owens, stated, "The time has come for a broad-based assault against the power that be that wants to change our culture to one of men marrying men and women marrying women."

If you think about it, Reverend Owens's remarks aren't all that different from those of Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy. Yet you don't see liberal mayors telling black churches they aren't welcome in their towns for opposing gay marriage. You don't see black churches being defaced with graffiti nor do you see supporters of gay marriage accosting parishioners with phone cameras in tow for belonging to houses of worship that oppose gay marriage. I mean, how many same sex couples who kissed in front of a Chick-fil-A tried to pull the same stunt in front of a church in Compton after African-Americans voted overwhelmingly in favor of California's Proposition 8 in 2008? Or what about kissing in front of a mosque? The Islamic Society of Boston built a mosque with money from Sheikh Yusuf Abdullah al-Qardawi and has been inspired by his teachings. Amongst the Sheikh's teachings are that homosexuals should be burned or thrown from a high place. It could explain why same sex couples wouldn't be inclined to public displays of affection in front of a mosque.

As committed as the Left is about gay marriage; it is far more committed to maintaining appearances and not wanting to be accused of racism. When it comes down to it, race trumps sexual orientation (and everything else). This explains why the Left gives a pass to African-American pastors who oppose same sex marriage. This is why the Left gave a pass to Barack Obama for opposing gay marriage in 2008 and would have done so again in 2012 if not for his "evolution." The Left doesn't care as much about gay marriage as it does about re-electing President Obama.
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To read another article from the Chicken Chronicles thread, click here.
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To read another article by Aaron Goldstein, click here.