Salon Gay Marriage Courage Meter

[MNBrewer]

Who else?

[mucifer]

1. Barack Obama was an early supporter as a state legislator then he flip flopped twice.

During his state senate campaign in 1996, Obama submitted a questionnaire to Outlines, now the Windy City Times, in which he said he supported the right of same-sex couples to marry. As President, Obama opposed marriage equality until last May, when he announced his personal support in an interview with ABC News.

http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2012/12/30/obama-pushes-marriage-equality-illinois

So the idea that he evolved isn't really true. I think he did what he thought he had to do to get elected president.

[Fearless]

4. Which, politics aside

Is decidedly not courageous.

[mucifer]

5. yup

[Nye Bevan]

2. Credit where it's due.

Former Rep. Steve Gunderson (R-Wis.) – Outed as gay on the House floor two years earlier, the lone Republican to vote against Defense of Marriage Act (1996)

Former Sen. Chuck Robb (D-Va.) – The lone Southern senator to vote against DOMA (1996)

[Fearless]

3. Off the top of my head

Sens. Kerry and Kennedy, both next to Bernie Sanders, although Kennedy was before him and considerably more vocal at the time about it. Also an obvious one.... Barney Frank, who would likely be first overall and pretty courageous at the time.

[dsc]

6. obviously names were left off

but of what they have


First the well ranked. Robb deserves his ranking, I would actually put him first in courage, Kerrey deserves his ranking.

Second the overly favorably ranked. Cheney certainly doesn't deserve his. Courage would have been to leave the ticket over the sleezy tactic of using state referenda to drive up the conservative vote. Andrew Cuomo is probably slightly overly favorably ranked given that he was the third NY governor to try for marriage equality.

Third the under favorably ranked. I think both Martin O'Malley and Hillary are unfairly ranked here. O'Malley merely got marriage passed in the first southern state while Hilary was pretty much barred from public comment on any domestic issue and used her post as Sec of State to raise gay issues on the international state in ways they hadn't been before. I think Kay Hagan is also unfairly ranked. She is up for reelection in a state that voted just under a year ago by a 61 to 39 margin to ban any recognition of same sex relationships.

Now for the names left out. The MA Supreme court the first to rule that marriage and only marriage was good enough. Iowa, an elected supreme court, that ruled that marriage and only marriage is good enough. 3 of its members lost their seats, the only such Iowa judges in a generation, and not one appears on that chart. for shame. Howard Dean, the first governor to sign and campaign on a law granting status to same sex relationships. Patterson of New York, who tried and tried to get marriage passed to no avail.