Gay-Moderate Warner Seeks Va. Senate Seat

[William769]

(Washington) Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) ended more than a year of speculation Thursday and announced his bid to run for the US Senate in 2008.

Warner's term as governor ended in January 2006. A political moderate, he quickly turned his attention to a potential presidential campaign. After raising more than $9 million for his political action committee, he ultimately decided not to run, saying it was not the right time for his family.

In 2004 when Warner was governor the legislature strengthened a law banning same-sex marriage, adding civil unions and domestic partnerships. When the bill reached his desk Warner struck out the section dealing with partnerships and unions and returned it to lawmakers.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/09/091307warner.htm

I wish him the best of luck with his Senate bid in 2008. GO MARK|!

ON edit: changed headline I misread the story, sorry for any inconvience. I still wish him the best of luck though.

[DavidDvorkin]

1. Huh?

Missing smiley?

[Demit]

2. Where do you get that?

[William769]

3. The link I posted.

[Demit]

6. Nope, not in there. You misread the phrase 'gay-moderate', I think.

[Stop Cornyn]

10. Agreed. I think the phrase "gay-moderate" means that he's been moderate on gay issues (I actually

think he's been pretty progressive for a governor of Virginia) and I do not think that the phrase was intended to imply that he was both "gay" and "moderate."

[eleny]

4. I thought the gay governor was in New Jersey

[William769]

5. He's another one.

[mohc]

7. I think they are using

Gay-Moderate as a political identifier, not that he is gay. Kinda like 'Gay Friendly...Sorta'.

[madfloridian]

8. You really are misreading that and starting a rumor.

I don't understand your motive. You should change your subject line.

[William769]

9. It was a mistake on my part.

and my motive was being Gay positive.

[TechBear_Seattle]

11. No such thing as a moderate on gay issues

Either you support my full and EQUAL rights as a human being, or you support bigotry. There is no middle ground.

By allowing to become law a bill that strengthened institutionalized discrimination against gay people, Warner showed himself a supporter of that same discrimination. That makes him a bigot, not a "moderate."

[Solon]

12. Exactly, Warner is a homophobe...

As are most so called "moderates".

[Stop Cornyn]

14. Are you accusing Democrat Mark Warner or Republican John Warner of being a homophobe?

[Solon]

15. Is he for or against gay marriage?

If he is for it, then I apologize for calling him a homophobe, if he is against it, then he IS a homophobe, and yes I'm talking about MARK Warner.

[Stop Cornyn]

16. He vetoed a bill extending a law banning gay marriage, campaigned against the state constitutional

amendment, supported legislation allowing insurers and businesses to extend health-insurance coverage to gay couples and issued an executive order making it illegal to deny jobs or promotions to gays or lesbians.

The Washington Blade reported that "David Lampo, spokesperson for the Log Cabin Republican Club of Northern Virginia, said a recent radio advertisement that claimed Mark R. Warner, the Democratic candidate for governor, supports legalizing same-sex marriage in Virginia."

The douchebags over at freerepublic beat Mark Warner up for supporting gay rights: "'Moderate' Mark Warner gives $25,000 to Defeat Virginia Marriage Amendment" (no link because no good comes from visiting that hatesite).

[Solon]

17. In that case, I take back the Homophobe remark and apologize...

At this point in time anyone who is actively against banning same-sex marriage is an ally of sorts. Call it undecided right now.

[TechBear_Seattle]

22. I withdraw my comments with regards to Governor Warner. Mea culpa

The original post gave an impression that Governor Warner vetoed the bill only with regards to "marriage lite" and would have had no problem signing other sections of the bill which extended the marriage ban in other ways.

The attitude that fake marriage is fine for same-sex couples and real marriage should be reserved as a special right for heterosexuals only is so prevailent within the Democratic Party, and here at DU, that I seem to have jumped to the wrong conclusion. My apologies to all, and I will work on lengthening my short fuse on the subject. :blush:

[cali]

18. I support gay marriage fully but I don't

think that those who oppose it and support civil unions are necessarily homophobes. Some of them just haven't seen the light or are succumbing to political exigencies.

[TechBear_Seattle]

20. If some people supported civil unions rather than marriage for interracial couples...

Would you think that such people were not necessarily racist? Would you excuse their attitudes by saying that they had just not "seen the light" or were succumbing to political exigencies?

[democratsin08]

21. lets keep warner's sex out of this

if he is gay, so what??

[Stop Cornyn]

13. You need to read more carefully before knee-jerk attacking a good person as a "bigot."

Are you confusing

1. the Republican Senator in Virginia named Warner (John Warner) who's not running for re-election with
2. the Democratic former Governor of Virginia named Warner (Mark Warner) who's running for the Senate seat John Warner is vacating?

Republican John Warner supported amending the US Constitution to ban same-sex marriage and voted against adding gays to the federal hate crime law.

Democratic Mark Warner vetoed the state legislature's bill extending a law banning same-sex marriage to include civil unions and domestic partnerships within that ban, and that bill only became law when it went back to the legislature and was voted up again by a veto-proof majority. Democratic Mark Warner never supported that bill and he always opposed that bill to the fullest of his constitutionally-limited ability and he is not the bigot -- to the contrary, he's the guy who vetoed bigoted legislation when it was within his authority to do so. Democratic Mark Warner openly opposed and actively fought against the bigoted amendment to Virginia's state constitution. Democratic Mark Warner supported legislation allowing insurers and businesses to extend health-insurance coverage to same-sex couples and issued an executive order making it illegal to deny jobs or promotions to gays or lesbians.

You are smearing Democratic Mark Warner with the term "bigot" either based on misattributing actions by Republican John Warner to Democratic Mark Warner or based on a misunderstanding of Democratic Mark Warner's record. The appropriate punishment for such an error should be a donation to the Senate campaign of Democratic Mark Warner.

[TechBear_Seattle]

19. Governor Warner

I would have thought my use of "a moderate on gay issues" coupled with William769's subject line would have made that clear.

As for the bill, the article quoted by William769 stated that the reason for the veto was with regards to one section, which dealt with partnerships and unions, and not with the bill in its entirety. That, to me, shows that Governor Warner is fine with banning same sex couples from full, equal marriage. His reluctance to extend that ban to fake marriage substitutes does not in any way mitigate his bigotry.

And yes, I use the word bigotry quite deliberately, with a full understanding of what it means and implies.