Gay agenda keeps low profile at convention

[Freddie Stubbs]

Civil unions played down in platform
Tuesday, July 27, 2004

By Jim Provance, Block News Alliance

BOSTON -- Ken Carty of Quincy, Mass., wasted little time marrying his partner of 10 years when the Massachusetts Legislature, under court order, legalized same-sex marriage earlier this year.

Yesterday, as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, Carty looked around a room of more than 200 openly gay and lesbian Democratic Party representatives who cannot get married in their home states, and who are fighting a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.

Carty said he understands nevertheless why the presidential campaign of Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry would rather not raise high the profile of such a divisive issue at a convention designed to appeal to middle America. "I think it's going to take some time for education," he said. "We're still dealing with a minority population, and the party has to be sensitive to that."

The nearly 5,000 Democratic Party representatives attending the Boston convention include at least 255 gay and seven transgender delegates. The Democratic platform addresses gay unions with a single paragraph on page 36 of its proposed 37-page platform.

more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04209/352434.stm

[Not Me]

1. Kerry is fully supportive

and is pushing as far as he can while still staying electable.

I feel that getting the existing RW theocratic regime out is a required first step to ensuring my rights as a gay man. I am perfectly comfortable and fully supportive of JK's position.