Howard Dean earned a very good reputation among gay people when he supported civil unions in Vermont. But those who have dealt with him face-to-face know his aversion to marriage equality for gay people. He outmaneuvered marriage advocates in Vermont skillfully and adeptly. His position is that his party’s interests come first, and so I’m not surprised to see him going on Christianist Pat Robertson’s show and misrepresenting the Democrats’ position. There’s a fascinating battle going in within Democratic ranks on the marriage issue right now. I can see Hillary attacking gay couples’ equality in the future as a way to score short-term political points. She learned such tactics from her husband.
For me, the deeper lesson is now and always has been the following: the gay rights movement is a moral movement. It is about education, and persuasion, and moral witnessing to the truth about our lives. We should engage members of both parties as much as we can. But we should never become a wing of one party. It tarnishes the movement and leads to such gut-wrenching betrayals as the Defense of Marriage Act and "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," the two most significant anti-gay events of the last decade – both signed by a Democratic president. Engage, but don’t trust. And whetever you do, don’t trust Howard Dean.
(Photo by my friend, Callie Shell, Aurora for Time.)
The Dish 