[Erin] Friendly advice to pro-gay marriage Dems

As of last week, Hillary Clinton had received the endorsement of Congress's two openly gay members, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Barney Frank of Massachusetts. Both members of Congress expressed the belief that despite her opposition to gay marriage, Senator Clinton had been the best supporter of gay rights:

Baldwin acknowledged at the time, however, that she and Clinton do not see eye to eye on the issue of same-sex marriage. The New York senator supports domestic partnership initiatives and civil unions, but has opposed moves that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

"It's not my position," Baldwin said of Clinton's stance. "I support full marriage equality. We will voice encouragement for (Clinton) to be open to changing her opinion."

Clinton's chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, share the front-runners (sic) opposition to same-sex marriage.

So none of the three Democratic party front-runners openly endorse gay marriage; in fact, they seem to make it clear (when someone really forces them to talk about the issue, that is) that while they support various other gay rights' initiatives ranging from the minimal to the hopelessly vague they draw the line at marriage.

Of course, I don't support gay marriage either; but if I were a gay Democrat, I'd want to know why these presidential candidates don't. More than that, I suppose, I'd want to know why the leaders in my community were rushing to support people who didn't see eye-to-eye with me on one of my most important issues.

In a sense, the way the Democrats are treating the gay-marriage supporters is almost identical to the way the Republicans have treated us pro-life Americans for years: pretend we don't exist for three and a half out of every four years (unless you're in the House, in which case you only get eighteen months of that convenient amnesia), throw a few nice-sounding speeches and token legislative gestures our way just often enough to keep us on the hook, and then spend election season trying to convince us that they're on our side, and that Things Would Get Done...once we voted them back into office, along with all their cronies, of course.

I may not support gay marriage, but even less do I support politicians being able to get away with this strategy of maximum promises, minimum efforts for the foreseeable future. So my friendly word of advice to people who are very, very far removed from me politically is: don't fall for it.