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| Exit polls support the theory that the issue of gay marriage won George
W. Bush more votes without costing the president any gay votes. Gay Bush
voters say they focused on other important issues than marriage. (File photo by
AP)
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO JR. COMMENTS
 
continued...
to a gay forum last week at the gay community center,”
Taylor said. “Every left-wing cause came up. I made a conscious decision,
for the first time in my life, not to tell people I’m a Republican.
“I went to a Baptist junior college in the South,” he said. “As
a gay person, I felt more at home there than I do now in New York City as a
Republican.”
Ben Barkai, 24, a resident of Washington, D.C., said he is not reluctant to
talk to his friends and acquaintances about his decision to vote for Bush, whose
loss in the District of Columbia was the most lopsided in the country. Kerry
won 91 percent of the D.C. vote, to Bush’s 9 percent.
But Barkai’s reason for backing Bush is likely to surprise some gay activists.
One of the reasons he chose not to vote for Kerry, he said, was Kerry’s
opposition to same-sex marriage. Barkai, a personal trainer, said he strongly
supports full legal recognition of same-sex marriage and calls civil unions
a “copout.”
“Since neither party was supporting same-sex marriage, I felt I should
vote for Bush on other issues, which I agree with him on,” Barkai said.
Some gay voters say that trong>John Kerry
did not convince them that he would be better on terrorism, gay issues or
other concerns they had. (File photo by AP) |
“Gays I talked to saw civil unions as a first step to marriage,”
he said. “I don’t want anything to do with civil unions. I want
marriage.”
He said Kerry gave “double talk” on marriage and civil unions and
engaged in “flip-flopping” on a variety of other issues, Barkai
said.
“I believe in the flat tax,” Barkai said in discussing other issues
that are important to him. “You can’t overtax someone for being
successful. I support privatizing Social Security for people 40 years old and
older,” he said. “I’m for school vouchers.”
Patrick Guerriero, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, the national
gay GOP group, declined to comment on whether he voted for Bush. The LCR’s
board of directors voted earlier this year not to endorse the president following
Bush’s endorsement and vocal support for a constitutional amendment banning
gay marriage.
Brian Pruitt, president of the Log Cabin Republicans of D.C., which is affiliated
with the national LCR group, said his group complied with LRC rules by also
not making an endorsement in the presidential race. But he said he personally
was proud to have voted for Bush, even though he penned an opinion column in
February about how he felt betrayed by the president’s support of the
FMA.
“I voted for the president because I thought he was the better of the
two candidates,” Pruitt said. “I voted for him because I believe
in a lot of his policy positions. I agree with his idea of reforming Social
Security. I disagree with him on the Federal Marriage Amendment. But that’s
only one of many different issues.”
In Palm Beach, Fla., Maurice Bonamigo, president of the di
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