Sep 24, 2004  |  By: CHRIS CRAIN  | COMMENTS     

Kerry, is childless and will certainly stay that way.

More recently, including in February on National Public Radio and in last week’s gay press interview, Kerry cited the institution of marriage as religious and “sacramental.”

But when faced with pressure from Catholic leaders to change his stance on another hot-button issue, abortion, Kerry has made clear that private religious beliefs should not influence public policy. On abortion, Kerry has said he personally believes abortion is a sin, but is devoted to protect a woman’s right to choose.

How can he draw the line so clearly on abortion but not on marriage? Would political polling have anything to do with that? Or maybe the acquiescence of left-leaning gay rights groups?

BUSH HAS OFTEN accused Kerry of lacking core principles, and Kerry insisted again this week his guiding standard on gay rights is “equal protection under the law.”

So why has he taken the extraordinary step of encouraging state legislatures to veto — in most cases proactively — the considered opinion of their highest courts that denying marriage to gay couples violates that very “equal protection.”

Every state supreme court to address this issue in recent times — from Hawaii to Alaska to Vermont to Massachusetts — has reached the same conclusion, and yet despite Kerry’s “guiding principle,” he would overrule those judgments.

Kerry emphasized again last week that gays should remember this election is about the U.S. Supreme Court. But if Kerry favors overturning judges in Massachusetts on marriage, why should we expect otherwise of his judicial nominees?

DOES ANY OF this justify voting for Bush? Of course not. On every gay rights issue including marriage, the choice between Kerry and Bush couldn’t be clearer. Where Kerry sees nuance, President Bush sees good vs. evil, and it should be clear to every voter, including gay Republicans, on which side of that divide we reside.

But John Kerry suffers from the reverse malady, and his congenital inability to state a clear, principled view and then stick to it is costing him dearly and may decide the election.