Oct 31, 2008  |  By: KEVIN NAFF  | COMMENTS     

THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL campaign marks an important turning point for gay voters.

For the first time in a long time, gay rights advocates played offense instead of defense (except in California) and for the first time, both parties’ nominees granted interviews to the gay media.
In a refreshing change from 2004, the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, toned down the anti-gay campaign rhetoric and honorably avoided using constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage as wedge issues in the long race.

Even in Florida, where voters will decide whether to enact a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and where GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has presided over raucous rallies with arguably racist overtones, marriage has not surfaced as a hot-button issue. Palin has said she supports the amendments, but the issue hasn’t been a part of her stump speech.

During the Republican National Convention, when anti-gay speakers including former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, addressed delegates, the gay bashing went missing from speeches. Some have credited McCain’s senior strategist, Steve Schmidt, who has a lesbian sister, for the change in tone. But McCain himself deserves a lot more credit than he has received from gay activists for further distancing himself from George W. Bush’s cynical gay bashing.

In 2004, Bush used federal and state constitutional amendments to attack gay Americans; he even singled us out in his State of the Union address, urging Congress to write us into the Constitution as permanent second-class citizens.

But McCain resisted demonizing gays. No one will mistake McCain for a gay rights maverick, but given his persistent lagging in the polls, it’s surprising and gratifying that his campaign didn’t turn to Karl Rove’s well-worn anti-gay tactics for a boost.

In September, McCain granted the Blade a written interview. We submitted questions; he submitted written replies. It wasn’t a face-to-face on the campaign bus, but his decision to answer gay-specific questions for a gay newspaper raises the bar for the next Republican running for president.

ALTHOUGH MCCAIN’S MORE moderate approach marks a welcome change — one that the Human Rights Campaign, Task Force and others should acknowledge and applaud — there is no doubt that gay voters must turn out en masse for Sen. Barack Obama in Tuesday’s election.

His embrace of equal rights for gay Americans includes adding sexual orientation to the federal hate crimes law, repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and supporting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Most significantly, he supports a full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. With thousands of same-sex couples from Massachusetts to California now legally married under state law, it’s only a matter of time before Congress will be forced to address the inequality those couples still face at the federal level. From Social Security survivorship benefits to immigration rights, same-sex married couples still lack scores of benefits afforded to straight couples.

But the rationale for backing Obama goes much deeper than just his stated commitment to a few bills. Throughout the campaign,

and as far back as his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention, Obama’s message has been a fully inclusive one. He is a rare, once-in-a-generation politician who transcends party and even race in appealing for unity in tackling the daunting challenges ahead. Rather than seeking to eke out a narrow victory on Nov. 4, Obama campaigned in red states across the country, promising to end the divisiveness of the last 20 years. His vision includes all Americans, including GLBT people. In addition, the prospect of electing the nation’s first black president marks an historic turning point in race relations and an emotional moment that many older Americans thought they’d never live to see.
Electing Obama certainly doesn’t guarantee that long-suffering gay rights legislation will move forward. It’s a safe bet that the hate crimes bill will finally be passed and that other more important and pressing measures, such as ENDA and a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, will be put off yet again.

But the needed change in tone from the “bully pulpit,” coupled with concerns about impending Supreme Court retirements, make it imperative that gays back Obama over McCain. Lest we forget, a quarter of gay voters managed to forgive President Bush’s broken promises of “compassionate conservatism” and support him in 2004, even after the Log Cabin Republicans declined to endorse him.

This time, Log Cabin backs McCain, chiefly because of his opposition to the 2004 Federal Marriage Amendment. But McCain’s position on the FMA has softened and he now says he would support ...