John McCain: February 2008 Archives

Last week, Arizona’s legislative leadership submitted a bill that would once-again ask Arizona voters to decide on an anti-gay constitutional amendment – something voters there rejected in 2006. Now, the conversation about this legislation and the legislation that preceded it seems to taking center stage both locally and nationally.

The new legislation has some Arizona politicians nervous, and has brought new attention to a candidate currently running for Congress. In an article in The Arizona Daily Star, Senate President Tim Bee, who is also a candidate for Congress in 2008, avoided questions asked by the reporter, and tried to downplay the importance of this legislation. Meanwhile, in another part of Arizona, Steve May, an openly gay former Republican state legislator and a leader in the effort to defeat the anti-gay constitutional amendment in 2006, has announced his intention to seek his party’s nomination for Congress in an open seat.

The presence of the new legislation also figures into the presidential race, since Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is the likely Republican nominee for president.  Throughout the primary season, his conservative credentials have been called into question.  McCain voted against the anti-gay federal marriage amendment, but supported the 2006 effort to amend Arizona’s state constitution.  In 2008, McCain will be prominent in a year when his home state might be the epicenter of conversations about LGBT issues throughout election 2008.

The media attention to LGBT-related issues – from the anti-gay constitutional amendment to the possibility of an openly gay Republican congressional candidate – will be intense in Arizona this year. Check back here for updates on Arizona and other local races and ballot measures.

Paul Karr is the Director of Media Field Strategy

In election coverage, the media too often wield a broad and fuzzy brush to paint the candidates' positions on legislation affecting the LGBT community. Pundit Tucker Carlson was using such a brush when discussing Republican candidate John McCain's position on civil unions during Thursday's episode of MSNBC's Live with Dan Abrams.  During a debate about whether McCain "flip-flopped" on his support of relationship recognition for gay and lesbian couples, Carlson asserted that McCain "has the same absurd position" as those politicians who support civil unions but not marriage equality.

Unfortunately, host Dan Abrams did not challenge Carlson with the reality that McCain has never clearly voiced support for civil unions. In fact, in April 2007, McCain told The New York Sun that he did not support New Hampshire's civil unions legislation. Furthermore, McCain backed Arizona's unsuccessful 2006 ballot initiative to deny gay residents the ability to marry and to block unmarried couples, gay and straight alike, from receiving government benefits.

Carlson's inaccurate and unchallenged contention that McCain supports civil unions reflects the tendency of some pundits and journalists to cursorily examine candidates' positions on issues affecting the LGBT community and make claims that don’t match up to the facts.

Throughout the election season, GLAAD will be reaching out to journalists to ensure that they employ accurate and thorough—rather than broad-brush—coverage of each candidate's stance on issues facing LGBT Americans.

Cindi Creager is the Director of National News.

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Gary Bauer, an anti-gay activist and former head of the Family Research Council, threw his support behind Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bauer’s decision runs counter to the endorsements of other anti-gay leaders.  James Dobson, the head of Focus on the Family, one of the largest and most prominent anti-gay organizations in the country, announced on Super Tuesday that he would never vote for McCain and instead endorsed Mike Huckabee. 

Unlike Huckabee, McCain has never voiced support for the Federal Marriage Amendment.  The proposed amendment, backed by President Bush in 2004, would go beyond the Defense of Marriage Act to create a constitutional ban on marriage for gay and lesbian couples. 

Earlier in this election season, anti-gay leader Pat Robertson made headlines for supporting Rudy Giuliani's now-defunct presidential bid. Back in 2004, George W. Bush received overwhelming support from leaders of anti-gay groups.  

This time around, the conversation about our issues is playing out differently in the media, with the divisions among opponents to gay and lesbian equality becoming increasingly apparent as the election season goes on.

Cindi Creager is the Director of National News