John McCain: April 2008 Archives
In an April 23 Op-Ed in The Ithaca Journal, Christopher Latimer, a political scientist and openly gay Republican, raised issues surrounding John McCain’s candidacy as it relates to LGBT voters that haven’t been fully discussed in the media before.
While McCain gets mixed reviews from conservatives and liberals on his general voting record, little has been reported on the long-term consequences for the LGBT community with regard to potential McCain appointments.
A key argument that hasn’t been raised during this election cycle with regard to any of the candidates for President is the impact that their appointments will have on LGBT Americans. Latimer discusses the wide latitude that an Attorney General has in deciding which discrimination cases are pursued at the federal level and notes that given McCain’s opposition to an inclusive hate crimes law and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, it’s unlikely that a McCain appointee serving in such a critical role would be an advocate for the LGBT community.
Even more significant would be the lasting impact that a new justice on the Supreme Court would have. McCain voted for the confirmations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito – both of whom haven’t voted on any cases that are significant for the LGBT community but have generally sided with Justices Scalia and Thomas on many cases that are related to social issues. President Bush has railed against ‘activist judges’ and McCain has seemed to take the same verbal posture when it comes to discussing potential nominees to the court.
It’s critical that the media continue to look beyond the voting records of the individual candidates to the long-term repercussions that Presidential appointees will have for the LGBT community.
On April 18, Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown proposed several tough questions for ABC News' George Stephanopoulos to ask Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain during their then upcoming April 20 interview on This Week. Encouraging Stephanopoulos to press Sen. McCain on his association with anti-gay televangelist John Hagee, Olbermann posed the cutting question: "...you proudly accepted the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, who wants the U.S. to start a nuclear war as part of the apocalypse, who called Catholicism the great whore, and who said Katrina was God's punishment of New Orleans for holding, quote, 'a homosexual parade.' Senator McCain, does Pastor Hagee love Catholics, Muslims,
Presidential hopeful John McCain might be seen by many as independent, but he’s actually conservative, the Associated Press (AP) wrote today. The story pointed out that though McCain does not support a federal ban on marriage for gay and lesbian couples, he is by no means an advocate for the gay community in large part because he does support statewide marriage bans. In a CNN interview last month, he said he was “proud to have led an effort in my home state to change our state constitution to protect the sanctity of marriage as between a man and a woman” and that as President, he “will continue to advocate for those fundamental principles.”
The AP story, which was picked up by dozens and dozens of papers across the country, goes out of its way to remind Americans that likely Republican presidential nominee McCain is not an independent at all, but that he falls in line with conservatives. It points out his support of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, his opposition to hate crimes legislation, and his opposition to protecting gay and transgender people from job discrimination.
The article grouped McCain’s anti-gay stances with his anti-abortion, pro-war, and gun control stances. The fact that the AP spent considerable time discussing McCain’s stances on gay issues right alongside other social issues places our community at the forefront of the election. The article’s use of the gay issues as one of four categories of controversial social issues may serve to again position the gay community as a wedge with voters. The media’s regular reporting on the candidates and the gay community may influence voters with opinions on gay issues (for better or for worse).
Paul Karr is the Director of Media Field Strategy
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