Posted on 10/19/2004 7:11:08 PM PDT by knak
US News, Los Angeles - American gays, branded sinners by the Christian right, are waging an all-out battle to eject President George Bush from power in the November 2 poll.
Furious over Bush's support of a federal constitutional amendment that would have banned homosexual marriage, they are determined to prevent Bush from winning another four years in the White House.
And on the same day they pick a new president, residents of 11 American states will vote on state ballot initiatives aimed at banning gay matrimony. 'A lot of homosexuals who usually don't vote are going to vote this time'
Bush wants a constitutional amendment that would effectively ban same sex marriages.
The row over whether marriage should be defined as the exclusive union of a man and a woman came after Massachusetts state legalised gay marriage last November and the city of San Francisco in February defiantly began marrying homosexual couples to protest a state ban on the practice.
The gay wedding fever and the subsequent attempts to crack down on the wave widened an already uneasy gulf between the Bush administration and the country's estimated 28 million homosexuals.
"The whole gay community is against Bush and a lot of homosexuals who usually don't vote are going to vote this time," said Stan Stansbury, 55, a gay activist who lives in the liberal city of Berkeley, near San Francisco.
"I am more active than I have ever been in opposing Bush because this president is so right wing," said the liberal who distributes pamphlets and does internet lobbying to urge voters to defeat Bush on November 2.
"Bush is clearly courting the right wing Christian fundamentalists and they are the ones who damage gay rights and gay safety in this country," he fumed.
Gay community leaders said the community felt insulted by the stance of the Republican administration and party, which at its national convention in September adopted a conservative platform strongly rejecting calls for gay marriage and abortion rights.
Even Republican gays feel they have been marginalised by the administration's swing to the right.
"They've decided to use gay families as wedge issues across America in swing states and that is truly outrageous," said Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, the party's leading gay bloc that has withdrawn its endorsement of Bush over the federal marriage amendment issue.
"Our members have been insulted by a campaign that has attempted to amend the constitution," he said.
The organisation last week filed a lawsuit challenging the US military over the controversial 1993 "Don't Ask, don't tell" law that allows homosexuals to serve as soldiers provided they do not disclose their sexuality.
Bush's Democratic election rival, John Kerry, also opposes the constitutional amendment, but like Bush, he maintains marriage should be confined to a man and a woman.
But even though Kerry does not back gay marriage, Jim Key of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center believes homosexuals and their friends and families will turn on Bush and his policies when they cast ballots.
"Bush is going to get less support than ever after certain policies such as federal marriage amendment - that could hurt him really bad among the community," he said, stressing that his organisation is non-partisan.
"Kerry, on the contrary, has been one of the strongest supporters of gays in Congress," he said.
But 56-year-old San Francisco-area resident Beau Cain said he would not support either of mainstream candidate as neither defends gay rights. Instead, he will vote for Libertarian party candidate Michael Badnarik.
"When my friends tell me my vote is wasted, I say: 'I would rather vote for what I want and not get it rather than vote for what I don't want and get plenty of it," said the technical writing professor from California State University at San Jose.
*snicker* Good luck, pole-smokers!
I'm really scared...Ooohhhh.
Sorry, can't get past the bad headline.
God said they were sinners. Then again, God said we are all sinners. It must have been the go and sin no more part they didn't like.
Why are we being held hostage by less than 1 percent of the population?
Well, they interview gays in SF... California anyway will go Kerry... OTH, in Ohio, the defense of marriage amendment may draw out a lot of evangelicals who will vote Bush...
"The whole gay community is against Bush and a lot of homosexuals who usually don't vote are going to vote this time," said Stan Stansbury, 55, a gay activist who lives in the liberal city of Berkeley, near San Francisco."
This is a completely stupid answer. Mary Cheney is gay and she's voting for Bush. This guy is ignorant.
Eject Bush? Ah yes. Just tighten up your stomach muscles and push, right boys? But while you THINK you are in your usual position, you are not, and the usual procedures won't work.
"A lot of homosexuals who usually don't vote are going to vote this time"
Yeah, like that'll be a really big number. Nonetheless, a lot MORE will show up to counter any pro-gay vote. HA HA.
Gay males reject bush...
Good for him.
Me too.
Any chance they'll leave when the election doesn't go their way?
Wrong! Branded sinners by The Bible, just as are all the rest of us.
Well... better than vowing to "inject" Bush.
That does sound much better.
That's the point. The deviant vote is concentrated in ultra cultural left areas that the GOP would never carry in any case.
Doesn't it just warm the cockles of your heart to see that Kerry still loses votes no matter how much he waffles?
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