GAY MARRIAGE

JONATHAN RAUCH, National Journal Senior Writer, May 5, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: For people who do not accept gay marriage for religious reasons, I like to point out the following. Unless you believe your religion is the one true religion and you know for certain your religion is correct, then you should consider the following: why should you impose your religious beliefs upon others? Some religions accept gay marriage. Why not let the decision to enter a gay marriage be a decision made according to the beliefs of the people involved in the decision? In my belief: if you don’t believe in gay marriage, don’t marry a gay. Am I making sense?
RAUCH: Yes!
I’d be concerned if I thought that any church would be required to celebrate or sanctify a same-sex marriage. And I’d fervently oppose steps in that direction.
But, as time goes on, we’ll have religion on both sides of this question. On my book tour, I met a Baptist church elder in Memphis whose church is even now considering whether to sanctify gay unions.
So there’s no way to have every religion happy. We’ll have to decide civil marriage as a civil matter.

JOSHUA LEGG, Freedom to Marry Foundation President, May 17, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: There is legislative movement in Pennsylvania (and I presume in other states as well) that our state would not recognize another state’s gay marriage. At a time when Philadelphia is actively marketing for gay tourism and urban areas are seeking attempting to attract gay homeowners, doesn’t this seem to be economically counterproductive?
LEGG: I’d imaging that this will be counterproductive economically for Pa. We’re already seeing an impact in Virginia. There are major calls for tourists to boycott the state because of the extent to which the legislature there decided to infringe on the civil rights of citizens. I’m not certain just how much of an impact that boycott will have on the opinions of the legislature, but if it’s anywhere close to the success that the boycott had in Colorado in the ‘90s, there could be a real economic impact. Pa. and other states may face the same issue, particularly if the state is trying to capture the gay dollar.

MATTHEW MOSK, Washington Post Staff Writer, January 23, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: Is there any polling data (on a proposed Maryland Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage?) If so, are there any signs, as has been claimed by at least one Political Scientist studying the recent gay marriage election voting, that there appears to be a significant backlash in Democratic voting areas that increased Democratic voting strength is more significant than the increased turnout in Republican areas? In sum, could this issue cut politically both ways?
MOSK: You’re asking a question that is being closely examined by all the politicians who are running for office in Maryland in 2006. I have not seen polling on same sex marriage. But my first clue as to how it polls is in the answers we got from many of the Democratic candidates running for Governor and U.S. Senate this year: namely, they support granting rights to gay couples but stopped short of supporting same sex marriage. My sense is that their polling signaled to them that actual marriage ceremonies would turn off the moderate Democrats they need to get elected. (Of course, I’m not suggesting they all formed their opinions on this by taking polls!)

PETER BAKER, Washington Post Staff Writer, June 6, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: Mr. Milbank refereed to the Marriage Protection Act as the Republican Protection Act, which is probably correct. Yet, in Pennsylvania, Republicans are losing their formerly solid Republican base in the suburbs on these social issues. These social issues may galvanize the base, but the backlash causes the opposition to come to the polls in even stronger numbers. I know the polls show the majority of voters favor this amendment, but has anyone done any analysis on how this affects elections and turnout?” It would be my hypothesis that the anti-amendment backlash is stronger than the increase in the Republican base.
BAKER: It’s a good question and one that probably has different answers depending on the answerer. A number of analysts have concluded that ballot measures banning same sex marriage in 11 states in November 2004 helped drive up turnout of culturally conservative voters and that that helped President Bush win reelection. I haven’t seen a real study, though, that quantifies that.