Via Rebel Prince.
Kerry’s position on same sex marriage may need some work (or maybe he knows what he needs to say in order to stand a chance at getting elected), but remarks like these show that he’s miles ahead of Bush or just about anyone else in the Republican party when it comes to gay & lesbian issues.
“My point is homosexuality is an idea,” she said. “You have never heard a doctor say, `Mr. and Mrs. John Doe, you have a bouncing baby homosexual.’ It’s an idea.”
Mr. Kerry replied: “Well, I know the deep beliefs, I respect, I’m a Christian, I’ve read the Bible, and I know you can find the clauses that go both ways. I’m not here to argue that with you.”
He continued: “The only point I want to make to you is, I’ve talked to enough people — some of whom fought for their country in war — and I’ve talked to many of them who didn’t discover their own sexuality until they were 35, 40 years old, and it wasn’t because they made a choice, it was because they found out who they were. And I think you have to respect that that is the nature of it. And you can look at it, and argue it, but you know what, that’s irrelevant to the argument. American citizens deserve the protection of the equal protection clause.” {Emphasis Mine]
If Mr. Kerry won over the town-hall crowd by setting the Bible aside, he showed Sunday morning that he could put Scripture to political use.
Rebel Prince said it best in his summation:
Kerry’s position on gay marriage is still to be scrutinized, but these remarks demonstrate one of the things leader is supposed to do: educate, not discriminate.
Which one of them should be in the White House? No question if you ask me. One reaches out and attempts to educate, and the other just continues to stoke the fires of ignorance and bigotry.
You know, Terrance, that’s the first thing that I’ve seen that is a good reason to vote for Kerry. Yeah, I know I’m probably jaded about everything these days even remotely political, but this was actually more educational than anything else.