Cuomo Defense
from LeftIsRightNow blog
There’s been a little dustup among the wingnuts over whether or not Sen. Lincoln favors gay marriage. Apparently some Catholic critics want to excommunicate the former Senator for loose lips.
Turns out that Lincoln has a not-so-bad record on gay rights and gay marriage. This isn’t exactly a voting record, however. His one major vote on the issue–on the Defense of Marriage Act in the 1990s–was to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples. But in his defense, most Democrats, including Pres. Clinton, supported it. The more recent attention to gay marriage at the national and state levels has generally come after Lincoln left the Senate.
Gay organizations have told us that Lincoln was never really considered either a friend or foe. He was more or less supportive of gay rights, but wasn’t a leading figure.
But he’s made comments more recently that are generally favorable of gay marriage. In a way, he comes off with what some have called the Cuomo Defense on abortion. Two decades ago, Mario Cuomo famously argued that while he personally opposed abortion, he couldn’t let his personal religious beliefs influence him in the performance of his public duties as an elected official. Lincoln has more or less said that he’s personally opposed to gay marriage (or at best neutral) but doesn’t see that his personal morality should impact secular law.
Not an unreasonable position, Mr. Lincoln. Perhaps you should apply it in other areas as well…