Where Are Gay Rights in This Election?

From Salon:

There are gay marriage referendums on the ballot in four states this November, three to legalize it and one to pass a constitutional amendment banning it. Polling has been moving surprisingly quickly in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide, though it’s still never won a statewide vote. But there is a concrete difference between the candidates on the subject, and, what’s more, there is some ambiguity to Mitt Romney’s position on gay rights in general, even if he’s against marriage equality. (To name one example: Romney was pretty definitively against allowing same-sex couples to adopt children in 2008. This year his campaign says it is an issue for the states to decide.)

Same-sex marriage and LGBT issues came up in 2004, when the incumbent president made them a major plank in his campaign. Of course, in 2004, the incumbent president was a Republican and his position was that gay marriage would be a good way to scare conservative religious people into not voting for his opponent. This time around, support for same sex marriage is in the Democratic Party platform, which is a pretty amazing development, but no one is really … talking about it. The president has raised a lot of money from LGBT supporters, but he is not bringing up his recently discovered support for marriage equality on the stump much, or attempting to use it as a wedge issue.

Which is all the more reason for it to come up in a debate: The debates shouldn’t just involve issues one or both of the candidates want to talk about. Unfortunately we’re now done with the debates at which the subject might have been raised. (There’s still a chance we get something related to the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” at next week’s “foreign policy” debate, but it’s something of a long shot.)