A million gay people in Florida voted for Bush in 2004. A Kerry win in Florida was considered “obvious” because those million people most certainly wouldn’t vote for him again. Well, statistics are that a million gay people did vote for Bush in 2004, very little change.
WTF? WTFF? I couldn’t figure it out. So I started doing some research, and by research I mean I started contacting outside my personal echo chamber that all thinks the same way. The conversations went like this:
Florida: Yeah, I’m gay and I voted for Bush.
Me: Why?
Florida: Well, it didn’t seem like there was much difference.
Me: What [the fuck] do you mean? Bush is anti-gay! You are gay! Are you crazy?
Florida: Yeah, but so is Kerry. Kerry’s anti-gay.
Me: What? How can you say that Kerry is anti-gay?
Florida: Well, Kerry’s against gay marriage.
Me: Yeah, but we all know he is pro gay marriage he just knows he can’t say it publicly. It’s a better strategy to wait for the bill to get to the president and then sign it than blow it by making it a lightning rod by saying that he’s in favor of it.
Florida: So, you hear him say, “I’m against gay marriage” and interpret it to be the opposite. You call me crazy? Meanwhile, in the debates Bush said he was against discrimination.
Me: But you know he was a big lier! He’s backed by the Christian Coalition, damn it! They’re the KKK of modern times! Kerry can’t say he’s pro-gay marriage publicly because the media would kill him. Did I mention that the Christian Coalition endorsed Bush?
Florida: The Christian Coalition may endorse Bush, but that’s because they always endorse the Republicans. Why do you hear Bush say publicly “I’m against something bad” and you interpret it to mean the opposite? That must be related to the fact that you hear Kerry say “I’m against something good” and you interpret it to mean the opposite too.
Me: I... I... uhh... but he’s ANTI GAY!! So what if he says he’s not! He... you.... uuuhhh... AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!
At that point I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say, and I end the conversation, politely, and thank them for their time.
Afterwards I just want to cry. Cry because the media pushes Democratic candidates to not say what they mean, because they want to hear about an easy target like “gay marriage” not the complexities of the economy, our social safety nets, or international affairs. I want to cry because Dean failed to get out from that trap, even though he did speak about the difficult issues (though then it was the media AND the DNC working to hurt Dean).
Meanwhile, Bush continues to cut funding for AIDS care and research. He fills committees with anti-science, anti-gay people that tow the party line, not govern based on what’s best. The media gets 10 offers for quotes and talking head responses from radical right-wing think tanks for every 1 liberal voice. The liberals that do get on the air are untrained and ineffective as Fox and others blackball any well-spoken liberal (footenote to the documentary “Outfoxed”). The “faith-based initiatives” is funneling federal money to not-jewish-not-pagan-absolutely-only-fundy-christian-groups and in New Jersey somehow they’ve worked out that a reasonable use of the money would be to make sure every such organization has a full-time, paid staffer, focused on passing anti-gay initiatives. Meanwhile gay people vote for anti-gay candidates because they can’t see through their lies and liberals can’t get their message out.
Fuck, fuck, fucking-fuck.
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