Speaking of Marriage...

Isebrand comments on my Summit report (as posted at DKos):

I'm with BrooklynRaider: there's a real confrontation coming, and gay marriage is a critically important component of that, like Iraq, like new, sweeping energy policies, like health care. Right now, progressives aren't prepared to win either the overall contest nor--especially--the battle for civil rights for gay people. It's not discussed much by self-proclaimed progressives who are not themselves gay. And I'll believe the PR about Spitzer being a leader on the issue when he--well--actually leads on the issue. He's taken no noticeable action; he may never take action. It may be all talk. Time will tell.

I should clarify: I think that the central confrontation with the right will be economic, about the purpose of government w/r/t the role it plays in improving people's lives - and over whether it's some alien entity or something in which we are all equally invested. This confrontation is coming not only because the right needs to have it, but also because of certain economic realities.

That said, I agree with Isebrand that we should be pushing toward a confrontation on the marriage issue as well. It's a battle we are going to win, plain and simple, but justice delayed is justice denied, of course, and we should continue to move aggressively forward on it.

Still, I'm curious - honestly curious - about Isebrand's comment on Governor Spitzer. As I posted at the Daily Gotham some time ago, my understanding was that even marriage equality advocates didn't expect Spitzer to make a move on the issue in his first year or so. For instance, here's Alan Van Capelle of the Empire State Pride Agenda, quoted in the New York Times:

“New York has a lot of problems,” he said. “When Eliot Spitzer takes office on January 1, he’s going to have to fix Medicaid reform, there’s school funding, there’s a dragging upstate economy, and he needs to tackle those issues, but I’m confident that at the end of his first term as governor, we’ll have marriage equality in New York State.”

Of course, that's no excuse for complacency. But is Van Capelle's comment out of line with the opinions of others in the New York marriage equality movement? Am I going too easy on Spitzer here?

Labels: Eliot Spitzer, gay marriage, Isebrand, New York

  ¶ Posted by Paul Curtis 4:40 PM