THE PLANK APRIL 27, 2007
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Is Rudy Giuliani trying to outpander Mitt Romney? As Brad notes below, it appears so. Last night, he "came out" to the the New York Sun with news that he opposes the civil unions bill recently passed by the New Hampshire State Senate, expected to be signed into law by the Republican Governor. "In this specific case the law states same sex civil unions are the
equivalent of marriage and recognizes same sex unions from outside states.
This goes too far and Mayor Giuliani does not support it," his spokesman told the Sun.
One of the reasons why Giuliani was so attractive to middle-of-the-road voters was because he did not seem--at least at first--to parrot the anti-gay agenda of the Republican party base. He always seemed genuinely comfortable around gay people: marching annually in the New York City pride parade, regularly attending the events of gay organizations, and, infamously, moved in with a gay couple after his wife kicked him out of Gracie Mansion. Oh yeah, as Chris notes below, there's also that whole propensity to dress up in drag.
This latest statement from the Giuliani campaign stands in marked contrast not only to his personal temperament but also his record. Three years ago on the "O'Reilly Factor" he expressed his support for civil unions. "So now
you have a civil partnership, domestic partnership, civil union, whatever
you want to call it, and that takes care of the imbalance, the
discrimination, which we shouldn't have," he said in his flim-flam, avoidance-of-detail, ham-fisted way of talking about nearly everything.
The New Hampshire law was passed by the legislature, not mandated by the
state Supreme Court, so the arguments against it aren't about an
overactive judiciary; they're about the belief that gay relationships
are not equivalent to straight ones. Combined with his backing of states' rights regarding the Confederate flag issue, Giuliani is beginning to match Mitt Romney in utter shamelessness.
P.S.: My stupid error. The Governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, is a Democrat.
--James Kirchick
