GAY MARRIAGE KEPT OUT OF NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: From the Detroit Free Press

Since May, gay and lesbian residents of Massachusetts have been able to marry their partners.

But the issue of gay marriage was barely whispered from the podium during the Democratic National Convention this week. Party strategists and gay and lesbian delegates say the controversial fight for equal marriage rights must take a back seat -- for now -- to the more immediate goal of defeating Republican President George W. Bush. Sen. John Kerry supports civil unions but opposes gay marriage at the federal level and in his home state of Massachusetts, a position that has angered some Democratic activists.

The convention included 4,300 delegates, nearly 250 of whom were gay. But the openly gay speakers who addressed the convention, from Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin to congressional candidate Jim Stork of Florida, steered clear of the gay marriage issue.

"I call it the Stepford convention," said Robin Tyler of DontAmend.com, an organization opposed to efforts to ban gay marriage with a constitutional amendment. "Everybody is going by the script because they are so afraid that Bush will get in. But behind the scenes, it's like, don't worry, wink, wink; we'll take care of you."

Democrats, however, are hardly united in supporting marriage for gays and lesbians. A recent CBS-New York Times poll of 955 adults showed that only 40 percent of Democrats said gay couples should be allowed to marry legally. The poll was conducted July 11-15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

In many ways, there were two conventions going on this week.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who in February handed marriage licenses to gay couples shortly after taking office, was a California delegate. Though he's a rising star in the Democratic Party, he wasn't invited to address the convention because he's so closely identified with an issue that party centrists -- who want to bring moderate, culturally conservative swing voters into the Democratic tent -- want to avoid.

But at night, at parties in clubs and restaurants across Boston, the tall and striking 36-year-old mayor was often the star of the show and lauded for his stance.

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posted by Eve at 10:47 PM VOTE

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