Bush supports "equal rights for gays, but not special rights"

[Blue_Roses]

:eyes: Does he even remember when he says these things:freak:
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Say what?

Five Bush debate statements bear closer inspection.

By Salon Staff
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October 13, 2000 | Vice President Al Gore won last week's debate, according to early polls, but in the next few days he found himself having to explain some of his ill-advised mid-debate sighs and murmurs, and in the end lost ground to Bush. By contrast, instant analysis judged Gov. George W. Bush the winner of Wednesday night's debate. It remains to be seen which candidate will have the toughest time with the debate post-mortem, but five of Bush's comments cried out for follow-up scrutiny.

snip--

"I support equal rights, but not special rights for people."

When moderator Jim Lehrer asked Bush, "Do you believe in general terms that gays and lesbians should have the same rights as other Americans?" he tried to have it both ways, appeasing the right wing of his party without alienating gays.

"Yes," Bush responded. "I don't think they ought to have special rights, but I think they ought to have the same rights ...I'm going to be respectful for people. I'll tolerate people. And I support equal rights, but not special rights for people."

The phrase "special rights" suggests extra rights, special advantages that would be handed out to certain politically correct groups. In fact, it denotes civil rights protections for members of specific groups, such as women, minorities and religious groups, from discrimination directed against them because of their membership in those groups. Conservatives argue that existing laws make such protections unnecessary.Bush has a history of being wishy-washy on gay rights issues in the workplace, and there's nothing in his history that would suggest he would support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. That legislation, supported by Gore and congressional Democrats, would forbid employers from firing workers on the basis of sexual orientation.

As for protection for gays under hate crimes laws, Bush opposed adding sexual orientation to a 1999 Texas hate crimes statute. That proposed law, which earned support from the family of James Byrd, died in the Texas Legislature.

more...




http://dir.salon.co[m/politics/feature/2000/10/13/day_two/index.html:freak:

[CaTeacher]

1. Is marriage

a special right?

[TowelBoy]

2. From my freeper friends

They way they interpret it is that "gays DO have the right to marry like the rest of us."

If you can't figure it out (I needed it explained, too) it means they have the right to marry members of the opposite sex, like everyone else. They're "not" being denied rights. Technically, I guess that's true... but that really destroys the whole "moral high ground" thing, and personally I think it's bullshit.

That's really how the think, though. Gays can marry anybody they want just like heterosexuals can. But obviously it has to be a member of the opposite sex. It hurts to think like that sometimes, it really does.

[TowelBoy]

4. YAY!

42 posts! HUZZAH!

If anybody knows the significance of that, you rock

[Blue_Roses]

3. guess it depends

on who your married to :eyes: