Word: liebermans
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...Lieberman, who has failed to speak publicly since his nomination without praising America's willingness to embrace diversity and safeguard minority rights, the position is particularly disturbing. Openly indebted to a country whose acceptance of principles of legal equality engendered his success, Lieberman comes across as nothing short of hypocritical when he questions whether homosexuals should be extended the same rights which were, despite the prevalence of anti-Semitism in much of the 20th century, unquestionably extended to him. Tainted by his need to qualify the issue of equal rights, his frequent approbation of the American "promise…that...
...some pundits the moral reprehensibility of Lieberman's and Cheney's positions is excused by the fact that both candidates' reservations about equal rights are premised primarily on their hesitancy to officially sanction committed, monogamous homosexual relationships as marriages. Noting that Lieberman is "open to taking some action that will address… unfairness" towards homosexuals and that Cheney "[tries] to be…tolerant of homosexual relationships," such commentators claim that the only thing preventing the candidates from unequivocally supporting equal rights was an inconsequential semantic reluctance to call homosexual unions "marriages...
Semantics, however, were far from the core of the candidates' contentions. When Cheney spoke of preserving "conventional marriages" and Lieberman of "the traditional religious and civil institution of marriage" what the candidates were aiming to preserve was not merely the sanctity of the word marriage, but the deeply entrenched and prejudiced belief that a homosexual union could be neither be conventional nor consistent with the precepts of religion and civil law. At the heart of their arguments was an unwillingness to accept that homosexuals be considered normal, holy and legal equals...
Thus, that Cheney represents a party historically hostile towards gay rights is no reason to laud his response as foreword thinking or excuse the ambivalence it conceals. And that Lieberman has sponsored legislation aimed at eradicating discrimination against homosexuals and currently has a running mate who has derided the lack of federal action in support of gay rights is no reason to ignore his own reluctance to be a trailblazer...
...must demand that our next leaders do more than "think about" and "wrestle with" the idea of equal rights, as Lieberman and Cheney, respectively, say that they will. We must hold them accountable for action, legislative reform and genuine respect for the dignity of all individuals. The next leaders of our country must be willing to bridge the gap between tolerance and acceptance--between the attitude that homosexuals are an unavoidable aberration that, for political purposes, must be granted legal concessions and the attitude that homosexuals are equals, deserving of the same fundamental rights as all citizens...