clean hands

How You Fags Made Karl Rove Turn Gay Marriage Into a Presidential Campaign Issue

Guys. You all thought Karl Rove was the guy who masterminded making gay marriage a wedge issue in the 2004 White House race, but he sooo is not responsible for making it a big deal. You’re giving this guy a bad rap, and it’s gotta stop right now!

“Gay marriage was an ugly fight we had not asked for but could win if we handled with care,” says Rove in his (probably) intolerable new book Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight. “Done right, our response to gay marriage could show it was possible to bring a courteous and caring tone to a divisive issue. The issue also revealed the nuttiness of the Left, which never saw how persistent America’s traditionalism really was. Instead, the Left seemed convinced that Bush and I engineered the issue’s emergence to drive Bush partisans to the polls. But, of course, it was a liberal supreme court that brought the issue to the fore.”

That “liberal” court, of course, was Massachusetts Supreme Court, which legalized gay marriage in that state. And Rove and Bush’s “courteous and caring tone” that was the response “done right”? Proposing the Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. “Neither Bush nor I regret his stand on gay marriage,” he writes. “The issue was thrust upon us and we were perfectly willing to make our case. To overturn the time-honored definition of marriage is a socially revolutionary act. To do so through the courts and against the will of the people makes the attempt even more radical.”

There are so many flaws in this reasoning, we almost don’t want to take all the fun out of letting you point them out. (Or preclude you from bringing up the whole “stop saying my stepdad was gay” ordeal.) But one in particular, that even the Obama administration continues to highlight, is this: The executive branch of government does not, and should not involve itself in so-called state issues, which Massachusetts’ marriage equality debate became.

To paint himself as an innocent in a transparent attempt to drive conservative voters to the polls based on discrimination is, well, exactly what we’d expect from Karl Rove.

[quotes via CNN]

Don't forget to share:

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated