A Stitch in Haste

All kinds of reports from the gay rights trenches:

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ITEM: Boo for conservatives --

A U.S. group that spearheaded an unsuccessful push for a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage has reset its sights on state lawmakers, conceding it has little chance to successfully change the U.S. constitution in a Democrat-controlled Congress.

The Washington-based Alliance for Marriage will try to build a nationwide network of state lawmakers who would support such an amendment to the Constitution, the group's leaders said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, a day before they planned to unveil their new effort.
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"We believe the day is coming when the Marriage Protection Amendment will be sent to the states," said Bob Adams, vice president of the alliance. "The time to organize for that is now, not 10 years down the road."

MY TAKE: Damn right 10 years down the road is not the time. Ten years from now today's younger politicians will be apologizing for their anti-gay votes.

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ITEM: Boo-hoo for conservatives?

A group of influential Christian conservatives and their allies emerged from a private meeting at a Florida resort this month dissatisfied with the Republican presidential field and uncertain where to turn.

The event was a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club whose few hundred members include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform.
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But in a stark shift from the group's influence under President Bush, the group risks relegation to the margins. Many of the conservatives who attended the event, held at the beginning of the month at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., said they were dismayed at the absence of a champion to carry their banner in the next election.

MY TAKE: Cry me a river. In actuality, radical social conservatives have at least two candidates they could rally around (Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee). What they don't have is a winning candidate they could rally around. So they're sitting around waiting for a winner to emerge, at which time they're concoct some post facto excuse for supporting him. So much for the "values" voters controlling the GOP anymore.

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ITEM: Yay for liberal politicians?

Wary conservative leaders, as well as gay-rights advocates, share a belief that at least two measures will win approval this year: a hate-crimes bill that would cover offenses motivated by anti-gay bias, and a measure that would outlaw workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Also on the table -- although with more doubtful prospects -- will be a measure to be introduced Wednesday seeking repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans openly gay and lesbian Americans from serving in the military.

MY TAKE: Even if these measures pass, President Bush would likely veto them, and neither house of Congress would have the votes to override. So the "progress" is fractured at best. Meanwhile, Pam's House Blend has more details on the push to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, while Outright Libertarians remains unimpressed at best by the Democrats. We report, you decide.