Elizabeth Edwards Supports Gay Marriage

Yesterday was Gay Pride in NY and as usual it was a day filled with friends, fun and the thoughts of political fights won and lost. My first Gay Pride day was probably 20 years ago. It is a day when you reflect on the struggles of those before you and gear up for the fights ahead.

The progress my community has made in those 20 years has been remarkable. Here in NY I can live my life openly and honestly without much worry of the backlash still present in some areas of the nation. The Mayor and many other politicians march in the parade in solidarity with our community. The applause they receive is genuine and heartfelt. It was courageous politicians who helped advance the movement for equal rights. There is still much work to do. Unfortunately you can still turn on the television and see some talking head trying to convince people that there is some special agenda that gays and lesbians are trying to push. I have never understood exactly what is the Gay Agenda but if someone has a copy of it please forward it to me. I guess it would make it easier for me if I knew exactly what I was fighting for.

Gays and lesbians want just one thing and that is to be seen as equal in the eyes of the law. It always makes me laugh when I listen to some blowhard saying how gays and lesbians are entitled to marry as long as they marry the opposite sex. What is it about the gay thing that they don't understand?

I am one that believes you are born Gay but whether it is nature or nurture one thing is clear, it is not going to change. I am proud of who I am and the community which I am a part of. When I accepted myself and decided to live my life honestly I was embraced by a community that showed me love and caring usually reserved for family.

Yesterday Elizabeth Edwards, while attending a Gay Pride event in San Francisco expressed her support for Gay Marriage. I was completely surprised that the wife of a major candidate would do so publicly.

"I don't know why somebody else's marriage has anything to do with me,'' she said. "I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage.''

She said that she has come to the conclusion that the marriage of another couple "makes no difference to me,'' just as it would make no difference in her views of a neighbor if he painted his house a different color.

"If he's pleasant to me on the street, if his children don't throw things in my yard, then I'm happy,'' she said. "It seems to me we're making issues of things that honestly... don't matter.''

With that simple explanation Elizabth Edwards showed that she gets it.