Reply #20: Do you think anyone who said clearly they were for gay marriage

[karynnj]

could have won the general election in 2004? The fact is that Obama, whose church is ok with gay marriage - though Illinois isn't, did NOT say anything significantly different in 2008 - Kerry was actually MORE specific on what "full federal rights" were and that he would ask for legislation. With Obama, some people just assumed that he really was for it, but couldn't say it. Obama also has the advantage of being able as President to continue to change and have people see the results of any change.

I also think "very bad reputation" is complete overkill. The Bay State Stonewall Democrats gave him a strong recommendation in the primary. Even at the fringe - where Blue Mass was, many were angry and some supported O'Reilly, but the vast majority when pushed agreed that he had on all other GLBT issues been not just ok, but a hero. As an antidote to my BM created worries, I made 50 plus primary calls and not one person mentioned his position on gay rights and a very large percent of people volunteered that they would vote for him. This was in MA - where the fact that he represented MA was far more important than elsewhere.

There is a lot of truth in what you say. Kerry had more visibility in 2004 and there is some real tendancy to hold him to his 2004 positions - while allowing everyone else to change. In all I read, there is NOTHING that is clearer in Schumer's comments. Here, Schumer simply seemed to say he would lead in repealing DOMA. This is not beyond Kerry's 2004 or even 1996 position. It will be interesting to see when and if he files legislation and if he then actually causes it to be brought to the floor of the Senate. Until that happens, he has just words - and words that contradict his past actions.

Looking at the GLBT forum here and some articles linked to threads there, on the main forum and here, it seems to me that there is more trust and even affection for Kerry than for Schumer and the articles on Kerry's actions in the gay press were positive. Kerry is given more credit than the Clintons. I suspect this reflects the list of things they know Kerry has done over the decades. In fact, the only major politician I see more hope about is Obama - but that is in a "we'll see" vein.