Politicians fear backlash from gay ‘marriage’

San Francisco’s bold experiment in issuing same-sex “marriage” licenses occurs at a critical juncture, both politically and culturally.

“The timing of [San Francisco] Mayor [Gavin] Newsom’s action was clearly designed to influence the Massachusetts legislature, which was convening at that moment to discuss” a marriage amendment to the state constitution, said Robert Knight of Concerned Women for America.

“But their plan might backfire because if people feel they are being stampeded into a decision, that might get their backs up,” Mr. Knight said. It will take only a few Massachusetts legislators to change their minds and pass the constitutional amendment, he added.

“San Francisco being in sort of a free-for-all will be used against us politically,” Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat and an open homosexual, said last week.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court already said the commonwealth must begin issuing same-sex “marriage” licenses as of May.

“If we go forward in Massachusetts and get same-sex marriage on the books, it’s going to be binding and incontestable,” Mr. Frank said. San Francisco’s breaking a state law, on the other hand, gives the idea that unpopular laws can be broken or ignored, he added.

“When you’re in a real struggle, San Francisco making a symbolic point becomes a diversion,” he said.

National public opinion is steadfast against homosexual “marriage.” An October survey by Pew Research Center found that 59 percent of Americans oppose same-sex “marriage,” although the public is often supportive of other kinds of homosexual unions.

This stance was reflected in a Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll of 2,004 persons taken Feb. 8-16, around the time San Francisco began issuing “marriage” licenses to same-sex couples.

Fifty percent of Californians said they opposed same-sex “marriage,” while 44 percent supported it and 6 percent remained undecided. The PPIC survey showed that San Francisco was the only place in the state that favored same-sex “marriage.”

Mr. Newsom and his San Francisco allies have been adamant that they are correct to issue “marriage” licenses to same-sex couples.

“We don’t view this as breaking the law,” Peter Ragone, Mr. Newsom’s spokesman, said last week. “We view this as upholding the state’s constitution, which explicitly prohibits any form of discrimination.”

However, Mr. Ragone has said, “we are cognizant that Democrats disagree on this issue.”

California politicians who note that there is a push in Congress to define marriage in the U.S. Constitution, have not sided with Mr. Newsom.

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