Giuliani Sells Out on Gay Marriage
Former Reason intern extraordianaire and Elephant in the Room author Ryan Sager, now the digital master of The New York Sun and just about the biggest booster among libertarian journalists for Rudy Giuliani in 2008, delivers an early sign that The Nation's Mayor is selling out his historically tolerant position on civil unions:
In a startling departure from his previously stated position on civil unions, Mayor Giuliani came out to The New York Sun yesterday evening in opposition to the civil union law just passed by the New Hampshire state Senate.
"Mayor Giuliani believes marriage is between one man and one woman. Domestic partnerships are the appropriate way to ensure that people are treated fairly," the Giuliani campaign said in a written response to a question from the Sun. "In this specific case the law states same sex civil unions are the equivalent of marriage and recognizes same sex unions from outside states.
This goes too far and Mayor Giuliani does not support it."
Giuliani's longstanding openness toward gays–he lived with a gay couple after separating from his second wife, Donna Hanover–was one of the things that set him apart from the rest of the GOP pack, who tend to hew close to the "ick" line generally espoused by the Party of Lincoln. As important, since the new attitude seems to be driven not by revelation from God but a felt need to suck up to socially conservative primary voters, it suggests that Rudy is not quite the 80 percenter he claims to be.
Tim Cavanaugh takes a long look at Prince Rudy's tenure as New York Mayor here.
