On Thursday I sent an e-mail to Katy Bacon, a spokeswoman for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White, inquiring whether the former Houston mayor had any comment on Wednesday’s Prop 8 ruling. Bacon responded as follows: “No he does not.”
The Dallas Morning News asked White the same thing on Friday in Fort Worth, and he gave pretty much the same answer:
On another topic, White, the former mayor of Houston, declined to offer an opinion on a federal judge’s decision this week to strike down California’s ban on same-sex marriage.
White said he’s been too busy running for governor of Texas to study the legal briefs in the California case.
Asked if he thought a Texas ban on gay marriage, approved by voters in 2005, should be reversed, White would only say: “The Texas Constitution has been amended to prevent it, and that’s a fact.”
On Thursday we wrote about how anti-gay Republicans in Texas have been deafeningly silent about the ruling. The topic later was the subject of a segment on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” who noted that Republicans nationwide are largely avoiding an issue that was their rallying cry just five short years ago.
The fact of the matter is, though, that in places like Texas, most Democrats don’t want to talk about it either.
Good for him for not falling into that trap.
White seems like a very smart person.
I believe I’m supporting Bill White this coming November – no commitment yet. But, I’m really surprised to see the commentators thus far praising White for refusing to take a stand for gay rights.
For me, this is just more lip service (from both sides of the isle), which doesn’t yield much change for us at all. Why not say he respects the court’s ruling, or that he believes in equal treatment for all and it will be interesting to see how the 9th Circuit rules. But just avoiding it all together isn’t right.
I realize that he’s trying to avoid a lightning rod issue, but at the end of the day, Perry will do plenty of gay bashing during his campaign, and White hopes to just stay silent and we’re supposed to trust that he’ll be an advocate for equality? If he’s being so quiet because he knows it would cost him the election, then chances are if elected he wouldn’t make it an issue either.