Look, I don't know if Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is gay. And while it really should be a non-issue because being gay is not this scandalous thing that makes a person unfit for public office like some loonies on the far right believe, the fact is: it matters. It's an issue because Crist is making it an issue by reiterating his support for a constitutional ban on same-sex couples getting married.
Granted, this isn't the first time Crist has said he supports such a thing. Apparently he mentioned it at some point while running for governor and governors don't really have much power when it comes to the United States Constitution. But now he's running for Senate as an Independent. The United States Senate.
On Aug. 29 during an interview on CNN, Ed Henry brought up the issue of same-sex marriage and pointed out that Marco Rubio, one of Crist's opponents in the Senate race, supports a constitutional ban.
"The former Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman came out and said he's gay and he called on conservatives to kind of move to the political center and be more tolerant on this issue," Henry said. "Now that you're trying to occupy the political center, are you still in favor of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage?"
"I feel the same way, yes, because I feel that marriage is a sacred institution, if you will," Crist responded. "But I do believe in tolerance. I'm a live-and-let-live kind of guy, and while I feel that way about marriage, I think if partners want to have the opportunity to live together, I don't have a problem with that."
So he's a "live-and-let-live kind of guy" who believes in "tolerance," eh? And while marriage is "sacred," thereby rendering homos unfit for such an institution, he doesn't mind partners living together. So long as their relationship isn't in any way recognized or protected and the law treats them as legal strangers then Crist doesn't "have a problem with that." Oh, how very magnanimous of him.
"I think that's where most of America is," Crist continues. "So I think that, you know, you have to speak from the heart about these issues. They are very personal. They have a significant impact on an awful lot of people and the less the government is telling people what to do, the better off we're all going to be."
Since telling the government to stay out of people's personal lives and writing discrimination into the constitution seem to be contradictory, Henry accuses Crist of trying to have it both ways (no pun intended, I'm sure).
But Crist doesn't budge. "Well, everything is in a matter of degree, Ed, and when it comes to the institution of marriage, I believe that it is between a man and a woman; it's just how I feel," he says.
Call me crazy, but "it's just how I feel" is a pretty flimsy argument for amending the Constitution to keep gay people from marrying each other. Hell, it's a flimsy reason to amend it for anything.
By itself, Crist's unabashed support of writing discrimination into one of our nation's founding documents is alarming to say the least. But it's even more alarming if he is, indeed, gay. And he is widely rumored and believed to be just that.
Yes, he's married. To a lady. Since 2008. Which, of course, proves that he's not gay because of how getting opposite-sex married automatically makes you not gay. So who knows? Maybe all of the gay rumors are wrong. Either way, Crist is still a creep.
