John Edwards wants us to have equality (without the word marriage) but might not want to have dinner with us.

Gosh, such a hard decision…

2. This is from 1998, right? I know that my Dad had similarly negative views of gay people around that time. I think I’ve talked him into a more reasonable position on the issue since then.

David (also from Oakland)

I can’t be comfortable with Edwards now that I know that behind the scenes he is telling people of his discomfort. It speaks of a hypocrisy that is all too common and doesn’t need reinforcement. Does Edwards think this comment won’t be reported? Would not a similar comment about Moslems or Catholics or Republicans be viewed as stupid and unworthy of a national leader?

D. agonized about the discrepancy between his gut reaction and his political views. I told him that he didn’t need to be uncomfortable in his own home, but that he should work doubly hard in the statehouse to make sure that homosexuals weren’t discriminated against.

On a slightly different note, doesn’t Edwards have any gay staff that a surrogate could trot out/note? I do think it would be a problem if Edwards is so gay-phobic that he doesn’t hire any. The campaign is not a private realm.

I think that Mickey’s reaction to Brokeback Mountain and subsequent coverage of allegedly straight-unfriendly bars/coffee-shops in LA set off Sully. I don’t understand why Sully would support politicians who may be personally comfortable with members of his particular unfairly-maligned minority group (they might sleep on their couches when they get tossed out of the house by their soon-to-be ex-wives; or they might look the other way when they decide to chase underage tail) when they don’t support his group publicly.

Of course, Fred “God hates fags” Phelps is a Democrat.

And so is Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Fumo, who repeatedly yelled “faggot” at a fellow senator on the senate floor.

What does that say about Democrats? Actually, nothing. But hey, it’s at least two more points of data than what you have.

Or is that hate-crimes-law opposition all the evidence you need? Apparently the lack of desire to criminalize an opinion equals support for that opinion.

Lay off the baseless accusations, whippersnapper.

YOu got this right, though:

I think its the basis of the liberal society we should try to cultivate in America that someone can be “uncomfortable” with gays in the private sphere, yet in the public sphere, he can advocate policies he knows are fair and promote social and legal equality, because he thinks these values are important.

The gripe here is that Democrats get a pass for a stance that would be designated as “objectively anti-gay” if the subject were a Republican. Romney, like Edwards, falls somewhere in the middle on the gay issue, displeasing activists on both sides. But he was torn to shreds yesterday on Towleroad for opposing same-sex marriage (which Edwards also opposes):
http://www.towleroad.com/2007/05/mitt_romney_i_a.html