Flip-Flip Charlie and the Slo-Mo Gay is Okay Stance
(based on the Bilerico Project's image)
When Charlie Crist wanted to be the Republican Governor of our wonderful state of Florida, he was against gay adoption. Why? Because that was the law of our State and hey, a lot of Republicans who liked that law helped him get elected. But when Charlie Crist decided he wanted out of the Governor's Mansion and into the United States Senate, he suddenly became of a mind that maybe just maybe enforcing the ban on gay adoption in Florida was not such a swell legacy to have attached to your name. Because it was under Crist's tenure in the Governor's Office that significant trials of the ban, namely Wayne LaRue Smith's case, Martin Gil's case, Robert Lamarche's case and Vanessa Alenier's case were all largely pressed, especially at the appellate level, under his administration. And his DCF fought tooth and nail, wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on some of these cases.
So now, Flip-Flop Charlie says that it's okay, that gays can and should be allowed to adopt. He says his office is reviewing whether or not to drop appeals once the Third District Court of Appeals makes the likely ruling that the ban is unconstitutional. (Hey, Smith's case went all the way to the federal appellate level before the State gave up. But they gave up because they knew the ban was unconstitutional...)
Anyway, what's wrong with that? Well, as a very pointed opinion piece in the Palm Beach Post pointed out two days ago, the problem is that that dropping Martin Gill's case would mean no change in the horrible law. That's right. Nothing would change. Someone else would have to come along and fight, just as Vanessa Alenier is fighting. And as, unless the 30 days for appeals are expired, Robert Lamarche may have to fight. What it means, in a nutshell, is that nothing would change. Quoting Alenier's attorney, Alan Mishael:
"We'd still be left with the statute" that bans gay adoptions, said Miami Beach lawyer Alan Mishael, who has represented two homosexuals who successfully adopted. "We'd still be where we started - judging on a case-by-case basis."
But what else would be the outcome? Naïve liberals will think that Crist is a liberal Republican. Conservatives can look at it as a masterful way to preserve the law. My state would continue to legislatively support bigotry against gay people. And indirectly slam children who have found their forever home and family with someone Anita Bryant and her ilk just don't like.
Let's hope that Crist has the guts to let the system of checks and balances work. If the legislature in my state doesn't have the balls or the decency to change this law, let's let the courts change it.
Meanwhile I'm left looking at a Senate race that is about as unappealing as any I've ever seen in my State. Can I, in good conscience, actually vote for Charlie Crist to keep Boy Wonder Rubio (a Tea Party Hardy Boy) out of the US Senate thereby blindsiding Kendrick Meek? The bile is rising at the thought...
He needs to come out of the closet.
ReplyDelete