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04/05/2012
Video: Time for the DNC to take a principled stand
On Jennifer Granholm's Current TV show, former DNC National Chairman Donald Fowler made the strong case for the Democratic party leading on marriage equality:
All during the Bush years, those of us engaged in this conversation drew great outrage not only from the way the conservatives were attacking our marriages and their associated rights and benefits, but also with the way so many (read: all but a handful) of prominent national-level Dems let the GOP control the conversation. At a time when we needed strong pushback, we were often lucky if we got crumbs. The American public was just starting to consider this issue in a real and connected way, yet the majority of the messaging was coming from the Federal Marriage Amendment backers, the Rovian strategists (read: Ken Mehlman) who used marriage in the states to help their boss obtain a second term, and the various folks who decontextualized the phrases "defend marriage," "protect marriage," and "sanctity of marriage," in ways that have completely stripped them of any real meaning. I will forever say that the Democratic silence during this period set us back tremendously.
Now is the time to change that. The Democratic party could take a stand for the futureāa stand that the party will look back on with great pride. Leave complacency in the George W. Bush museum.