S.F. mayor happy with marriage decision

AP | 2/21/04 | LISA LEFF

[kattracks]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — He's been called a renegade and a rogue, a thorn in the side of the Democratic Party's presidential ambitions. Enemies are calling for his political head and old allies are keeping a noticeable distance.

Yet what really matters to Mayor Gavin Newsom is what they're saying in the neighborhoods of San Francisco — that his decision to buck California law and grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples makes him a hero.

"At the end of the day I sleep well, and in life there is nothing more important than that," Newsom said Saturday during an interview at City Hall, where nearly 3,200 same-sex couples have taken vows in the last 10 days. "What matters is doing the right thing and being true to yourself and standing up on principle."

The 36-year-old mayor, who had been in office just five weeks when he effectively threw kerosene on the national debate over same-sex marriage, ordering city officials to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed. Critics have filed two lawsuits seeking to stop the unions, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said the state will also try to step in and block the marriages.

Still, Newsom said he feels "no anxiety whatsoever" about his move, which he insists was the only legal one based on his reading of the California Constitution.

"I've never felt more certain about something than this," he said. "It was almost non-debatable."

But he acknowledged that he's been surprised by the lack of support he's gotten from fellow Democrats, including longtime gay rights champions like U.S. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and mentors such as U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, both San Franciscans.

"A lot of people that I believed would be quite supportive publicly were not. A lot of people I never imagined, never could conceive, on any basis, would ever support the comments, they supported (me)," Newsom said.

Then he parsed the responses he's received into one more category: "Those who privately are telling me one thing and saying another publicly."

Newsom, the scion of an old-line San Francisco political family and a graduate of the Roman Catholic Santa Clara University, said that his decision has already cost him friends and political allies, and that he doubts it will guarantee his re-election in four years.

"This is not a good political calculus, even in San Francisco," he said.

At the same time, he waved off suggestions that his actions amounted to giving Republicans the keys to the armory in their battle to keep the White House and Congress in GOP hands, or that the city's gay marriages will be the straw that convinces President Bush to back a proposed federal gay marriage ban.

"It's happening anyway," Newsom said of the role gay rights has played in national legal and political debates over the past year. "This is the tipping point."

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I hope a 8.7 magnitude earthquake hit San Francisco....

[goldstategop]

Conservatives should rejoice and be happy! Gavin Newsome's actions have been a blessing in disguise in what would have turned out to be a boring election year.

[CathyRyan]

I hope the "good" mayor learns cause and effect.

[Thebaddog]

Do you notice that everybody talks about tipping points now? What do you suppose 911 was?

[BunnySlippers]

I hope a 8.7 magnitude earthquake hit San Francisco....

OK, but can you make sure it stays within the city limits.

[mountaineer]

We're happy moo - I mean 'too'!! Thanks, Mr. Mayor.

[Prime Choice]

This song (by Kevin Gilbert) just seems to have so much more relevance with the events of the day that I had to pass it along.

Greetings from Sodom
How we wish you were here
The weather's getting warmer
Now that the trees are all cleared
There's no time for a consicence
And we recognize no crime
Yeah we got dogs and Valvoline
It's a pretty damn good time

Men of reason, not of rhyme
Keep the spoils and share your crime
Goodman, Badman, lost without
A hope for passage on the last plane out

There was one repressed do-gooder
And a few who still believed
Yes I think there were five good men here yesterday
But they were asked to leave
So we've kept the good old vices
And laboured to invent a few
With cake in vulgar surplus
We can have it and eat it, too

Men of reason, hide your face
Walking backwards, plays his ace
Goodman, Badman, lost without
A hope for passage on the last plane out

Someone said the Big Man
Will be joining us soon
But I never was the type to hang
With the harbingers of doom
And this party is addictive
Self-destructive, no doubt
So I hope that someone saves a seat for me
On the last plane out

[GulfWar1Vet]

Will the BIG one finally come to California??

[VOYAGER]

that his decision to buck California law and grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples makes him a hero.

"At the end of the day I sleep well, and in life there is nothing more important than that," Newsom said Saturday during...

"Buck the law feel good and sleep well" after having done this most important thing in life.

Will this be an important break through in our search for the "Fountain of Youth"?

This could also be the beginning of a "Get Out of Jail Free Card" not guilty plea available to all the wanta feel good law breakers.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Precisely. He helped us so much with this move that I'm convinced he's a closet conservative.

[livius]

"buck California law"

Right. Is anybody as disturbed as I am to see a bureaucrat tossing aside the law by which he is supposed to be governed? If this is an acceptable attitude, what separates us from Haiti or Venezuela?

[hunter112]

I hope a 8.7 magnitude earthquake hit San Francisco....

Will your deity give any "righteous" a chance to leave first? Will anyone who watches on Fox News be turned to a pillar of popcorn salt?

Those who call for Newsom's arrest will guarantee his media hero status. Right now, the best the media can muster is the "it's lonely over here by myself" whine. Show him doing a perp walk, and he makes the cover of Newsweek.

[JimSEA]

what separates us from Haiti or Venezuela?

Answering your retorical question, Not a whole hell of a lot. This will benefit the Democrats in that they can paint Newsom as a "well intentioned loose cannon" but, at the same time decry the excesses of the religious right and Bush (if he gets involved). If Bush doesn't show leadership on this issue -- as he well may not -- he will lose a lot of votes. It seems like a win, win for the Democrats if the leadership doesn't press but is supportive of "Local initiative". You got to remember that Kerry, like Clinton, is a 60's activist.

[Quix]

I would prefer God get their attention other ways.

But . . . I suspect He does have one that hard hitting or of higher magnitude slated.

The fellow who has predicted a big quake to hit CA before Sept something or other is likely very right.

Certainly the mayor is doing everything he can to give God such an invitation, imho.

And, alas, I have some dear loved ones in SF. One lives just south of the Golden Gate on the hill. And I don't think he or wife are that ready to meet their Maker. Nor are his parents who also live on that hill.

God have mercy on them and on the USA. Yet somehow cleanse our land of so much rapidly rising rebellion and evil.

[livius]

It's a very bizarre situation - actually, in the case of Judge Moore, of course, the ACLU and everybody else in the universe came forward to demand that he adhere to state law. But I'm not expecting this to happen here...

The problem is that the Executive Branch cannot deal with a judicial and state issue, particularly when it has been Oprah-ized - that is, taken out of the legal context entirely and turned over to the emotions of the ruling bureaucratic class (I wish to remind everybody that the CITIZENS of San Francisco, except for the gay ones, have had no say in this). That's one of the reasons we need to get a lot of strict constructionist legislators elected, so that they can appoint judges who will knock this stuff back.

Our society is founded on the rule of law; the judiciary has obviously done a lot to undermine this (in this case, simply by withholding their decision, because they know there's no legal support for gay marriage in the State of CA). But if we let this go, we're in for serious problems in the future.

Unfortunately, it's not something the Executive Branch can really handle at the state level.

Call to Freepers - does anybody have any idea how people can defend the rule of law in our country?

[JimSEA]

Unfortunately, it's not something the Executive Branch can really handle at the state level.

Also, as your analysis highlights, the rule of law depends on broad public acceptance if it is to work well. We have lost some of that general agreement, thanks in part to the John Kerrys and Bill Clintons of the 60's and to the radical lawyers, Kuntzler and Kubie for example.

[Clint Williams]

Call to Freepers - does anybody have any idea how people can defend the rule of law in our country?

Do what we haven't been doing -- watering the roots of the tree of liberty? I don't know.

[foreverfree]

How come Willie Brown's no longer mayor?

foreverfree

[foreverfree]

Do you notice that everybody talks about tipping points now?

Tipping points?

foreverfree