why was gay marriage such a hotbutton issue in the '05 pres. election, but it's not in this one?what changed?

Answer 1

People dying in Iraq kinda took priority over same-sex marriage.

Answer 2

Its too early to tell for the 2008 election. What made gay marriage an issue in the 2004 elections was the decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court that it violated the Massachusetts Constitution to allow "straight" marriages but not "gay" marriages. This allowed conservatives to present proposed constitutional amendments in many states to prevent their courts from doing the same (though in most of the states such a ruling was highly unlikely).

The last time (prior to the Massachusetts ruling) that gay marriage was a major issue was when the Hawaii Supreme Court found a right to gay marriage under the Hawaii Constitution. At that time, many states passed laws expressly forbidding gay marriage, and the federal government passed the Defense of Marriage Act (providing that states did not have to recognize gay marriages from other states).

Absent another court ruling recognizing gay marriage or a court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, there is nothing new going on to recharge the energy of the opponents of gay marriage to make it a major issue. The battle is over and, for now, they have won.

Answer 3

Well, it's like this, Republicans and Democrats have what are refered to as "Bases", these consist of people who hold strongly the opinions and beliefs of the particular party.

So for Democrats, the "Base" is considered, most women, usually ethnic groups/minorities, teachers , unionists and others with whom they share common cause (some Hollywood types)

For Republicans, the "Base" consists primarily of the extremely wealthy, a good percentage of the business / managerial class, and in the last 10 or 15 years, the persistent propoganda has brought poorly educated and socially conservative religious white folks around.

Both groups are to be considered something of a coup, since normally the poorly educated are NOT well represented by Republican policies and might but are generally not well served by Democratic policies much either.

The Religious right however, is a creation of the last 30 years or so, where OVERWHELMINGLY, fundamentalist christians have become an intergal part of the Republican political machine. They simply talk up the points that are of interest for the fundamentalists (Gay matters, civil rights, marriage/civil unions, AIDS prevention etc), (Pro-Life/Anti-Abortion talking points etc),

For instance, Gay civil unions and access to abortion are considered reasonable and are both well supported by the majority of the US population but are extremely polarising to the fundamentalists who become motivated to "do something", the Republicans are only too happy to then put them to work, calling voters, sending mailers, etc.

Fundamentalists have become the engine without which the Republican Party would have trouble functioning.

A case in point is the 2006 elections, where after scandal after scandal involving everything from bribery to sexual molestation was brought out, alot of "social conservatives" not only stayed away from the polls but did not work for the party volunteer groups, and as a result the Republicans lost the Congress and just barely lost the Senate.

Considering the human rights abuses, military setbacks and unethical activities promoted by the current Administration, The presidential election is likely the Democrats to loose or win.

As every republican candidate has to in some way or another come to terms with these and other questionable activities on the part of the existing administration.

Answer 4

It continued to be a hot button issue because Bush & Co. knew it was the perfect issue to get the evangelicals fired up and moving to the voting booth. Bush promised a renewed effort to add discrimination to the Constitution in the form of the Gay Marriage Act and it failed for the second time, as he always knew it would. He promised the Religious Right quite a few things he had no intention of fulfilling. Then a White House insider with the Christian crew left and wrote a book, exposing how the Bush Administration deliberately used the RR while they laughed behind their hands at them for being so gullible and manageable. Add the scandals of Foley and Haggard right before the mid-terms and what you end up with is a distrustful Religious Right who just hasn't been quite convinced this time around that any of the Republican Presidential candidates are really on their side.

Also, with gay marriage, they have a false sense of triumph, because so many of them went to the polls to vote for state laws prohibiting same sex marriage. I say false, because in the not so far future, USSC cases are going to start piling up over the issue of the states voting on the civil rights of American citizens. But you are right, it won't be an issue in the upcoming campaign, not as large a one anyway, that's for sure.

Answer 5

Karl Rove the political mind of Bush made use of the gay marriage issue to divert from the real issues of the day, like war in Iraq. This issue will make sure the right wing of the GOP(Gods Only Party) gets out and votes. Like they used the threat of terrorism just before the 2004 election.

Answer 6

Gay was a hot issue because the gay assed Republicans needed an issue to hide the fact that they were wrong about Iraq. Then when it turned out that their mans Foley was sending those text messages to that little boy they done flipped the script. All Republicans are gay. Republican women are men. Look at Ann Coulter. You can't tell me that Ann Coulter and Barbara Bush are not mens. They are straight up dudes. Republicans are gay men trapped in the closet that is why they only like to be around white mens. They gay. I don't care what anyone says. They couldn't wait to kiss that French *** because French people are gay as hell too. "You can fool some people some of the times, but you can't fool all the people all of the time."

Answer 7

You mean in '04 right?

Well, Republicans needed an issue that would distract voters away from the war in Iraq. Many on the right used gay marriage almost like a scare tactic. They told us if gay marriage is legalized, it would eventually lead to bestiality, legal incest, and the end of the institution of marriage, and of course, the downfall of western civilization. They tried again somewhat in '06 but the issue did little to affect anyone's campaign.

They're probably not using it again in the '08 campaigns because they know one only needs to look at Massachusetts to see the "dire" effects of gay marriage. (MA has the lowest divorce rate in the nation.)

Seriously, anyone at this point who thinks gay marriage is any kind of threat to morality really needs to do research.

Answer 8

Gay marriage was used in '04 to mobilize the religious right to vote for the Republicans.

People quickly realized it was a political stunt.

The GOP realizes that it can't hide from the war in Iraq anymore. And it realizes that the country finds it dishonest. It can't appear to divert from the real issues for fear of voters believing them even more dishonest than they already do. Instead, the party will focus on spinning its massive foreign policy failures into "accomplishments."

Answer 9

Same sex marriage was a wedge issue that the Republicans used to get the fundamentalists out to vote. What changed is that people saw that they were being played and that they also woke up and realized that there are more important issues that this nation is facing.

Answer 10

Like others have said, the War has taken the spotlight... and rightfully so.

Also, i think the fact that some states did in fact passed laws in favor of gay marriage (Massachusetts) and people figured out that the world did not fall apart because of it.

but like most topics during election years, it's all about the flavor of the month, not the fact that politicians really care one way or the other (my two cynical cents).

Answer 11

Wasn't it the 2004 election?

Well, Iraq is one thing. Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Cheney, Halliburton, Alberto Gonzalez, and good ol' GW himself. So many things have come to light, the Democrats are eating it up,and the Republicans are playing damage control. Gay marriage is during the "slow news" elections. . .