there is no centre ground when it comes to equal rights

I have a letter in today's Globe and Mail.
John Ibbitson writes that Barack Obama's choice of Rick Warren to deliver an invocation at his inauguration reflects Mr. Obama's efforts "to craft an administration that hews to the centre." This implies that same-sex marriage is an extreme position, pitting anti-gay right-wingers against a radical left.

But equality under the law is not a radical idea or a leftist idea. Equality under the law is supposed to be a bedrock value of the United States. There is no centre ground when it comes to equal rights. One either has them or one does not.

The bullshit I was responding to is here.

I remember when Bill Clinton was first elected in 1992, how thrilled we were that the Reagan-Bush era was over, how hopeful we were for change. Fellow activists who were older than us were more muted. I remember a friend saying, "I'm very happy that Bush is out of a job, but I don't expect much to change."

Then in his first weeks in office, seemingly one day after the next, Clinton betrayed us. Haitian refugees, gays in the military, anti-choice judicial appointments. And that was before NAFTA and welfare. It wasn't that Clinton himself was particularly duplicitous. But he was a standard-issue Democrat, doing what Democrats do.

I hope everyone's hopes do better under Obama, but it isn't looking very promising.

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