John McCain’s Gay-Friendly Daughter Writes a Campaign Memoir: ’Dirty Sexy Politics’ Hits Shelves Aug. 31
0When Barack Obama bested John McCain in 2008, GLBT Americans thought they had gained their best-ever White House ally. Obama, after all, had sworn that he would be a "fierce advocate" for the needs of gay and lesbian Americans and their families.
Since then, however, the GLBT community has had to think twice. The Obama Administration has not made GLBT matters a priority; even high-profile matters like the anti-gay law banning military service by openly gay troops have proceeded in circuitous ways, with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) now being subject to a year-long "review process" (but not out and out repeal). Moreover, the Obama administration has come in for criticism for defending DOMA, the 1996 so-called "Defense of Marriage" Act, which has been the subject of federal lawsuits challenging its constitutionality, given that DOMA singles out gay and lesbian families for exclusion from federal recognition, and allows states to ignore same-sex marriages granted elsewhere--possibly in contravention of the Constitution's "full faith and credit clause," which sets out the requirement that all states honor legal contracts made in all other states. (In defense of the Obama administration, it is typically the case that the Justice Department defends existing laws in federal court cases challenging them.)
While Sen. McCain himself may not be a shining example of GLBT advocacy--as Senator of Arizona, McCain promoted that state's voter initiative that amended the Arizona constitution so as to deny gays and lesbians marriage parity; McCain has also criticized efforts to scrap DADT--his wife Cindy and daughter Meghan have lent gay-friendly cred to the family name, speaking out against Proposition 8 (the California ballot initiative that put marriage rights to a popular vote, only for gays and lesbians to see their existing family parity vanish at the polls after a bruising, deeply divisive campaign) and seeking to grow the GOP's so-called "big tent" until it embraces GLBT constituents as enthusiastically as it welcomes in heterosexuals.
Cindy McCain appeared in an anti-Prop 8 ad campaign to promote acceptance of gays; Meghan, meantime, has consistently spoken out for LGBT equality, earning the ire of anti-gay conservatives who deny that a Republican can be gay-friendly and deride Meghan McCain as a RINO, or "Republican in Name Only." (In an illustrative example of the resistance that Meghan's message has met with the GOP's rank and file, a speaking engagement with a college group, the George Washington's College Republicans, was canceled by the organization once it came to light that McCain would also be speaking at another college group's event--Allied in Pride's Marriage Equality Week.)
GLBT America's disenchantment with Obama began at once, with the inclusion of an anti-gay evangelical mega church pastor, Rick Warren, at the Inauguration. In a move widely seen as an attempt to soothe Christian conservatives, Warren delivered the Inaugural invocation, which was part of the nationally televised ceremonies. Not nationally televised was the invocation that took place beforehand, as the day's pomp began--a prayer delivered by the openly gay Episcopalian bishop, Gene Robinson. The omission was explained after the fact as "an error."
The Republican camp, meantime, has succeeded in courting disaffected gays almost despite itself: the Log Cabin Republicans, which is a group of gay Republicans, has mounted a high-profile lawsuit against DADT, and for every anti-gay fusillade launched by homophobic GOP politicos, there seem to be Republican leading lights such as Laura Bush, Dick Cheney, and even the celebrated GOP senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, standing up for GLBT equality. It's enough, as one Village Voice article from June 22 has it, to coax a gay Democrat to the red side of the political spectrum.
Meghan McCain's new memoir, Dirty Sexy Politics, promises to reveal the inside scoop on "her experiences on the campaign trail, how the party veered so far off track, why she is still a Republican, and more," according to a posting at the web site of the book's publisher, Hyperion. The memoir draws from Meghan McCain's time spent working on her father's 2008 presidential campaign, but also offers readers a glimpse into the world seldom seen in the mainstream press: the gay-friendly GOP. "McCain offers a fresh, unique perspective that will appeal to audiences both younger and older, as well as those who are politically naive or cynical," teases text at the Hyperion site.
Dirty Sexy Politics goes on sale August 31.