people from getting married in argentina was the archbishop jorge bergoglio. we all know him now as pope francis. at the time of this political fight, he said of the gay marriage bill in his country, quote, let us not be naive, we are not talking about a simple political battle, it is a destructive pretension against the plan of god. we are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the father of lies that seeks to confuse and deceive. cardinal bergoglio called on god to get argentina s senators to vote against gay marriage. her response was rather furious. she said his argument and the argument of other church leaders was like something from, quote, the times of the crusades. she said they are portraying this as a religious moral issue and as a threat to the natural order. when what we are really doing is looking at a reality that is already there. it would be a terrible distortion of democracy if they denied minorities their rights. and the cardinal ended up losing wh
denied minorities their rights. and the cardinal ended up losing that fight. she won that fight. and argentinians got same-sex marriage rights. and the following year, president christina fernandez dekirchner got reelected. since that fight over gay marriage, the relationship between the president of argentina and the cardinal have been described not just as a bad relationship but an awful relationship and you can see why. and now he s pope. when an opportunity for a political fight on this issue presented itself, cardinal bergoglio inserted himself into that fight trying to make the biggest impact possible. he got brushed back by the president who both won the fight and won it so decisively that it led to criticism in his country of the church being both divisively political and influencing public policy. worst of all worlds. the cardinal stuck his neck out on this one. gave quotes to the press, in his
to north korea if he can be pushed around by a yokel like me. this past november when former vice president dick cheney was lobbying in maryland for maryland to passage same-sex marriage rights, the current candidate mitt romney campaigning against the gays. we fought hard and prevented massachusetts from becoming the las vegas of gay marriage. when a federal court in california ruled in favor of marriage for same-sex couples on the prop 8 case earlier this year, mitt romney jumped in to make clear he was on the anti-gay side of that. he declared himself a combatant on the war on gay rights. he said, today unelected judges cast aside the will of the people of california who voted to protect traditional marriage. this decision does not end this fight. see, it s a fight and he s a combatant in that fight against gay rights.
for a ban on gay people s right was one vote in arizona in 2008, but arizona remedied that, thank you very much, by taking another anti-gay right vote in 2008 in which they flipped. in conservative states, in middle of the road states, in liberal states. every time there is a statewide vote on same-sex marriage rights, the majority votes to deny those rights. and at the same time, people talking to public opinion pollsters are increasingly saying that they support same-sex marriage rights. in the gallup poll in 2009, the proportion of americans say they supported same-sex marriage rights was 40%. the next year, 2010, support went from 40 to 44%. the next year, 2011, support went from 44 to 53%. but rising poll number in terms of marriage rights has not translated into statewide votes to support those rights, not anywhere in the country, not even now in 2012. not last night in north carolina. even before his statement today
coopted by a conservative radio talk show host in middle america, how is he going to stand up to the chinese? how is he going to stand up to putin? how is is he going to stand up to north korea if he can be pushed around by a yokel like me. this past november when former vice president dick cheney was lobbying in maryland for maryland to passage same-sex marriage rights, the current candidate mitt romney campaigning against the gays. we fought hard and prevented massachusetts from becoming the las vegas of gay marriage. when a federal court in california ruled in favor of marriage for same-sex couples on the prop 8 case earlier this year, mitt romney jumped in to make clear he was on the anti-gay side of that. he declared himself a combatant on the war on gay rights. he said, today unelected judges cast aside the will of the people of california who voted