Which bring us to Delegate Sam Arora, a freshman from the upscale D.C. suburbs who was, until a few days ago, a top prospect for Democratic grooming. He was an aide to the Democratic National Committee and then to Sen. Hillary Clinton for three years. He was considered "beautiful" among his peers on the Hill, which should be taken with a grain of salt.
He actively solicited, and won, donations from LGBT groups and donors during his campaign and promised to support marriage equality, not only in his campaign statements, but on a signed candidate's questionnaire. He co-sponsored the same-sex marriage bill under consideration, and only a month ago he was tweeting in support of it. And then a day or two ago, out of absolutely nowhere, he changed his mind, became an opponent of same-sex marriage, said he'd vote against it on the floor — which is expected to be a tight tally — once it got out of committee, and secretly deleted his month-old tweet in support of it. Apparently he's pretty big into Jesus these days, and Jesus told him not to support marriage equality after all. Donors want their money back, because he lied to them like a complete asshole.
Fortunately Arora caught so much rage online and in the newspapers yesterday that he grudingly relented this morning and said he'd vote for it. Good for him! But his political career is over. This political mistake by a freshman in the lower chamber of a state legislature was so monumentally terrible that it's become a hot national political story. He killed a lot of momentum with his brief come-to-Jesus detour, after all.
"You've got to change the hearts of people. When people get to know homosexual couples and see them get married and see who they are, it's different," she said. "That right to pursue happiness, that human right to marry who you love, that's what our soldiers are dying for. Protecting these rights we have."And those who keep pointing to the angry old people who keep calling and writing letters, I point to the other end, the disenfranchised youth. Look to the future. They might not give you the financial or voting support that the older generation does, but they're moving up, while the older population is dying off.
The House needed a simple majority of 71 out of 141 members to send the bill to a supportive Gov. Martin O'Malley, since it had already passed the state Senate. Just a couple of weeks ago the bill had secured enough votes, but last-minute pressure from church groups and the National Organization for Marriage apparently scared a few new, sensitive delegates into wavering on their commitments. It's been bleeding support ever since, to the point where House leaders didn't feel confident enough to bring it to a formal vote today.Bastards.
« Older From the day cognitive scientist Deb Roy and his w... | When I was 17...... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by ryanshepard at 11:45 AM on March 4, 2011 [1 favorite]