Blue Mass Group

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Charlie Baker on Equality

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I remember the first time that I saw Deval Patrick as a candidate for Governor, maybe February of 2005, a Saturday morning coffee.  When I got my chance, I asked him for his opinion on equal marriage rights.  He didn’t flinch, he didn’t equivocate, he didn’t hesitate – he came right out and said that, in his opinion, the SJC got it just right.  And throughout his first term, whenever it mattered, Deval Patrick stood firm for equal marriage rights.  Just as he did when he responded to my question back in February 2005, he never flinched, he never equivocated, he never hesitated.  He has always been there, been strong, and been right.

Now, I saw Charlie Baker at this year’s Pride Parade, and I’ve heard him say that he’s in favor of equal marriage rights, and I know he chose a gay man as his running mate and his brother is gay and married, but I have to wonder — where was Charlie Baker when it mattered, when his voice could have been influential in the fight for equal marriage rights?  Charlie Baker, the gubernatorial candidate-in-waiting for years — why didn’t we hear from him when it would have made a difference?  Did Charlie ever stand up to Mitt Romney when Mitt tried so hard to demagogue on the issue?  Did he ever tell Kerry Healey that she was wrong on the issue in 2006?  Seems to me that Charlie Baker could have made a difference when equal marriage rights mattered, but it looks like he chose to take a pass.

Charlie Baker was a prominent health insurance executive, the Republican candidate-in-waiting for Governor, but he never said a word about equal marriage rights until it was safe to do so.  Heck, even a homophobic reactionary like Guy Glodis now supports equal marriage rights.  And when it comes to hard issues, like prohibiting discrimination against transgender folks, Charlie doesn’t look all that different from the haters on this issue.

So, Charlie, tell us — when did you ever take a stand on equal marriage rights when it mattered? Why did you wait until it was politically expedient to do so?  When have you ever taken a difficult stand the way that Deval Patrick did on equal marriage rights?

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Comments

  1. When the people are attack you over an issue are the ilk of kris mineau, you might as well threaten deval with a parliament of kindergarteners.

  2. is his abhorrent pandering to the rabid right on transgender rights. As head of Harvard Pilgrim, he genuinely supported equal rights for people who are transgender and the company had a very strong record on it — then he goes out firmly against it as a candidate for governor, even calling the transgender rights bill the “bathroom bill” at the Republican state convention.

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    p>He is certainly not willing to stand up with any kind of conviction and fight for what’s right; he’s more than willing to pander to his base, even at the cost of what he’s shown in the past to know is wrong. I wonder if betraying his principals on this issue came easy to him, or if he ever really had those principals to begin with.  

  3. He made a few jokes that the pc elitists don’t like during college. Have you never said anything you regretted later.

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    p>I know it’s tough for health insurance lobbyists like Bump to take a joke. Lake can probably take a joke because he is one, though his supporters are just as pc as Bump’s.

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    p>Look, just b/c Guy is more conservative than you is no reason to dis him. He is our only chance to keep the seat in Democratic hands, and the only candidate who believes in protecting the working man/woman, which is what Democrats are supposed to believe in.  

    • I guess what I published before about Glodis’s homophobic past needs to be repeated:

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      Sorry, can’t link to this article because you have to subscribe to the Boston Globe or pay to view its archives.  September 28, 1992, the Globe published an article by Aaron Zitner entitled “Ex-UMass conservatives eye State House,” about Guy Glodis’s college antics at U. Mass.

      One of the more interesting stories is about Guy’s Talk Show, in March 1991.  The event, according to Zitner, “was designed for conservatives and liberals to debate the Persian Gulf war and the Lesbian Bisexual Gay Alliance’s loss of appointed seats on the Board of Governors.  Glodis himself participated in the debate, sprinkling it with sexual comments and raging about ‘radical wacko weirdos’ in campus politics.”

      And here’s the most telling tidbit from Zitner’s article:  “Admiring a lesbian panelist, Glodis jokingly introduced her to the audience as a porn-show ‘queen’ and said: ‘Come on, with a body like that, you can’t be bashful.’ Later, he queried the woman, Laura Silver, about her sexual habits: ‘What do you think about toys, animals? . . . How about group sex? . . . What do you consider an outrageous sexual act? . . . What is your ultimate fantasy?'”

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      p>We’re still waiting for Guy to apologize for that kind of behavior.  If being disgusted by that kind of behavior makes me a PC Elitist, I’ll wear that badge with honor.

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