Which is it, Rudy?

Rudy Giuliani is currently polling stronger than any of the Republican candidates for President, mostly, I feel, because he is perceived as a strong manager, something this country has been sorely lacking for the past six years. He even had the chance to win my support, since he seemed to show some common sense on social issues (though I was worried about his foreign policy experience).

Today, however, Giuliani dropped precipitously in my view after his flip-flop on equality. Giuliani seemed to stand foursquare for equal civil rights. He felt marriage should be reserved for opposite gender couples, but supported civil unions as a way of providing equality. He even signed New York City's domestic partner law when he was mayor.

Then, after the New Hampshire state legislature passed a civil union law that gives same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities of civil marriage, and recognizes civil unions from other states, Giuliani recanted his prior support of equality. I guess gay couples are entitled to equal rights only if they're not quite equal. In truth, he's just trying to court the Christianist base, who have problems with his stand on social issues, primarily civil unions and abortion rights. For all the talk of Christians who say they don't have a problem with equality but want to retain the word "marriage" for relationships between a man and a woman (and there are many), that just doesn't seem to be true. They want to make sure gay relationships continue to be given second-class treatment, even on a civic level.

I read one comment online that stated Giuliani opposed this bill because it applied only to gay couples and not to opposite gender couples and was therefore unequal. If that was the case, why not just support total civil equality, and allow gay couples to get married? But since straight couples can already get those rights via marriage, I don't see where the inequality is. (Unless one remembers that "separate but equal" usually isn't.) Yes, I'd prefer if New Hampshire (or all states for that matter) enacted a civil union law that applies equally to all, but I'll take "separate but equal" for the moment, and work for full marriage equality down the road.