Kerry treads cautiously on gay marriage ban

MEMPHIS -- As Massachusetts lawmakers convene tomorrow to consider amending the state constitution to ban gay marriage, Senator John F. Kerry is attempting a difficult balancing act: preserving his reputation as a national leader on gay rights while remaining silent on the amendment debate that has gripped the gay community.

Kerry has said for months that he opposes gay marriage, as well as the ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court that cleared the way for such marriages starting in May, but that he supports civil unions that guarantee gay couples the same rights and benefits that married couples receive.

But for the fifth day, Kerry declined to say yesterday whether he would support a state constitutional amendment to prevent gays from marrying, even as the Massachusetts Republican Party chairman accused Kerry of being "evasive" on the issue.

Speaking at campaign rallies yesterday in two culturally conservative states, Virginia and Tennessee, which hold primaries today, Kerry laid out his plans for creating jobs, improving public school, and expanding health care in the nation. Civil rights for gays did not come up. But over the course of his career, Kerry has stood as "a hero on gay issues," said Boston media consultant Mary Breslauer, for supporting antibias laws protecting gays, and during his 1996 reelection race, denouncing the politically popular Defense of Marriage Act as "gay-bashing on the floor of the United States Senate."

David Mixner, a prominent gay rights activist who is a volunteer for Kerry's campaign, said, "As far as I'm concerned, his vote against the marriage act in an election year was every bit as courageous as his actions serving in the Vietnam War."

Kerry's distance from the amendment debate stands in contrast to his 19-year record as a leader on gay and lesbian issues in the US Senate, where he has supported a progay agenda "sometimes at great political peril," according to a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a major US organization that advocates for gay rights. And the stakes for the senator are far riskier now than in 1996.

Because Kerry is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, having won 10 of 12 primaries and caucuses, his opinions have received extra scrutiny. Republicans, meanwhile, say they plan to render the Massachusetts court's ruling on gay marriage as a defining social issue in the 2004 race, and some of them see political gains for the GOP if Kerry's party crowns him at its nomination convention in July in Boston.

Yesterday, state GOP chairman Darrell Crate criticized Kerry for staying mum on the amendment debate.

"This is not a question of language -- it is a question of principle -- and the senator owes the people of Massachusetts a straight answer on this issue," Crate said in a statement.

Eldie Acheson, an assistant attorney general during the Clinton administration and now a Kerry liaison to the gay community, among other roles, said yesterday that Crate was trying "to sucker the senator into something that he needn't say at this point."

Breslauer, another longtime Kerry supporter, said the candidate is smart not to engage in the amendment fight right now.

"The State House is a chaotic rumor mill at the moment, and no one knows what's going to be the final question before legislators," she said.

Kerry is indeed treading cautiously, emphasizing equal rights for all and saying the spirit of marriage is more important to gays than the civil ceremony. Kerry restated his opposition to gay marriage during a news conference with reporters yesterday, then added, "I hope that the constitutional convention will find a way to do something that embraces the ability to give rights to people, but also recognizes the position I just took."

Since 1995, Kerry has earned perfect scores from the Human Rights Campaign for taking the same political stands as the group on key legislation that would affect gays and lesbians. He also drew notice during the Clinton administration as one of four senators who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee against the "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays in the military. Some gay rights organizations are more critical of Kerry's record. The Washington Blade, a gay-targeted newspaper in the capital that is supporting Kerry rival Wesley K. Clark, said in an editorial last month that Kerry had "a mixed record on gay issues." It cited his position in 1987 against spending federal money on groups or programs that "promote or encourage . . . homosexual activity," and in 1993 to restrict foreigners with HIV from entering the United States.

Kerry aides at the time said that the 1987 prohibition was so watered down that it was meaningless, and that the senator does not support blocking all travel or immigration by HIV-infected people from abroad.

Mixner and other gay rights activists said yesterday that they hoped Kerry would come out against the proposed amendment but respected him for taking his time on the issue. Some emphasized that they were not pressuring Kerry on gay marriage because they want to have a united alliance behind him as a presumptive party nominee against President Bush.

"Do I want everyone in the world to be for gay marriage? Sure. But there's no candidate out there for it, including Howard Dean," said Mixner, referring to the former Vermont governor, who signed a civil unions bill in that state. "We have a lot more education to do."

Patrick Healy can be reached at globe.com.