Jeremy Cloward Calls For More Discussion Of Prop 8
In California’s 10th district special election for a replacement of Ellen Tauscher in the U.S. House of Representatives, Green Party candidate Jeremy Cloward is consistently working to push the discussion in the race in a more progressive direction. Cloward has applied this role to the issue of marriage equality in a recent interview, urging the other candidates to join him in unequivocal support for the repeal of Proposition 8, the measure passed in 2008 that bans same-sex marriage in California.
Cloward said, “It’s not talked about as much as you would think. There is an effort to try to put it back on the ballot, to overturn the ban. It is notable that we have one candidate, a Democratic candidate in this race, that is openly gay, and he obviously opposes Prop 8. I don’t want to say anything bad about him, but I haven’t seen him say much more about it than that. As far as I know, it’s not one of his three or so major planks in his platform. Gay marriage is not talked about enough, is not talked about that much, in general and in particular with this race. It certainly is, I know in other places, away from the campaign and the classroom, it is talked about fairly regularly. I haven’t heard that much discussion about it during the campaign.”
Cloward’s own position on Prop 8 is clear: “We support overturning Proposition 8, and recognize that people who are 18 years old or older should be allowed to marry who they want to.”
There isn’t much time left for an improvement in the discussion of GLBT issues in the 10th district contest. Cloward, and his 14 opponents will face off in a primary election on September 1st. Only if none of the candidates succeeds in getting more than 50 percent of the vote on that date will there be a second, general election on November 3rd.
