The Kerry Campaign Teaches a 20-Year-Old Lesson for Progressives

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)

The first presidential election that I voted in was the 2004 presidential election.  I was a young man, and one who had, just weeks prior, come out of the closet (literally-I came out in October of 2004).  On the surface of it, the 2004 presidential election wasn't a great choice for a young gay man.  The most important issue the gay community was pushing in 2004 was same-sex marriage, and both the Republican nominee (George W. Bush) and the Democratic nominee (John Kerry) were opposed to gay marriage in 2004.  It would've been very easy to be cynical about gay marriage when it came to the election and just not vote.  Or to vote third party, as Ralph Nader (an independent nominee) had come out for gay marriage earlier that year.  But you know what I did-I knocked on doors, gave some of the (very limited) cash I had to the Kerry campaign, and worked on enough events I actually met both Kerry's stepson Andre and vice presidential nominee John Edwards (also Leonardo DiCaprio, but that's a story for a different day).

Politics is rarely about making the perfect choice, and all about making the best choice.  In 2004, I was smart enough to see two things.  One, John Kerry's stance against gay marriage was paper thin.  He supported a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and had voted against the Defense Against Marriage Act.  He did not support a constitutional ban on gay marriage like George W. Bush did.  He supported ENDA (which was later renamed the Equality Act) and the Hate Crimes Prevention bill.  He supported civil unions.  It was very clear that while Kerry wasn't where I was at on the issue, he was closer to me than George W. Bush.  Which brings me the second thing I saw-he wouldn't stand in our way.  John Kerry might not have wanted to support gay marriage publicly (I firmly believe that in 2004 he actually, at the very least didn't care about gay marriage, and all things being equal likely supported it at that juncture given his liberal politics, privately), but he wasn't going to stop our movement.

And of course I was right.  John Kerry years later would come out in favor of gay marriage (in 2011), and would continue to champion gay rights during his time in the Senate, including backing the successful repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell in 2010.  George W. Bush, on the flip side, has never publicly supported gay marriage albeit at this point he probably is in the same camp that Kerry was in 2004 where he support it privately but not in public statements (he is publicly friends with prominent gay celebrities like Ellen Degeneres, and both his wife & daughter Jenna are publicly supportive of gay marriage).

Kerry was the correct choice in 2004, and I'm very proud I voted for him.  Anyone who actually cared about the issue of gay marriage in 2004 voted for him, because he was the right direction for the issue even if his campaign wasn't showing us the end of the journey.  And anyone who didn't care about gay marriage but just wanted to be right didn't show up for him.  Gay marriage is one of the most successful progressive movements of this century for a variety of reasons, but part of it was trusting that progressive politicians like Kerry (or Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or Hillary Clinton) would get there if we gave them enough ammunition & support.  None of those candidates would back gay marriage when they ran for president in 2008-all of them would back it the next time they ran for president.  And that was because the gay marriage movement didn't measure progress solely in a binary-they measured it by inches.  Getting more states to back the movement, getting more progressive legislators in place so that we could advance our agenda, this is how progress is made, and it was worth it even if it wasn't just an "all-or-nothing" victory nationally which we'd finally get in 2015 (and later underline in 2022, because civil rights are always about doubling back and making sure they're protected).

And it's why I'm flummoxed by some of the attitudes toward President Biden on social media and their antipathy toward his campaign.  The Sunrise Movement (a group of young progressives focusing on climate change) has stated that they don't intend to support Biden this fall, despite Biden being both A) the most aggressively anti-climate change president in the history of the country, and the most pro-environment president we've had since the 1970's and B) Biden being much better than Trump on this issue than Trump.  The same with Palestine.  It's clear that Biden, while far from perfect, is much more committed to a peaceful resolution to this war than Trump, and that Trump would happily have it go on forever (and has publicly stated he wanted to incarcerate American pro-Palestinian protestors).  This is Kerry-Bush again: neither side is perfect, but anyone with two brain cells can see that one side is better than the other for your issue.  

If you actually care about these issues, about climate change, about Palestine, you might not love Biden, but you sure as hell need to vote for him because if you don't, you're not just saying you don't care-you're saying this isn't an important issue.  Gay rights in 2004 couldn't wait four years.  It's why, even if I disagreed with him, sending a message to the Democrats wasn't worth it.  It was better to hope we could get where we needed to go with a President Kerry than have our issues shut out completely by a President Bush.  The same is true for Biden.  Climate change is an existential crisis for the planet.  A ceasefire is an urgent need to save the lives of people in Gaza.  These cannot wait for you to make a point to President Biden...a point that likely will never actually land.  After all, lest we forget, John Kerry did not win the 2004 election, and four years later, those who didn't back him because he didn't support gay marriage got a Democratic nominee...who didn't support gay marriage.  Politics is all about learning lessons that the messengers didn't intend, and when the guy who clearly most aligns with your viewpoint loses, they don't think "I should've supported the more progressive policy" they think "well, that group wouldn't support me last time, I don't know that they're worth pursuing ever again."  Young progressives-don't make yourself obsolete proving a point that no one is going to comprehend.