Ask a Lesbian: Ralph Nader

Dear Ilyssa,

After reading your article last week on Obama and McCain’s policies towards gays and lesbians I was surprised to see that you never mentioned Ralph Nader as a candidate or any of his policies toward the gay community. As a gay independent who is still unsure about whom I am voting for, I would appreciate if you could discuss his policies so I have a full picture of the policies of all three candidates. Thanks so much.

Sincerely,
Still Straddling the Fence

Dear Still Straddling,

I appreciate your concern that I did not look at all the candidate’s policies. I agree with you that in order to give voters the full picture of all the candidates, one must start by including all the candidates and their policies regarding all issues, but in this case issues that directly affect the gay community. After doing a little research I am now able to provide you with the facts behind Nader’s policies. Nader, like Obama, supports equal rights for gays and lesbians as well as equal rights for same-sex couples. Furthermore, Nader opposes a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and same-sex unions and believes that same-sex unions are a step in the right direction, but are only a starting point because they do not actually afford same-sex couples all the rights that marriage does. Moreover, Nader believes that everyone should have equal protection under the law regardless of their sexual orientation and says that, “the only way to ensure full equal rights is to recognize same-sex marriage.” I personally believe that Nader’s policies regarding the gay and lesbian community are positive, but as we all know it is highly unlikely that a third party candidate will be elected. It is in my opinion that anyone who believes in Nader’s policies should vote for Obama rather than McCain, or just vote for Nader himself. Hope that clears things up.