While their candidates warmed up for the final presidential debate backstage at Hofstra University on Long Island, the College Democrats and College Republicans faced off over queer issues Wednesday night.
Their debate, which was the second of three hosted by the Columbia Political Union in the weeks leading up to the election, focused on such topics as same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples, hate crime laws, and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. The Democrats were represented by Barry Weinberg, CC ’12 and a coordinator of their activist council, and Brandon Storm, CC ’12 and a general body member. The Republicans fielded Lauren Salz, BC ’11 and their executive director, and Learned Foote, CC ’11.
Despite the specificity of the issues at hand, many of the debaters’ arguments were framed in terms of larger ideological splits between the parties. In line with the Republican principle of decentralized government, Salz and Foote argued that such issues as marriage equality should be left up to individual states.
“It’s about communities coming together to decide what these laws should mean,” Foote said.
The Democrats, meanwhile, defended hate crime laws. “There are special categories of crimes, such as in the case of terrorism, in the case of organized crime,” Weinberg said. “Hate crimes fall into the same category of ... trying to inspire fear.”
The Republicans also claimed that the positions of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ari.) on many of the issues discussed are not as different as many Democrats would like to believe.
“Barack Obama is part of a party where he could take a strong stance on gay marriage,” Salz said in the Republicans’ closing statement. “It sounds like he wants to have his cake and eat it too. ... John McCain’s policies show a brave departure from what his party thinks.”
In response, the Democrats stressed the common perception that McCain has hewed closer to the party line on social issues since his failed bid for the Republican nomination in 2000.
“I find it interesting that John McCain has to run on his record from the 1990s to appeal to the gay community,” Weinberg said.
Both pairs lauded the calm and respect they said they saw their opponents demonstrate. “I almost wish they’d criticized and analyzed McCain’s positions more,” Salz said.
Moderated by CPU Operations Director Caitlin Halpern, CC ’09, the debate included questions written by both CPU and audience queries.
“At one point, a girl stood up and said, ‘That was not my question, answer the goddamn question,’ which was great,” Foote said.
The event was proposed and co-sponsored by members of the Queer Awareness Month planning committee—including Foote, who is the group’s treasurer. QuAM
co-coordinator Joseph Daniels, CC ’09, said that the queer-specific debate was conceived as part of an attempt to shift the month’s focus from visibility to larger issues of gay life. He especially praised the Republicans for addressing issues on which their party is frequently criticized on Columbia’s campus.
“I don’t think at many other universities in America, the College Republicans would have been as amenable to having a debate on queer issues,” Daniels said. “We took them off their home turf tonight.”
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