Mayor Quits Fundraiser For Anti-Gay-Marriage Candidate

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has become one of the nation’s most visible champions of gay marriage, has quietly withdrawn as the honorary co-chairman of a campaign fundraiser for a Tennessee congressman who voted for an anti-same-sex-marriage bill.
Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat from Memphis, Tenn., decided to postpone the Dec. 3 fundraiser at the Bubble Lounge in San Francisco until mid-January after Newsom’s office put pressure on the congressman to cancel the event.
A Newsom spokesman said the mayor was unaware of Ford’s vote for the Marriage Protection Act when the fundraiser was scheduled and he agreed to be a co-chairman. Gay rights groups had urged Newsom to boycott the fundraiser.
The Marriage Protection Act, which was passed by the House in July 2004, would prevent federal courts from forcing states to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Ford, who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2006, was one of only 36 Democrats in the House of Representatives to vote for the bill. It was reintroduced this year.
The fundraiser might have made Newsom seem like a political hypocrite: he would be raising money for an anti-gay marriage candidate the same year he grabbed national attention by flouting state law to marry thousands of same-sex couples at City Hall. The move would also probably be unpopular with the vast majority of San Francisco’s liberal-leaning voters and large gay community.
“A vote for discrimination is not something the Mayor can stand for,” said Jennifer Petrucione, a spokeswoman for Newsom. “Discrimination, whether based on race, sexual orientation or gender, is unacceptable.”
Petrucione said the mayor would like to talk with Ford about his positions on “civil rights” before considering whether to endorse him. Ford’s campaign did not return a call for comment, but he told the Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis he canceled the event after prompting from San Francisco politicians.
“It came to my attention that there were a few people in San Francisco concerned about my opposition to gay marriages,” Ford was quoted as saying. “Out of concern for local politicians, we decided to push the event back to mid-January.”
Newsom wasn’t the only San Francisco politician to back away from the fundraiser. District Attorney Kamala Harris, who was also listed on the invitation for the event along with former Mayor Willie Brown, has said she would not attend the fundraiser.
Robert Haaland, a transgender member of the San Francisco Democratic Central Committee, said Newsom did “the right thing” by declining to participate in the event and said other San Francisco Democrats should follow his lead. The Central Committee planned to vote on a resolution Wednesday night encouraging politicians not to participate in fundraisers for politicians that are against same-sex marriage.
“We have this looming battle on this issue [of same-sex marriage], we are going to have to raise $20 million to fight the right wing,” Haaland said. “It’s painful to see that kind of fundraising happening.”
from San Francisco Examiner