Gavin Newsom speaks out

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, who attempted to legalize gay marriages in his city in 2004, has a message for his fellow Democrats - grow a spine! I couldn't agree more. According to Newsom, a "vast majority" of Congressional Democrats favour gay marriage, but they don't have the "moral courage" to say so; he bases this, he says, on first-hand knowledge.

I tell all of my fellow Democrats this is not going to go away. As long as we allow this to be dangled in front of us because of our unwillingness to say publicly what so many of us are saying privately, it will haunt the Democratic party. And it will be used as a wedge issue just as it is being dangled in front of congressional candidates in the November election.

Not every Democrat in Washington agrees with gay marriage. But I will make the case — based on some strong evidence — that an overwhelming majority do. But they just can’t say it. And that is a limitation that is causing more damage than the issue. Because, again, it shows a weakness of character.

This is really one of the great final civil rights struggles, and again I say to my colleagues in the Democratic party: Why are you a Democrat if you can’t stand on a fundamental construct that has always distinguished our party. That we didn’t sit around. We advanced the issues of equality. We engaged the American people head on.

Preach it!