WASHINGTON ON ALERT AS MAINE BECOMES LATEST PINK STATE

May 7 2009

Washington, DC – There was no better illustration of the division of political ideologies across the United States than the big board presented on CNN during last year’s Presidential campaign. As state after state reported their respective votes for the President, CNN marked each one either blue for Democrats or red for Republicans. At the end, the party with the most colour on the board took the election and the
Presidency. For decades the country has been divided along those two colour lines but now, with 5 states legalizing gay marriage, more and more of the country is turning to pink.

Whether accurately or not, pink has long been associated with the gay rights movement, a movement which in recent years has garnered more and more mindshare and political clout across the country. With five states - Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Iowa – officially going pink, and others leaning in that direction, Democrats and Republicans alike are becoming more and more concerned about the future of their respective parties and the future of American democracy as a whole.

“The United States has had a two party system for a long time and while that may not be the ideal set up it has worked for a long time. Others have tried to wedge their way
in either by creating new parties or running independently and excepting a few successes here and there, that has mostly fallen flat. This movement represents the biggest change to the political status quo in a long time, perhaps ever,” said Scrape TV Political analyst Gabriel Kinsey. “The Gay rights movement and by association the Gay marriage movement has no doubt been one of the most active and effective activist movements in the United States ever and now we are starting to see the fruits of that fabulous labour.”

President Barack Obama, who declared during the campaign that he was against gay marriage, is now under increasing pressure not only from those in his own party, but from opposition republicans who are now seeing this changing of the hue as a dire threat to their very well being.

“Politicians campaign for power. They campaign for the country. Most of all though they campaign for their jobs and that is what is at risk here. As more and more states go pink there is a significant risk of splitting votes and that doesn’t benefit either party. It will be significantly worse for the Democrats, but there are a handful of gay Republicans who could cause trouble,” continued Kinsey. “Half a dozen states are also very close to going pink, such as traditionally blue California and New York. It’s also very likely that D.C. itself will legalize gay marriage making the backyard of every politician very, very pink.”

It should be noted that states will not actually be covered by any specific colour and
that the designated colours on maps such as those employed by CNN are not legally binding in an election. It should also be noted that the percentage of gay people in any given population hovers between 5-7 per cent, except in Alabama.

“The biggest issue with this pink movement though is the question of leadership. No political party has ever had success without a significant leader at the head and no one thus far has stepped forward as the natural representative of the gay populace. There are famous gay people in America, but no great leaders who could take on the challenges of running the most powerful country on the planet,” continued Kinsey. “Hopefully though this movement will encourage some of those people to step forward, step out and make history. Maybe someday someone will paint the White House pink, but it still may be a long way off.”

President Obama along with bipartisan members of the house have already been looking at ways of stiffening up gay rights legislation in an effort to keep the colours from bleeding together.     

Edward Bastil, Political Correspondent

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