Same-sex marriage separates candidates

CARSON CITY - President Barack Obama's support for gay marriage was bound to become a campaign issue for Nevada legislative races in November's general election.

That's where Republicans, who generally don't like the idea, and Democrats, who mostly back it, will duke it out.

But just two weeks after the presidential announcement, the idea already is stirring up a Democratic primary race for state Senate.

The race for Senate District 1 in North Las Vegas between incumbent John Lee and newcomer Patricia Spearman provides the first test of the election season to determine whether Nevada residents support gay marriage.

In one corner sits Lee: Mormon, white, politically moderate and a legislator who voted against domestic partnerships and who opposes gay marriage.

Lee also has served the past 15 years in the Legislature and holds the Senate Democratic Caucus endorsement.

In the other chair is Spearman: evangelical minister, black, gay and a liberal who favors same-sex marriage. She never has held political office in Nevada.

POWER TO SWAY VOTERS

Besides their political party, the only thing the two candidates share is their age, 56.

While Democratic insiders insist Spearman has no chance in the primary, Lee is growing less certain as liberal-leaning organizations, emboldened by Obama's announcement, jump on his opponent's bandwagon.

"What if only 3,000 people vote in the primary?" Lee asked. "More liberal people might turn out in greater numbers. Supporters of same-sex marriage might have the greatest incentive to turn out."

Spearman considers Nevada's voter-approved constitutional amendment blocking gay marriage a blatant form of discrimination.

Lee said it preserves the "sanctity of marriage." She noted that during a bus trip in the South in 1962 her mother yanked her away when she tried to drink out of a "whites only" fountain.

"Needless to say, our nation's history and laws have not always been equitable," she said. "However in 2012, denying the rights of people to marry is no less despicable than forcing me to use a dirty 'colored' water fountain."

Lee does not believe most Nevadans back same-sex marriage. In knocking on doors of constituents, he said not one person has asked his position on gay marriage.

"Nobody ever asks me that. And they don't talk about gas prices. They just want to meet you and know you are a good person."

But Spearman said residents at 15 or 16 homes have asked her views on same-sex marriage and then immediately said, "You have my vote."

She has accused Lee of intolerance in campaign literature.

Spearman's chances depend entirely on voter turnout, according to David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. If gay-marriage supporters vote in large numbers and members of the party mainstream do not, then she has a remote chance.

"It don't think it (gay marriage) is going to move many voters in the state of Nevada," said Damore, contending the economy is what matters to most people.

He expects a federal court in Las Vegas will determine whether gay marriages are allowed in the state long before legislators could act.

Damore said the support by liberal organizations for Spearman could backfire and hurt the state Senate Democrats' chances to pick up a two-thirds majority, which is required to enact tax increases. That's because Lee has been forced to spend money on the primary, he said.

"Otherwise he would have donated those funds to other Democratic candidates because there is no Republican in his primary race," he added.

SUPPORT GROWS NATIONALLY

Over the past year, Gallup polls have found for the first time that Americans support gay marriage, but by a small margin. The younger the voters, the more likely they support it.

Yet in California, surveys showed 70 percent of black residents voted against legalizing gay marriage in 2010.

Spearman said the views of all Americans, including black people, are "evolving" on the issue. As people become better educated, they realize that equality applies to everyone, she said.

"I believe in equal rights for everyone, period," she added.

Although some ministers have used biblical verses to condemn gay marriage, Spearman said the main principle of Christianity is to follow the Golden Rule.

Spearman said she wasn't running "to become pastor for the Senate," but to give better representation to the district. Legislators should not impose religious beliefs on their constituents, but support fairness even for people they may personally dislike, she said.

If Lee's argument that prohibiting same-sex marriage preserves the sanctity of marriage was correct, then Spearman asks why so many couples divorce.

A U.S. Census Bureau study released last year found that the divorce rate in America has dropped since peaking in 1981. Marriages are lasting longer, but fewer people are marrying.

Nonetheless, 49 percent of marriages by black women end in divorce, while 41 percent of white women divorce. Rates are lower for women of other ethnic backgrounds.

Lee has been married for 36 years and has seven children, including the current Miss Nevada.

Lee said he was a Catholic before becoming Mormon and has always opposed same-sex marriage.

LEE'S ARGUMENTS

While same-sex adults should be able to live as they choose and be treated with respect by everyone, he would not extend them the right to marry.

"I believe marriage is between a man and woman," Lee said. "That is the way I was raised and the way I believe."

Lee said he voted against domestic partnerships in 2009 because of how it would affect straight couples, not gay couples. Now 3,568 couples are domestic partners, a legal contract that gives them almost all the rights as heterosexual couples.

Opposite-sex couples can enroll as domestic partners, and Lee said he was thinking of them when he voted against the bill. "I thought in the future that a lot of young men and young women would decide to be partners, rather than marry," and that's not the right path to take, he said.

Lee doesn't want to see the day come when gay marriage is considered perfectly acceptable and taught that way in schools.

"If you are a single-issue person and that issue is gay marriage, then you probably aren't going to vote for me," Lee said.

The victor in their primary is virtually certain of winning the general election. No Republicans filed in the race, in part because district voters are nearly 2-to-1 Democratic. The only other candidate is Independent American Gregory Hughes.

The district is largely in North Las Vegas in the areas north of Nellis Boulevard with Decatur Boulevard on the west and Lamb Boulevard on the east.

Early voting begins May 26, and the primary will be held June 12.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.