And the archbishop is right about something else, too: O’Malley’s announcement, which was lauded by advocates and sympathetic legislators, was testament to a tipping point we have reached in American politics. President Obama may be the last nominee for president from his party who does not openly declare support for same-sex marriage. It is now not only acceptable but encouraged for Democratic politicians with national ambitions to advocate full marriage equality for gay couples.
O’Malley, a Catholic who earlier in his career advocated civil unions as an alternative to gay marriage, shared little when asked about his personal evolution on the issue at his July announcement. He instead couched his support by discussing legal rights and protections.
In an interview on WTOP (103.5) radio since then, the governor allowed that he previously "made a judgment . . . that the place for consensus, the point at which that wave would crest, if you will, was around civil unions. I think we are past that point, and I believe that the consensus that needs to be reached is on marital equality rights."
O’Malley echoed that position this past week during remarks at a fundraiser for Equality Maryland, the state’s leading gay rights advocacy group. "There are very few issues I think that any of us can point to over the last several decades," he said, "that . . . have moved as quickly as this issue has."
New York joined five other states and the District in allowing marriage between gay couples. Others on the list include Iowa and New Hampshire - the first two presidential nominating states.
It is far too early, of course, to know who will be in the mix for the Democratic nomination next time around, but it’s a reasonable bet that the eventual nominee will share Cuomo and O’Malley’s position on same-sex marriage. Cuomo’s success raised his national profile and gave him a more prominent place on lists of possible 2016 contenders. Since becoming chairman of the Democratic Governors Association in December, O’Malley’s name has started showing up on such lists, too.
"We’re at a point where you can be one of the early leaders on the issue and get well-deserved credit, or you can risk looking like you were behind the times," said Joe Trippi, a longtime Democratic strategist. Trippi thinks that by 2016, we will have moved beyond the issue - and that the fanfare surrounding "the good old days" of New York and other states legalizing same-sex marriage could almost look quaint.
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