Charlie Crist and Gay Families

Florida governor Charlie Crist has been in the news lately, first for his being named in the new Kirby Dick film Outrage, and now for announcing that after one term as governor he is throwing his name into the ring to run for Senate. Nate Silver has done a good job at looking at the impact of Crist and his stances on certain issues. One of these issues is his stance on gay rights. Nate writes:

Crist supports civil unions but not gay marriage, and was a somewhat lukewarm supporter of Florida's Amendment 2, which passed in November and amended Florida's constitution to ban gay marriage. Crist has also stated that he opposes any change to Florida's longstanding ban on gay adoptions.

I'd like to examine this stance a little further, because it is a little bit interesting to me.

So Charlie Crist (who happens to be an alleged closeted homosexual), supports banning gay marriage, but supports civil unions, but supports banning gay adoptions. Incidentally, gays can be foster parents in FL, just not adopt the kids. This actually tells me a lot about Crist. It tells me that he views civil unions as purely contractual agreements that couples are making and that he is ok with that. What he is not ok with is the idea of gay people as families. In fact, the article that mentions Crist being against gay adoptions states

Governor Charlie Crist has said he opposes any change to Florida's ban on gay adoption. He and other Republican lawmakers say a traditional family provides the best environment for children.

What strikes me as odd about this is: Aren't these children who are in need of adoption already not in "traditional" famlies? Is Crist (and his Republican cohorts) implying that children who are living with foster parents or in orphanages, with no sense of permanence or stable family life, are better off than being placed in a permanent home with two parents who really want them?

Furthermore, is this the weight that the gay marriage debate holds for Crist? If two people, regardless of sex and gender, are allowed to get married, which to the conservatives is an absolute synonym for "family," then the adoption ban would certainly be challenged.

It seems to me that Crist doesn't have a problem with gay people being together, he just has a problem with them being real families. Of course, I can't help but wonder if he really feels this way, if he is compensating for something, or if he is pandering to his party. He's fairly moderate, so I wouldn't guess the latter. Of either the first two, I'd guess that Charlie Crist is pretty self-loathing for his stances.

Charlie Crist and Gay Families