By Karen Ocamb

California Sen. Barbara Boxer is extraordinarily popular among gay Democrats. Unabashedly liberal, she fearlessly takes on the most powerful of opponents, starting with staunchly anti-gay Sen. Jesse Helms when she was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994. She was one of the first elected officials to call for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for mishandling the war in Iraq and has repeatedly challenged President George W. Bush and the right-wing Republican-dominated Congress over flagrant violations of the U.S. Constitution.

No surprise then that Boxer received an enthusiastic welcome at the Oct. 9 breakfast at the Bel Age hosted by Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality (ANGLE). Boxer acknowledged the support. “This community has been there for me in overwhelming numbers,” she said.

The surprise was how many seats were empty—a visual acknowledgement that the political bar has been raised in California over marriage equality and Boxer has not yet measured up to that bar. Though the Democratic-dominated California Legislature passed a marriage-equality bill (vetoed by Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger), the California Democratic Party platform supports marriage equality and Boxer’s friend Phil Angelides—the Democratic candidate for governor—says he would sign a marriage equality bill if elected. Boxer, who argued vociferously against the anti-gay federal Defense of Marriage Act, holds fast to her support of civil unions.

Boxer’s primary focus at the ANGLE meeting, however, was on the Nov. 7 elections. “We’ve got a run-way King George [referring to President Bush] for the next two years and the GOP owns everything right now. We have an unchecked situation going on.”

Boxer noted how she voted “no” on going to war in Iraq since there was no proof Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons, as the Bush administration claimed. She was “just stunned” that Congress would approve the move without providing adequate protection for the troops. She also jabbed at the “family values crowd” who went after Ambassador Joe Wilson’s family when he voiced his opposition.

Boxer spoke of the “gravity of where we are in the world today and what’s at stake” with what now appears to be an “endless war,” but the Republicans would rather focus on discriminatory family values, she said, instead of what makes a family strong, such as child care and raising the minimum wage.

As to the continuing political fallout over the apparent predatory actions toward congressional pages by former closeted Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley, Boxer noted that the Republican leadership, which had been warned years earlier about the Foley problem, seems now to be blaming closeted gay Republicans for a “cover-up.” Don’t believe it, Boxer said. “It was closeted gay men who were the ones who called Foley on what he was doing. This has nothing to do with being [gay]. He was a predator … I think the lid is off on this party of so-called family values. They never were anyway.”

Boxer itemized how the Bush administration and the “compliant” Congress look at the constitutional checks and balances on power as “an inconvenience against the way they want to run the world.” A Senate hearing on protecting the environment, for instance, heard only one “expert” witness—author Michael Crighton who is renowned for believing that global warming is a hoax. Even more important are the 700 “signing statements” Bush has attached to legislation, which essentially say he can ignore the bills he signs into law. One signing statement regarding military tribunals gives Bush the right to suspend habeas corpus for anyone he suspects might be a terrorist. “And he gets away with it time and again,” she said. “Congress is asleep at the wheel.”

During the question and answer period, the senator was peppered with questions about her position on marriage equality. Boxer said she understands that her position is “at odds” with the LGBT community but she stands for “total equal rights for all partners, period.” She jokingly said she is regularly pestered by Assemblymember Mark Leno, author of the marriage-equality bill, and she repeatedly tells him she is “moving in that direction.” She recalled how the gay community has evolved since the days of her childhood when homosexuality was unacceptable. “You had an evolution, too,” Boxer said. “So I’m evolving … everyone evolves at their own pace … Please be tolerant.”

Boxer said she would introduce a bill in Congress to ensure that those in committed relationships and “all other partners” receive the same federal benefits as married people. If she is unsuccessful, Boxer said, “I will be for marriage.” She did not explain, however, why she needed the intermediate process or what specifically impeded her acceptance of marriage equality now if she acknowledged she is “moving in that direction.”

“You are pushing me extremely hard and you are doing it in a good and sensitive way,” Boxer said. “I know you’re focused on that issue, but the country is moving backward … and [Democrats] are so impotent in Congress. Your issue will always be on my agenda … and I look forward to being with you all the way.”

“Of course it is encouraging to hear our champions tell us that they are moving in the right direction,” Lambda Legal attorney Jenny Pizer told IN afterwards, “but many of us have been waiting a long time for equal rights and especially for Senator Boxer who is such a voice of truth and principle on so many tough issues. She doesn’t shirk from it. And she was elected, as was noted today, with the highest vote count. Her position couldn’t possibly be more solid as an elected official. The voters have spoken—she is embraced and secure as our senator. So it’s dissatisfying for anyone in this country to be told to sit and wait and ours will come later—even if sometimes that’s a political reality, and we will work with it. But it isn’t the position of courage that we hope she will take soon.