The San Francisco Chronicle's Leah Garchlik reports on an exchange between Meg Whitman and an unnamed, lesbian mother at a meet-and-greet in Silicon Valley.
Here's the gist of the report.
Proposition 8 came up, and the lesbian mother asked Whitman why she'd supported it. Whitman said it had to do with faith and emotions.
The lesbian mother then replied:
"I'm also Catholic; that's not going to fly for me. ... I have children who are unprotected. It's a matter of legal rights. It's a legal issue. I pay taxes just like you. Why do you get more rights than I do? "
After some more give-and-take, the mother said Whitman made a sudden concession.
"You know, I just wish we could have one term for everything: civil unions."
The mother then asked if Whitman would propose something like that during the campaign, at which point Whitman didn't reply. Nor did Meg's campaign team reply when the Chronicle asked for comment.
End of story.
Granted, the tale's not going to lead Drudge, but it's indicative of a larger political problem for Whitman. Californians just voted to ban gay marriage. So did Meg Whitman. So theoretically, this shouldn't be a tough stand for her.
But Whitman likely senses the political currents changing, and even barring that, talking about one social issue tends to beget talking about another, and that's not where Whitman wants to be.
She's going to need to come up with a substantive, sleek, pivot point from the social to the economic, so she can control the debate; not the other way around.
[Hat tip: Gawker]
