Strangely, Rudy Giuliani maintains a reputation in some quarters as libertarian-friendly on the social issues – especially those related to “getting government out of the bedroom.”
Perhaps this is true, to a limited extent, on abortion and gay marriage; but it’s pretty thin gruel. Rudy’s new receptiveness to a proposed constitutional amendment defining marRiage as only between a man and a woman has made it thinner still. Of course, Rudy has always been a zealous social authoritarian on the war on drugs and civil liberties.
The myth of Rudy’s social liberalism became still more apparent at a speech he made at the Family Research Council. He pandered to the censors, boasting (according to JoinRudy. com) that his administration had chased the pornographers “out of Times Square and other public spaces. In 1987, there were 35 pornographic theaters and shops on just one stretch of 42nd Street. When I left office, there were zero. . . . This fight . . . extended throughout the city. We significantly reduced pornography throughout the city of New York.” Wonderful.