Giuliani's pro-gay rights position is so extreme, he advocated stripping away the special legal status of traditional marriage. In 1998, he pushed a municipal ordinance that wiped out all distinctions between married and unmarried couples in New York City law, regardless of their gender. The late Cardinal John O'Connor gave a sermon from the pulpit of Saint Patrick Cathedral condemning Giuliani's proposal. "It is imperative, in my judgment," said the cardinal, "that no law be passed contrary to natural moral law and Western tradition by virtually legislating that marriage does not matter."
Giuliani did not back down. "What it really is doing is preventing discrimination against people who have different sexual orientations, or make different preferences in which they want to lead their lives," he told The New York Times in response to O'Connor's sermon. "Domestic partnerships not only affect gays and lesbians, but they also affect heterosexuals who choose to lead their lives in different ways."
Thanks to politicians and judges who take Giuliani's position on abortion, more than 47 million babies have been aborted in America since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Thanks to politicians and judges who take Giuliani's position on marriage, the unique legal status of the traditional family is now under siege.
Giuliani understood the link between allowing people to urinate on the streets with impunity and New York City's overall decline. Outside New York, on the Republican campaign trail, he is sure to meet many voters who understand that his positions on abortion and marriage do to our national culture exactly what the street people and pub-crawlers did to New York.