Why Have Conservatives Taken The leadership Role in the Marriage Equality Fight?

For all its posturing and endless requests for money, HRC and the rest of Gay, Inc. have delivered little or nothing that benefits rank and file members of the LGBT community since the Obama administration took office. Oh, Joe Solmonese and others of the ilk have protected and savored their supposed "access" to White House administration personnel, but for those of us in states like Virginia absolutely nothing substantive has been delivered by Gay, Inc., or the Obama administration. For instance, Virginia gays can still be fired at will because of their sexual orientation, we can face housing discrimination, our committed life relationships receive zero recognition, and of course gays in the military can be discharged just as before our alleged "fierce advocate" moved into the White House. Yet meanwhile, in other parts of the country there have been advances on the marriage front - advances achieved by conservatives, not Gay, Inc. The Washington Blade takes a look at the ass backwards situation and one cannot hep but wonder why anyone in the LGBT community would give money to Gay, Inc. Here are some highlights:
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[T]here is an inconvenient truth in this for the gay left: conservatives have taken the leadership role in achieving marriage equality and have achieved the most important success so far as they are the most willing and most able to take the case to the Supreme Court.
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Olson is a Republican and was the former Solicitor General for President George W. Bush. The judge who ruled against Prop 8 is Vaughn Walker, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan. Walker’s nomination stalled because 24 House Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, deemed him anti-gay and hostile to the poor. Walker’s nomination was re-submitted by President George H. W. Bush and he was confirmed in1989.
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I support Olson’s desire to make marriage equality a non-partisan issue. And I wish that the leader of the Democratic Party, President Obama, along with Vice President Biden, would drop their opposition to marriage equality. How much longer can they hold onto that position and remain credible, and why are they doing that at all?
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For a conservative perspective on marriage equality, I interviewed Margaret Hoover. She is a straight conservative who serves on the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which supports marriage equality and gay rights in general and has been a key supporter of the fight against Prop 8. She is also a Fox News contributor.
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Washington Blade: As a straight, self-declared conservative Republican, why do you support marriage equality?
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Margaret Hoover: “Discrimination is deeply un-American. When the government sanctions discrimination against a group of citizens, it gives permission for other citizens to do the same. This isn’t a partisan issue. . . . Judge Walker has not invented new rights out of thin air. Since 1888, the court has ruled 14 times that marriage is a fundamental right — just as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly are also fundamental rights. Judge Walker didn’t create a new “right,” but rather reviewed the evidence in the case and ruled that indeed gays and lesbians are being discriminated against for no good reason, and as a result the laws make them second-class citizens, and that this law denies them their constitutional rights to marry.”
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The article then goes on to state what is increasingly obvious to many of us:
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I think the reason gays support Democrats over Republicans by about 70 to 30 percent is that Democrats pander to us and want our money and votes by telling us what we want to hear. Yes, there are many anti-gay Republicans who should never get a gay vote and I fully oppose them.
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But when you look beyond the rhetoric and examine the anti-gay legislation that has passed, there is only one administration that looks really bad, and it is Clinton’s. And Obama is not looking very good right now as he refuses to support marriage equality. And let’s admit, with all of the money that we throw into expensive dinners and fundraisers to gay organizations, isn’t it ironic that this unfunded group from the outside has had more impact than the organizations to which we donate?
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Candidly, the LGBT community needs to reassess where and to whom it gives its money. We have been shelling tons of money and received very little in return.