Will Conservatives Co-Opt Gay Rights Issues? One Democrat Says Maybe

It's certainly no secret to readers that I am far past being just a little disgusted with Barack Obama's betrayal of LGBT Americans. He courted our votes and more particularly our money during his presidential campaign and has delivered nothing in return. The feckless Congressional Democrats by and large have been little better. One would almost think that a deliberate effort is being made to alienate LGBT voters. Some even say leaving an opportunity for moderate Republicans - rare breed that they are - to court LGBT voters. Do the Democrats and Obama in particular really want to allow themselves to be on the wrong side of history given the support for LBT equality among younger voters? Sam Stein has a post at Huffington Post that looks at what some are viewing as Barack Obama's error in allowing Republicans an opening to potentially Co-opt LGBT issues or, at least, use Obama's failures against embattled Democrats. Here are some highlights:
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The notion that the gay rights community would abandon the Obama White House over its unwillingness to fully embrace their legislative priorities may seem absurd to the casual political observer. But the recent embrace of same-sex marriage by prominent conservatives, most notably former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, has some Democratic operatives concerned.
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On Monday, former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt argued that there was a "strong conservative case to be made in favor of gay marriage" and that more and more Republicans are dropping their opposition to the cause. Shortly thereafter, a prominent Democratic consultant got in touch with the Huffington Post to make the case that the Obama administration risks losing the gay rights community (or at least depressing their votes) with its tepid embrace of their priorities.
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I think they have been put in a tough place by these conservatives and they should be," the consultant said. "There are a whole group of people who are to the left of them [the Obama administration] on gay rights. And they are Republicans. It should make them feel uncomfortable."
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Though hardly a barometer for the Republican Party's collective psyche, John McCain's daughter, Meghan, made overtures along these lines on Tuesday night. "We get the bad rap as Republicans being against gay marriage," she told Fox News. "[Obama] isn't doing anything for the gay community."
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She's right - Obama isn't doing anything for the majority of the LGBT community. Policy changes that impact a small number of LGBT federal employees are not the change that Obama promised. Nor do these tiny mincing steps do anything for those who still lack basic employment non-discrimination protections. With Margaret Hoover, Laura Bush, Meghan McCain and her mother, Ted Olson, and for God sakes even Dick Cheney more supportive on the issue of gay marriage than Obama, stranger things have happened than a possible future GOP move to the left of the Democrats on LGBT issues. Yes, it's true that the Christianists within the GOP will have a conniption fit if the GOP begins to jettison its anti-gay plank. On the other hand, time and demographics are on the side of proponents of LGBT equality. As crazy as many in the GOP are at present, anyone with an eye to the future ought to realize Obama has made the Democrats vulnerable on the issue.