While the Republican Party continues to prostitute itself to the Christofascists and voices of hate and intolerance and clings to an anti-gay agenda, the Democrats see where the polls are trending and the reality that very soon that being anti-gay marriage will be a losing proposition. While many of these Democrats claim that they have "evolved," I suspect that in many cases - Senator Mark Warner is probably an exception - what has motivated them to suddenly support gay marriage is simply the fact that they see being anti-gay as bad politics as the older anti-gay voters are dying off and being replaced by gay supporting younger voters. These folks are not profiles in courage by any means. But, for now, I will accept their support regardless of the true motivation. A piece in the Washington Post looks at these conversions. Here are highlights:
In the past month, the rapid rise in public support for same-sex marriage has left Supreme Court justices perplexed and some political veterans, such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, struggling to keep up.
But there may be no better measure of this historic change and its disorienting speed than what has happened among the Democrats of the U.S. Senate. They are often representatives of an urban party in rural places. That makes them the zebras of Washington’s little world: perpetually vulnerable, sniffing the wind.
As recently as the last election, 17 of those Democrats did not support same-sex marriage. By this week, however, the number was smaller. And getting more so by the day.
“After much thought and prayer, I have come to my own personal conclusion that we shouldn’t tell people who they can love or who they can marry,” Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) said Wednesday in a statement posted on her Facebook page. . . . . After Hagan, nine Democrats left. And on Wednesday, even that group seemed to show limited enthusiasm for the cause of limiting marriage to unions of one man and one woman.
For many Democrats, support for same-sex marriage no longer seems like an option. It seems like an obligation. “Many more family members have come forward, whether it’s somebody’s sister, brother, cousin, uncle, mother, father, whatever it is, have come forward as to their interest in marriage equality, and that’s been then translated into our popular culture. . . . So, we’re in a different place,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday, describing how she’s seen other lawmakers change their opinions.
According to the activist group Human Rights Campaign, 46 of 55 Senate Democrats and independents now support same-sex marriage, compared to last fall, when supporters numbered 36 out of 53.
No comments:
Post a Comment