GOP Congressman: ‘Life is too short’ to stand in way of Gay Marriage"

Even as the National Organization for Marriage struggles to remain relevant in the minds of its spittle flecked followers by trying to intervene in the Oregon gay marriage case, another Republican has voiced the opinion that the days of opposing marriage equality are at an end.  Pennsylvania GOP Congressman Charlie Dent (pictured above) can no doubt expect to be loudly attacked by the Christofascists, but with the polls increasingly show that opposition to gay marriage is a losing issue outside of Christian Taliban groups, Dent apparently is not flustered by the situation.  Here are highlights from the Washington Post:

A Pennsylvania Republican congressman is now officially a supporter of same-sex marriage.

After a federal judge ruled the state's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional last week, Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) congratulated gay couples in Pennsylvania and signaled his position change was imminent. But Dent, who has been evolving on the issue for some time, said he needed a little more time to get his thoughts together before making an official statement.

About a week later, he was ready.

"Life is too short to have the force of government stand in the way of two adults whose pursuit of happiness includes marriage," Dent said in a statement provided first to The Washington Post on Wednesday.

Quoting from the Pennsylvania ruling, "in future generations the label same-sex marriage will be abandoned, to be replaced simply by marriage," Dent said that in "conversations with my family, I have come to realize that they already see the world through that lens."

Dent, a centrist lawmaker who gained national attention as one of the first Republicans to stand up to House leadership over the 2013 federal government shutdown, is an advocate for other gay rights, including workplace nondiscrimination and equal immigration benefits. He is running unopposed in a district, which includes Allentown, that was redrawn after the 2010 census to be a little more Republican, but is still fairly moderate.

"As a Republican, I value equality, personal freedom and a more limited role for government in our lives," Dent said in his statement. "I believe this philosophy should apply to the issue of marriage as well."

The forces of hate and bigotry are steadily losing the so-called "culture wars," but we need to understand that they will not go quietly and that increased extremism is likely before they are driven from the public square.