Gay Rights Remain an Issue for GOP Base

While the nation as a whole is ready to move forward on the issue of gay rights, the Republican Party remains in a race into the past.  Why?  Because of the bigots and modern day Pharisees of the party base, many of whom are regularly whipped into an anti-gay frenzy by parasites at "family values" organizations and pastors in pulpits who see the specter of the gay bogey man as one of their last remaining cash cows now that abortion has lost it fundraising cache.  Yet, while the GOP base will not let go of anti-gay animus - or racism and white supremacy memes - the issue is becoming more and more toxic for the GOP long term.  A piece in the New York Times looks at the GOP's slavish pandering to its hate-filled base.  Here are excerpts:

Gay rights won’t fade as a political issue. The Republican base won’t let it.

Prominent Republicans calculated that if the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was constitutionally protected, the issue would become settled law and disappear politically. This would be welcome, they reasoned, as the party was on the wrong side of the politics and history.

Then Indiana enacted a “religious freedom” law last month that critics said would allow private enterprises to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

After vehement opposition from businesses in both states, Republican governors forced modifications that make it more difficult to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

But a leading indicator was the reaction of Republican presidential candidates: They leapt to defend the initial Indiana law. Jeb Bush expressed all-out support in an interview on a conservative radio talk show and then modified his position at a Silicon Valley fund-raiser.

Social conservatives are determined to keep this issue alive, reasoning that the environment that produced changes in the laws last week will become more favorable after they have had time to stir up the grass roots.

That will pose problems for the Republicans in a general election; the politics have changed dramatically compared with a decade ago, when Republican political guru Karl Rove used the issue against Democrats.

Crucial elements of the Republican base haven’t changed. Most, but not all, evangelical/born-again white Christians are troubled by gay rights. This group accounts for more than 40 percent of the Republicans nationally and for more than 50 percent of the vote in the important early Iowa and South Carolina Republican presidential tests.

The politically powerful religious right can be expected to set litmus tests for Republican presidential candidates: opposing new anti-discrimination measures to protect gays and lesbians and guarding against what they warn is a slippery slope on matters including adoptions by same-sex couples.

There are parallels to race. Religion was often cited as a rationale for segregation; if God intended whites and blacks to be together, why did he create different races, fundamentalists would ask. There were similar issues with discrimination in public accommodations and housing. It wasn’t until 1967 that the Supreme Court gave constitutional protection to interracial marriage.

Today, these issues create a genuine schism among Republican constituencies, with much of the business community showing support for gay rights. These aren’t just West Coast or high-tech firms, but Middle America companies such as Eli Lilly and Walmart.

Politically, however, the most telling reaction to the Indiana law was that of well-known athletes usually not considered part of any left-wing crusade. The basketball great Charles Barkley suggested the collegiate basketball tournament shouldn’t be held in Indiana, and Pat Haden, former all-star quarterback and now athletic director at the University of Southern California, boycotted an event in the Hoosier state.

The GOP establishment allowed the creation of the Christofascist Frankenstein monster - it will yet be the death of the GOP.