Anti-Gay Animus Continues to Reign Supreme in the GOP

Despite the claims - or perhaps it is wishful thinking - of some that the Republican Party is moderating its positions on gay rights and marriage equality, one thing that last night's GOP presidential circus, a/k/a debate, made clear is that anti-gay animus is alive and well in the GOP.  The gay bashing began with Mike Huckabee's delusional defense of renegade county clerk and serial adulterer Kim Davis who Huckabee would have simpletons believe is a near reincarnation of Joan of Arc,.  Then Jeb "Jebbie" Bush couldn't rush in soon enough to prostitute himself to the Christofascists by whining that "reasonable accommodation" should be made for Davis so that she can refuse to do the job that she was elected to perform.  Jebbie made a tawdry street walker look virtuous in comparison.  Like the Catholic Church, the only thing that will bring change is the mass defection of followers. Once that happens and the money spigots slow and one election after another is lost, only then may the GOP move into the 21st Century.  A piece in the Huffington Post looks at the GOP's continued anti-gay animus.  Here are highlights:

Last night's second debate of the top tier GOP candidates -- as well as the earlier bottom feeeders' debate -- confirmed something so many pundits claimed would not be the case: Marriage equality and LGBT rights are 2016 campaign issues, and probably will be issues in the GOP for a long time to come. 

Jeb Bush agreed with Mike Huckabee that Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was jailed for refusing to give out marriage licenses, should be provided special "accommodations" so she could opt-out of serving certain members of the public. 

 This is extraordinary considering the polling that has shown the vast majority of Americans -- 63 percent in a Washington Post/ABC poll -- believe Davis should be required to give out licenses. Even some prominent religious conservative thinkers have said Davis is a disaster for their cause. 

[L]ast night showed us that Bush, rather than teaching the GOP how to talk about the issue in a new way, has been completely schooled by the Mike Huckabee crowd that you've still got to speak about it in the same old bigoted way in the GOP. Huckabee, distorting the Constitution and the role of the Supreme Court while defending Davis, implied that he and Bush had the same position about the Kentucky clerk, and Bush refused to distance himself.

None of this should be surprising, however, since Bush by spring of this year had shown what direction he was going to go -- and it was decidedly not "gay friendly," earlier reports notwithstanding. In the context of marriage equality he spoke of defending "religious liberty" -- the new code word for promoting anti-gay positions -- and has since said, as he did last night, that florists and other businesses should be exempted from serving gays even where laws protect LGBT people against such discrimination.

In the second-tier debate earlier in the night, both Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal stoked the Kim Davis issue in ridiculous and ugly ways, playing to the base and clearly viewing it as their only way to get some traction.  

From immigration to foreign policy, the GOP, via it's field of presidential candidates, has shown it is as extreme as ever. And, no matter the pundits' claims or the hopes of some gay activists, that holds true on LGBT rights as well. 

Hate and division are about all the GOP has to peddle while it opposes every Democrat or Obama led initiative yet offers no credible alternative.  The GOP is bankrupt both in terms of creative ideas and basic morality and decency.