There’s a thread going around these days that the GOP establishment would like nothing more than for the Supreme Court to strike down DOMA.
The establishment knows it can’t oppose marriage equality forever, and the cracks in its facade are already showing, both with Sen. Rob Portman’s announcement that he supports marriage equality and the hint in the 2012 post-mortem report that opposition to marriage is a demographic timebomb.
But if the Supreme Court decides to take the weasel road by striking down DOMA and leaving marriage up to the states, the GOP may have the worst of all possible worlds. Here’s why:
- Statewide ballot measures to approve marriage equality will multiply, which means the religious right will be out in force. If the party is wishy washy, they’ll be very angry, which will affect turnout for other races. If the party forsakes them altogether, there will be a gigantic rift in the party (which is bound to come anyway).
- A Court ruling that kicks the can down the road is going to be the Lawyer Full Employment Act. We will start seeing lots of cases in which couples married in one state seek recognition in a state where they can’t marry. All of that means lots of publicity and more questions.
- The party may modify, but individual candidates can’t. Can you imagine a GOP presidential primary slate in 2016 in which opposition to ballot measures isn’t a litmus test for the base?
- The nutburgers are likely to get nuttier. The folks the party elevates aren’t renowned for their diplomacy, and when under the gun, they say some pretty crazy and offensive things, all in the party’s name.
In short, things just get even messier for Republicans. Perhaps collective amnesia will eventually solve their problem, but it’s not going anyway any time soon.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Little-Kiwi
Not A Liberal Problem 😀
YAY!
yeah, it’s gonna get harder and harder for gay republicans. and i have no sympathy for them at all.
i mean, sure, i have sympathy and empathy for a gay kid born into a GOP-strong family, but once that kid becomes a grown adult…well, it’s up to you to grow a spine or become a line-toe’ing lemming for the Conservative Right.
gay republicans: you don’t respect yourselves, your communities don’t respect you, and then you wonder why your party continues to care more about anti-gay bigots than YOU: here’s why: you make it obvious that you’re not worth respecting.
take a look at gay liberals: do we need to tell people that we’re “not like those gay conservatives?”
no. why? because liberals by nature believe in Equality, and support the LGBT Communities.
how’s your way working for you, gay republicans? 😀
Jim Hlavac
The Republicans — and even Christians — are evolving just as fast as they can. You know, it’s as if you folks don’t remember when 100% of everyone was against us — and everyone had to start evolving — each hetero comes at their own speed — welcome when they get to the gates — stop trashing them for starting to see the light, but help them shine the light brighter. We, the most despised people, do not have the luxury of attacking people who are evolving. We who started this fight in the beginning can assure you – it doesn’t work. Who ever starts to move towards us — extend the hand in peace. Hell, extend the hand of peace before that. Why fight someone when they start to join you?
BJ McFrisky
I assume you’re referring to Bill Clinton’s DOMA . . . so why is this now a Republican issue? Why don’t the Democrats get the credit they deserve, for imposing the law in the first place? Historic revisionism, I suppose.
@Jim Hlavac: I’ve been saying the same for years. Look back at any story on Queerty about a Republican embracing us, and most of the comments only berate him for doing too little too late. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Sometimes I wonder why we even bother, when so many of us are insistent on being professional haters who will never rise above the status of perceived victimhood.
2eo
@BJ McFrisky: Or in your case, a defender and fraternizer of paedophiles.