You are here: Home » Featured » Marriage Equality Becoming A Conservative Cause As Well

Marriage Equality Becoming A Conservative Cause As Well

08/31/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Same-sex marriage is no longer exclusively a Liberal issue. With a major marriage equality fundraiser coming up, the Republicans are also showing that many of them are willing to break with the Social Conservatives in order to support equality. The fundraiser will have Ken Mehlman, the recently out former head of the NRC, as well as Ben Ginsburg, a top GOP laywer, and Henry Kravis and Paul Singer, two of the biggest donors that the GOP has. The fundraising pool apparently goes very deep, according to one LGBT rights activist.

The fundraiser is not a totally Republican-driven effort. Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta will be there as well. The people attending just shows a growing divide between the fiscally conservative/socially liberal groups and the socially conservative/fiscally liberal groups. As one Republican put it

“I think there is a growing mass of people in Republican politics who are fundamentally sick and tired about being lectured to about morality and how to live your life by a bunch of people who have been married three or four times and are more likely to be seen outside a brothel on a Thursday night than being at home with their kids… There is a fundamental indecency to the vitriol and the hatred directed against decent people because of their sexuality. People have reached a critical mass with this.”

Lesbian and gay Republicans have long had problems within the wider LGBT Community which has tended to side with Liberalism and Democrats for a long time due to the support on the Left for LGBT Rights. Between President Barack Obama’s reticence over LGBT issues and a growing sense of distaste for social conservativism, the Republican Party is splitting on the issues that effect the LGBT Community.

Steve Schmidt, the former campaign manager for Senator John McCain stated “There is a strong conservative case to be made in favor of gay marriage. Marriage is an institution that strengthens and stabilizes society. It is an institution that has the capacity to bring profound joy and happiness to people and it is a matter of equality and keeping faith of one of the charters of the nation, the right to live your life. More and more conservatives are saying that opposition to gay marriage would not be a litmus test for membership in the GOP. And more conservatives are making the case that no more do you want big government conservatives in the bedroom than big government liberals telling you how to live your life.”

This split in the GOP is something that is causing more and more problems for the Party in the long run since many people who are advocates for LGBT rights are not well received by many supporters of the GOP. Conservative lesbians and gays also often face problems inside the LGBT Community as there is a long standing feeling of them being willing to work with those who would oppose the very rights that they deserve and hurting their fellow lesbians, gays and transpeople. It may be a long time before anyone forgives Ken Mehlman for his hand in orchestrating the restriction of marriage rights for America’s lesbians and gays.

Source