The LA Times ran a heartwarming story yesterday about longtime Republican Maryland state delegate Wade Kach, who changed his position on gay marriage, thus becoming one of two Republicans in the state who helped the marriage-equality bill squeak by, 72-67, in the state house.
Only last year, Kach had co-sponsored a bill that would have amended Maryland's constitution to define marriage as only between one man and one woman.
Kach attributes his change of heart to a quirk in the seating arrangements during committee hearings last week on the new marriage-equality bill:
In an effort to get the bill to the House floor, a special joint committee was formed and legislators were left scrambling for seats. Kach, who had previously backed attempts to define marriage as between one man and one woman, found a space right next to the witness table.
That put his within arm's length of Teh Gheigh - and the experience opened his eyes.
"I saw with so many of the gay couples, they were so devoted to another. I saw so much love," he said. "When this hearing was over, I was a changed person in regard to this issue. I felt that I understood what same sex couples were looking for."
Imagine that: a Republican lawmaker actually seeing people -
people with a different perspective than his own - for what they are -
and then feeling actual compassion for them!!
Well, dip me in batter and call me fritter.
Now, of course, this whole road-to-Damascus-I-just-found-out-gay-people-are-actually-people-too thing didn't set too well with certain portions of Maryland's demographic, some of whom made death threats, forcing Maryland state police to accompany Kach around the grounds of the state capitol.
And the Keyboard Kommandos were a-flutter, too: a blogger on the "Maryland Society of Patriots" website [trying . . . to . . . stifle . . . guffaws . . . must . . . not . . . laugh . . . ] called Kach "The Worst Man in Maryland," while another blogger, this one at Red Maryland, is "reliably informed" that Kach "sold out" his vote for "this monstrosity" in exchange for a six-figure job in Gov. Martin O'Malley's office.
Other Republicans found it astonishing that one of their own could have so suddenly seen the light and not noticed that it was flaming pink:
"I look at this and say it makes no sense unless there is something else we don't know, said Ellen Sauerbrey according to the OwingsMillsPatch, a friend and political ally of Kach.
"I am totally bewildered by this," Sauerbrey shared. "His decision made no sense."
I agree. I mean, even though Kach was
lobbied by the former Vice President of the United States, one Richard Cheney, a relatively recent Maryland resident and father of a lesbian daughter, it still makes no sense that anyone claiming to be a Republican in 2012 would say anything like
this:
"While no one event or conversation prompted me to come to this decision, I was significantly moved by the testimony of families -- who are raising children in a loving environment and deserve every right to enjoy the same protections and responsibilities that our laws provide for others."
That's just outrageous.
UPDATE 3:22 PM PT: billlaurelMD, in the comments, offers up this telling anecdote:
there is more backstory on this
which I heard last night at an Equality Maryland fundraiser. It turns out that 6 years ago, a staffer (now executive director) of Equality Maryland was doing some lobbying in the MD General Assembly Office Building and walked by Mr. Kach's office. She was planning to keep moving (she was lobbying for gay rights and visiting Democratic Assemblypeople) and had no intention of wasting time visiting Republicans. She said that a staffer in the door of Mr. Kach's office smiled warmly at her and after giving it a bit of thought, she turned around and went to the office to talk to that staffer. Turns out he was Mr. Kach's chief of staff, openly gay, and thought that Mr. Kach's mind could be changed on the "gay issue" generally. Long story short, Mr. Kach and the Equality MD staffer developed a long term friendship that covered these intervening six years, including the exchange of the executive director's wedding pix to her same sex spouse w/Mr. Kach.
Last week, she and he spent hours working out how he could vote for the bill. Until his actual vote, she had no idea what he would do. ...... the rest, hopefully, will be history, pending the outcome of the g*d* referendum that will surely be validated to get this law to a public vote.