This item from Greg Dworkin's Abbreviated Pundit Roundup caught my attention:
Inside the offices of Republican gay-rights groups, a strategy is forming to convince party leaders to strip opposition to gay marriage from the GOP platform.
The target, operatives say, is to see party leaders drop their support for a gay-marriage ban in time for the Republican National Convention in summer 2016.
It's a long shot, but Republican gay-rights lobbyists think they can build on the momentum provided by courts nationwide and the belief that, philosophically, the GOP's social conservatives are fighting a battle that puts them well out of step with the majority of the country, and that could demographically doom national aspirations.
After you finish laughing, venture past the Orange Squiggle of Sodom for further derision.
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Over the 20 or so years I've been aware of gay Republicans, I have repeatedly tried to understand their political motivation, and I invariably fail. Log Cabin Republicans, GOProud, whatever. Why do these groups exist? Why would any gay person join a political party that partly defines itself in opposition to his or her very existence? I suppose one could argue that if an LGBT person was rich, liked low tax rates, was incorrigibly racist, and hated the poor, then there would be sufficient overlap of interests. However, you would think some mechanism of self-preservation would kick in, and recognize that those people across the table from you want you to disappear from the Earth forever, and as soon as possible. Your brothers and sisters in the Republican Party hate you! They think you're going to Hell, and some of them are willing to help you along in your trip to the afterlife! It seems to me that the most tenable thing an LGBT person with conservative political leanings can do is not join any party.
But, of course, gay Republicans are delusional, and those delusions must be fed. Now comes a relatively new group, Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry. God bless 'em! They have allied themselves with Evan Wolfson's organization, Freedom to Marry, which is a great organization. The alliance makes sense in that it demonstrates that Freedom to Marry is not a partisan organization. But could they possibly have a more unrealistic goal?: "To see party leaders drop their support for a gay-marriage ban in time for the Republican National Convention in summer 2016."
Hello? Has anybody in there cast a glance at the platform developed by the Texas Republicans this year? It endorsed that good ol' reparative therapy to cure those un-Biblical urges! Need I remind you that CPAC refused to allow any LGBT Republican group to have a booth at their latest meeting?
Hatred of LGBT people is one of the hot-buttons that drives the GOP base to the polls! Can you imagine the backlash from that base if the 2016 national GOP platform no longer flings bile toward teh gayz?
And yet there's this quote:
It's a long shot, but Republican gay-rights lobbyists think they can build on the momentum provided by courts nationwide and the belief that, philosophically, the GOP's social conservatives are fighting a battle that puts them well out of step with the majority of the country, and that could demographically doom national aspirations.
No! No, it is
not a long shot. It is chasing moonbeams. It is joining hands with Pat Roberson and Malcolm X and Fidel Castro and Margaret Thatcher and Yassir Arafat and Josef Stalin and Timothy Leary and all singing "Kumbaya." It's
not going to happen! To change the attitude of the GOP toward marriage equality by 2016 is, quite simply, impossible. And furthermore, it is laughably
obvious that it's impossible.
Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, I'm glad that you exist. I think, on the whole, your goal is a noble one. But you really need to be more realistic about setting your goals. You've got a serious uphill climb ahead of you.
Best of luck, and thanks for all the laughs.
Now, on to the comments!
TOP MOJO
July 14, 2014
(excluding Tip Jars and first comments)
Got mik!
1) Here in Georgia I am a mandated reporter by xxdr zombiexx — 141
2) Verily by Yellow Canary — 124
3) I saw John McCain on CNN today, by JoanMar — 116
4) Glad to hear he got smacked down: by Inland — 108
5) You would think these clowns would have by Susan from 29 — 103
6) Let Brownback be Brownback by kansaster — 100
7) "If We're Gonna Have All These Wars We're Gonna by Gooserock — 99
8) LOL!! by JoanMar — 95
9) You have to consider that this is a sincerely held by TofG — 95
10) They're inviting a Biblical rebuke. by Silencio — 94
11) Yes, we have libraries in Kansas by terryamil — 90
12) "Fracking isn't gonna hurt anybody" by CwV — 85
13) Another type of reporting abuse by Otteray Scribe — 84
14) Right, just within our lifetimes by ChemBob — 82
15) I was surprised by how far Chris Hayes by JoanMar — 82
16) Jack Huges with the quote of the day by DAISHI — 81
17) David, I really appreciate what you do. by agnostic — 80
18) Dick Cheney: "In fact, by sunbro — 79
19) They Also Stole their Next Election by Negotiating by Gooserock — 77
20) Caring about Palestinian life is tantamount by cai — 75
21) Yeah, well, by SCFrog — 73
22) Just to be clear here by Wisper — 72
23) Go redshirts! by Reepicheep — 70
24) You had a very wise impulse to write this diary, by Brecht — 70
25) Isn't this the sort of shit that N.Korea does? by Hayate Yagami — 68
26) Rock and a hard place by Catte Nappe — 66
27) Freedom of speech is meaningless by Dallasdoc — 65
28) Interestingly, the evening news on the by gffish — 63
29) The current diarist is a great source of by Calvino Partigiani — 62
30) anyone who believes what Netanyahu is doing by Urizen — 60
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TOP PHOTOS
July 14, 2014
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
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