{"id":6339,"date":"2010-09-03T05:30:43","date_gmt":"2010-09-03T09:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=6339"},"modified":"2010-09-03T05:30:43","modified_gmt":"2010-09-03T09:30:43","slug":"conservatives-for-gay-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/09\/conservatives-for-gay-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservatives for Gay Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

According to the Huffington Post, <\/em>so many conservatives are embracing gay marriage that many Democrats are worried that their issue is being taken away from them:<\/p>\n

The notion that the gay rights community would abandon the Obama White House over its unwillingness to fully embrace their legislative priorities may seem absurd to the casual political observer. But the recent embrace of same-sex marriage by prominent conservatives, most notably former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, has some Democratic operatives concerned.<\/p>\n

On Monday, former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt argued that there was a \u201cstrong conservative case to be made in favor of gay marriage\u201d and that more and more Republicans are dropping their opposition to the cause. Shortly thereafter, a prominent Democratic consultant got in touch with the Huffington Post to make the case that the Obama administration risks losing the gay rights community (or at least depressing their votes) with its tepid embrace of their priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they have been put in a tough place by these conservatives and they should be,\u201d the consultant said. \u201cThere are a whole group of people who are to the left of them on gay rights. And they are Republicans. It should make them feel uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

LBGT voters are not, of course, monolithic. And on a host of other fronts, they are repulsed by the GOP\u2019s policies. Talk about abandoning Obama and the Democrats, in some respects, has been driven more by a desire to scare the party into action than sincere intent to vote Republican.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s impossible for an electoral shift to take place or that there aren\u2019t those in the GOP who welcome siphoning off the LBGT vote. Though hardly a barometer for the Republican Party\u2019s collective psyche, John McCain\u2019s daughter, Meghan, made overtures along these lines on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get the bad rap as Republicans being against gay marriage,\u201d she told Fox News. \u201c[Obama] isn\u2019t doing anything for the gay community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, even in the Democratic tent there is some marvel, concern and even a twinge of envy at the changes taking place within the GOP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has always been this libertarian segment of the Republican Party who thinks the government ought to get out of your life, and that group has, for various reasons, become more emboldened,\u201d said Steve Emeldorf, an aide to former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, who is fundraising with Mehlman in support of same-sex marriage. \u201cMaybe ten years ago they were scared of this issue, but as it becomes more acceptable the libertarians are like, yeah, this is our philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had the most conservative vice president in the history of the world [Dick Cheney] with a lesbian daughter who over the last couple years has signaled he is for gay rights and marriage,\u201d Elmendorf added. \u201cAnd if you have this guy who is the icon of the right wing there\u2026 It sort of snowballs.\u201d<\/p>\n

via Obama Should Feel \u2018Uncomfortable\u2019 That Conservatives Are Co-opting Gay Rights Issues: Top Dem<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nLet\u2019s see. . . in addition to the ones mentioned, there is Ted Olsen and the new leader of religious revival Glenn Beck<\/a>. \u00a0Who else?\n

As I understand it, there are three \u201cconservative\u201d arguments for gay marriage: \u00a0the libertarian view that the state should not restrict what consenting adults desire to do; the related view that the state should \u201cget out of the marriage business\u201d altogether; the social conservative view that letting homosexuals marry is a better alternative than gay promiscuity and that marriage is always a social good.<\/p>\n

Can you answer\u2013or defend\u2013these? \u00a0(In regards to #2, Luther and the Reformation worked mightily to insist that marriage IS properly the state\u2019s business, and tried to get the Church, with its stultifying canon laws, out of the marriage business!)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the Huffington Post, so many conservatives are embracing gay marriage that many Democrats are worried that their issue is being taken away from them: The notion that the gay rights community would abandon the Obama White House over its unwillingness to fully embrace their legislative priorities may seem absurd to the casual political […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,26],"tags":[563,891],"class_list":["post-6339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-law","tag-conservatives","tag-gay-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\nConservatives for Gay Marriage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to the Huffington Post, so many conservatives are embracing gay marriage that many Democrats are worried that their issue is being taken away\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/09\/conservatives-for-gay-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conservatives for Gay Marriage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to the Huffington Post, so many conservatives are embracing gay marriage that many Democrats are worried that their issue is being taken away\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/09\/conservatives-for-gay-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-03T09:30:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/09\/conservatives-for-gay-marriage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/09\/conservatives-for-gay-marriage\/\",\"name\":\"Conservatives for Gay Marriage\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-03T09:30:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-03T09:30:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"According to the Huffington Post, so many conservatives are embracing gay marriage that many Democrats are worried that their issue is being taken away\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/09\/conservatives-for-gay-marriage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/09\/conservatives-for-gay-marriage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/09\/conservatives-for-gay-marriage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Conservatives for Gay Marriage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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