Well, the R's are gonna run against gays again. According to
today's Boston Globe:
GOP sees '04 issue in gay marriage
By Mary Leonard, Globe Staff, 11/7/2003
WASHINGTON -- Republican strategists are planning to make gay marriage an issue in the 2004 political race if the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that same-sex couples can legally wed in the Commonwealth, a decision as eagerly awaited in the capital as in the Bay State.
The court could make Massachusetts the first state to allow gay and lesbian marriages -- which other states eventually might have to honor, opponents say.
Under pressure from social conservatives who want President Bush to campaign against gay marriage in 2004, GOP officials say they are studying battleground states where same-sex unions could be a wedge issue in national and state races, and they are weighing endorsement of a proposed federal constitutional amendment sanctioning only heterosexual marriage.
Well, the R's are gonna run against gays again. According to
today's Boston Globe:
GOP sees '04 issue in gay marriage
By Mary Leonard, Globe Staff, 11/7/2003
WASHINGTON -- Republican strategists are planning to make gay marriage an issue in the 2004 political race if the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that same-sex couples can legally wed in the Commonwealth, a decision as eagerly awaited in the capital as in the Bay State.
The court could make Massachusetts the first state to allow gay and lesbian marriages -- which other states eventually might have to honor, opponents say.
Under pressure from social conservatives who want President Bush to campaign against gay marriage in 2004, GOP officials say they are studying battleground states where same-sex unions could be a wedge issue in national and state races, and they are weighing endorsement of a proposed federal constitutional amendment sanctioning only heterosexual marriage.
[snip]
Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told several groups that GOP lawyers are assessing how a Massachusetts court ruling in favor of gay marriage would affect other states and the federal government. He expects the party to take a position on the constitutional amendment after a decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.
"My sense is that all these things are being considered and weighed and will be brought to a decision point, when and if the Massachusetts Supreme Court rules," Gillespie recently told reporters. He added that "it wouldn't surprise me" if the Republican Party platform addressed gay marriage "in some form or fashion."
This is the same Ed Gillespie who said in a Washington Times interview that attempts to gain marriage rights and social acceptance for gay folks is tatamount to "religious bigotry."
So, we know one strategy that will be used in this campaign: accusing those who support gay rights as insensitive to religious sensibilities, as religious bigots. Also, there will be attempts to soften their own anti-gay bigotry, at least rhetorically. From the WaTimes story:
Many of us who are practicing Catholics deal with [other people's homosexuality] in our own fashion," Mr. Gillespie said. "I accept people for who they are -- and love them. That doesn't mean I have to agree or turn my back on the tenets of my faith when it comes to homosexuality."
This, kinder, gentler form of bigotry will be the public face of the Republican Party. Even George Bush's statement about everyone being sinners so don't be too hard on the queers was spun as some kind of "tolerance." (Sorry, that wasn't tolerance--it was a signal to the Right that he's on their side and a softening of rhetoric to appeal to the middle.)
There will, of course, be a much less kind face of the R's strategy. This will most likely be carried out in their little talk radio universe and in alarmist calls from Jerry Fallwell, Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, Lou Sheldon, Phylis Schlafly, Beverly LaHaye, et. al.
The task ahead, then, will be to respond to the Right's attacks on gay folks and our families. The trick is going to be to show how the public face of Republican tolerance is masking actual hate. Of course, the Log Cabin Uncle Mary's can be counted on to discount Republican homophobia, but it's gonna be our task to attack it.
Much as some people would like gay issues to take a back seat, the R's are gonna push 'em. We're gonna have to be able to respond.