I haven't seen the following NY Times article posted here, apologies if it has been. The Rove strategy has become more clear to me now:
Lynette Clemetson wrote this article that appeared March 1. Most alarming is how swiftly the GOP has tried to drive the wedge:
Genevieve Wood of the Family Research Council was highlighted in the article, stating to a DC church (I wonder how nervous she was being around all those PLTs):
"They are wrapping themselves in the flag of civil rights."..."I can make that argument. But not nearly as well as you all can."
So there it is. Not only is the GOP hoping to spur radical evangelist turnout in excess of the gay vote they are losing, but they are also trying to splinter the black vote. And judging by at least one poster on this board (and other evidence, of course), it could be an effective tactic! One can only hope that those in the pews will realize that many of the people feeding them this line are the same ones that were tacitly (or even wholeheartedly) supporting burning down their churches 40 years ago. Yes, yes, there are also black leaders who resent the comparisons with gay rights, and for them, I can only hope that they realize it doesn't work to restrict civil rights in some cases and not in others...and that they consider the source of these arguments. I mean, given all that urban outreach that the FRC has been doing, for instance prior to this issue.
Meanwhile, Detroit News columnist Deb Price reflects on how the gay rights movement may have set itself up for this to happen.
Black supporters of gays ignored
.