Connerly On Proposition 8

A hero of the right - and a hero to me too - in opposing affirmative action, Ward Connerly, is one of those few anti-discrimination Republicans who sees gay people as real citizens. Along with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Republican appointed justices on California's Supreme Court, he therefore opposes the November initiative to remove marriage licenses from thousands of California's gay couples:

“For anyone to say that this is an issue for people who are gay and that this isn’t about civil rights is sadly mistaken. If you really believe in freedom and limited government, to be intellectually consistent and honest you have to oppose efforts of the majority to impose their will on people.”

I've long since seen opposition to affirmative action, support for a flat tax and marriage equality as lynchpins of limited government equal-rights conservatism. I still believe it's the future for the conservative movement - and far more compatible with Goldwater's legacy than the moralizing, Christianist authoritarianism of the current crew.