Democrats, Republicans, Gays

As the Democrats treat us with the usual contempt, a reader writes:

Here's a local NY perspective: The campaign for gay marriage in the state is funded primarily by wealthy donors with GOP ties. The former majority leader of the Senate, Joe Bruno, is Republican and has urged lawmakers to legalize same-sex marriage. Certainly, more Democrats than Republicans are supportive in the State Senate, but it's the Democrats, who received more than $1M from the gay rights community, who are stonewalling on the bill because they fear it will cause lose them to lose their majority. At least in New York, it's not so black and white.

For years I've said that the gay rights movement should rid itself of victimology and one-party reliance. The major obstacle has been the GOP itself.

The ideals of small government, individual freedom, fiscal sanity and prudent foreign policy are appealing to many gays - a third of whom voted for McCain last time around. But Rove and Bush used us as a wedge to build a fundamentalist coalition, a coalition that has inevitably now become a rump. 

How long before Ted Olson's view manages to make its way back to the center of the GOP? The news of the HRC sell-out reveals just how important that now is for the future of civil rights. And if the GOP had any idea how to get back to the center, they'd do in America what the Tories have in Britain and outflank interest group politics by embracing civil rights for all individuals, regardless of any identity, as non-negotiable. That's an inclusive conservatism I and many others can