Bit of a narrative buster here.
Michigan’s gay-marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional last Friday, struck down by Bernard Friedman, a judge who was originally appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan. A couple of days later, when Friedman’s decision was stayed pending an appeal, the state’s Republican governor, Rick Snyder, didn’t speak out against it. Rather, he said he would go along with the court either way.
A Republican-appointed judge and a Republican governor easing the path for gay marriage: The Michigan case was just the latest example of the role Republicans are playing in the rapidly changing landscape of gay marriage in America. From Republican officeholders to the GOP rank and file, the party that once wielded antagonism to gay marriage as a wedge now is a major reason behind its increasing acceptance.
Since last year’s Supreme Court decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act—authored by another Reagan appointee, Justice Anthony Kennedy—federal judges have invalidated all or part of nine states’ gay-marriage bans. In addition to Friedman in Michigan, another Republican appointee, Judge John Heyburn, ruled that Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Heyburn had been recommended for the court by Senator Mitch McConnell and appointed by George H.W. Bush.
Nor is Snyder alone among swing-state GOP governors in declining to oppose the issue’s advance. In Nevada, Governor Brian Sandoval announced last month that he would no longer defend the state’s gay-marriage ban. In New Mexico, Governor Susana Martinez said in January she accepted gay marriage as “the law of the land.”
Opposition to same-sex marriage from Republicans has never been as virulent, or even widespread, as the Left has portrayed it. I’ve also encountered quite a few people opposed to it on religious grounds who didn’t think it needed to be a legislative priority. Progressives, however, have to keep vociferously asserting that we want to be in everyone’s bedrooms to distract from the fact that there isn’t a part of our lives they actually want the government out of.
Don’t expect any Republicans who see their positions on the matter “evolve” receive the kind of effusive praise the president did when he finally came around to having the same thoughts on same-sex marriage as Dick Cheney. The 11th Commandment of the MSM is “Never Say Anything Nice About A Republican”.
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