Probably has more to do with culture. What makes people conservative is marriage and religion. Gays were pretty much excluded from both.
And that makes yet another constituency your party has alienated for generations to come. Who’s next?
I think what makes you conservative is lack of empathy and excessive fear. It’s hard for the outcasts not to have empathy for others and as the objects of fear themselves, most gays are able to distinguish between real and imaginary threats better than some others.
There are lots of things that make people conservative or liberal. If conservatives are more fearful, then that means married people are more fearful. Which could be true, married people have more to lose. Things like high taxes, job loss, neighborhood degradation, and crime impact families more than single people, who have an easier time just going somewhere else when things get bad.
But if more gays are getting married and having children, if gays are going to be more welcomed in religious institutions as a result of overall liberalization of the culture, and if gays don’t face the threat of oppression, then family issues, which tend to favor Republicans, will decide a lot of LGBT votes. Education, crime, taxes, etc.
And today, gays can get fired for being gay, be denied housing, etc. Neither the legislative nor the judicial battle is close to being over.
I don’t see a lot of change in the political landscape from this.
That was in 2011, when public opinion on the subject was fairly evenly divided nationwide. Now Gallup says we favor gay marriage by a 60-37 majority. Presumably Virginians’ opinions have done a similar move.
Seriously, I don’t think there’s a swing state where this issue will help Republicans. It might help them hold NC and GA, but they’re not swing states. They’re more like the ‘stretch’ goals for a Dem Presidential candidate.
Yeah, but how much of that is actually going on? It’s still illegal for married couples to have oral sex in many states. Is there actually a necessary fight about to start, or is this just goiing to be a transparent attempt to keep the LGBT community energized so as to win the next election?
No it isn’t: if the Supreme Court says “X is legal” it’s still legal in those states where there’s still a law on the books saying it’s illegal.
It’s still a necessary fight, just like discrimination against women and persons of color in the workplace is still a necessary fight - and in those cases, discrimination is illegal, but it still happens quite often. In the case of gays and transgender persons, such discrimination is still legal in many states.
Yes, it’s a necessary battle.
Okay, then I doubt there will be much, if any, opposition to the repeal of those laws.
I don’t think “education” fits with crime and taxes as issues that tend to favor Republicans (and I’m not sure about crime either, these days).
The Democrats are too beholden to the teachers’ unions that stand in the way of reforms. Plus they favor more federal involvement in education. Common Core is also their baby and while that isn’t a huge national issue right now, it’s a big deal to parents putting up with it.
Then there’s homeschooling, which Democrats are figuring out ways to stop without committing electoral suicide.
After the anti-discrimination laws are fixed, it looks like this will be the next fight:
Call me when there are marches for “incest pride”, and people outing themselves as ‘pro-incest’, and the like. This is a silly prediction.
Whether true or not, none of this suggests that Republicans are doing better on the issue.
I don’t believe your assertion that Democrats are trying to outlaw homeschooling.
So people don’t have the right to enter into consensual relationships unless they are willing to march for them?
As the article states, social disapproval will not change, nor should it. That social disapproval should simply not be in the law though.
That’s not how rights have advanced in the US. There has to be a court case that the Supreme Court will take on, and in the last several decades such court cases have been heralded by at least some public advocacy (such as the strongly related Civil Rights movement at the same time as Loving vs Virginia, or the incredible advancement of gay cultural acceptance today).
I see no reason to believe that a pro-incest case will make its way through the low-level courts in the near future, much less up to the Supreme Court.
Who is afraid of high taxes? Who has seen their federal tax burden rise lately, besides the ultra-rich. Conservatives all act as though we’re all scared to death of taxes whereas only conservatives are. Job losses- well whose deregulation triggered the great recession? Crime is a function of job losses- end Republican recessions and crime goes way down.
Who is riled up about Common Core other than the extreme right? Who exactly is trying to stop homeschoolers? Maybe if you quit manufacturing bogeymen, you wouldn’t be so fearful.
All it takes to win a court case is one plaintiff, even if 99% of the public is against that plaintiff. And such relationships are more common than you might think. It’s just that because even legalization wouldn’t change the social taboo, they aren’t going to be out and proud. But I think we can all agree they shouldn’t be jailed.
You’d need a judge (or a trio, or whatever, depending on the locality) to agree, and I see no reason to believe this is likely.
Ted Cruz said he’ll be running on gay marriage in 2016. I posted a link upthread.
Texas Governor Abbott appointed a homeschooler as head of our State Board of Education. Sorry, I don’t hate unions & I don’t hate public education. Neither do most sane people.
You are well known for trying to derail threads when things aren’t looking good for you. As far as incest goes, I’d prefer you be more discreet about your personal life.