I really didn’t mean to have another post bashing the Log Cabin Republicans. But Matt Yglesias has posted his revisionist theory of gay Republicans: they’re not all that self-hating or crazy.
The thing of it is that, in practice, the state of gay rights and (perhaps more importantly) the extent to which gays and lesbians are generally accepted in American society has very little to do with who wins elections. The Bush administration has, thus far, been the high water mark of gay rights in America. The Federal Marriage Amendment would be a major setback, but it won’t pass either way. In general, the social forces at work here are far larger than any presidency, and simple cohort-replacement ensures that gay marriage (and the rest of the “gay agenda”) will win in the end.
I keep milling this over, but I can’t really argue with that logic. Policy questions seem to flow from the cultural terrain, and this cultural terrain shifts for reasons mostly (not entirely) unrelated to policy. That doesn’t obviate the value of a choice between a party that will adopt more homophilic policy at any moment in time and a party that will adopt more homophobic policy for any given cultural climate. It merely changes the calculation enough so that conservative gays would feel like they’re doing less damage than they ordinarily might.
An important complication, though: gay marriage is about more that the FMA, particularly if you live in Massachusetts or any future state to consider legalizing gay marriage. Seeing Gov. Romney work tirelessly to outlaw gay marriage puts a real strain on the Log Cabins here, who are strong in presence in this city-state for reasons I’ve not fully divined yet. Since the LCR campaigned enthusiastically for Romney over Shannon O’Brien, they share some of the burden for the uphill battle of a policy that they would like to see. Focusing on the FMA obscures the mutual support among the national GOP, Republicans at the state level, and various conservative institutions that continue to battle gay rights and have some successes in their battle.
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