I’m telling you, growing Republican support for marriage equality is on the verge of posing a serious threat to the Democratic party. No, the Republicans aren’t even close to Democrats, overall, on their support for gay civil rights. But Democrats, as we’ve seen, aren’t often terribly serious in the support they claim to give us, while some Republicans, notably Ted Olson and Ken Mehlman, are doing some serious work to advance our number one issue, marriage.
I’m not saying gays should pick Republicans over Democrats. I’m saying that some very high profile Republicans are making some very high profile endorsements of marriage equality – and putting their money, and their influence, where their mouth is – while some very high profile Democrats, the President included, oppose marriage equality. And even those issues the Democrats claim to be good on – full repeal of DADT and DOMA, passage of ENDA – they aren’t doing squat to fulfill those promises. And in a few short months, if we lose the House, we’ll have lost any chance we had for a very long time.
At some point the Democrats need to realize that a lot of gay people have had it with their empty promises. The year is 2010, not 1985. It’s not enough to show up at our dinners, issue a few administrative tweaks, and think we’re going to jump and down for joy about how free we now are. Democrats promised us a full repeal of DADT and DOMA, and the passage of ENDA. In return, we handed them the House, the Senate, the presidency, and a GOP opposition in shambles. In 18 short months, they pissed it all away. Now none of those civil rights goals are in the offing (and on DADT, the legislation being discussed isn’t even a repeal).
DNC Treasurer Andy Tobias, and all the Obama apologists, can whine all they want about how unfair it is for us to expect the Democrats to keep their promises. But we do expect them to keep their promises, or at least seriously TRY to keep them – promises they made in exchange for our votes and our money – as naive as that may be. And if Democrats want our votes and our money, they can start fighting – really fighting – for our full inclusion in the American dream. And that begins with marriage.
