Republican leadership, marriage equality, and the disconnect

By Adam Bink

I wrote a few weeks ago about NOM pushing to get RNC Chairperson candidates on the record against the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.

Via ThinkProgress, it appears they’re all tacking to that line:

During today’s RNC debate, all four candidates vying to replace current RNC Chairman Michael Steele reiterated their opposition to expanding marriage rights to gay and lesbian people, insisting that marriage can only be defined as a union between one man and one woman. The frontrunners for the position — Steele and Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus — also walked a tight rope of sorts, arguing that while marriage formed the foundation of American society, culture and history, excluding gay people from that all-important institution did not deny “dignity” to the LGBT community:

– MICHAEL STEELE: “It’s foundational to who we are as a nation, how we define ourselves as people…not to the exclusion of others, not to diminish anyone’s individuality, but to say in a very supportive way that the family unit, the family concept, is an ideal that we aspire to.”

– REINCE PRIEBUS: “It’s foundational in our lives… I don’t believe anybody should be denied dignity in this discussion, everyone should be loved. But at the end of the day, I believe that marriage — through the sanctity of marriage — should be between one man and one woman.”

– ANN WAGNER: “It is the true fabric of our society.”

– SAUL ANUZIS: “I think very straight forwardly, marriage is both a religious and a cultural institution that has existed for over 2,000 years…I think that our both belief in our kind of activity to promote marriage and promote the nuclear family is an important distinction that we have in America versus almost every other country in the world.”

– MARIA CINO: “I believe in traditional family.”

What is really interesting is how the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire (a state that accords the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, though there’s a slight possibility that may change… more on that in the coming days) will play out. It actually represents a fantastic opportunity for confronting Republican presidential candidates with loving, committed couples- and their children- and pointing to how the sky has not fallen. And, given the number of Republicans that are supportive in the state legislature and in the community, it may not be as much of a “red meat” issue among the party electorate as the media will probably say it is. As I’m having conversations about where things are in the state, every person I’ve talked to from the state has told me New Hampshire is a “libertarian” and “live free or die” state. That may not hold up in the RNC Chairperson’s race, but it may in presidential politics- and may backfire on the folks over at NOM.