Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman, former Budget Director for President George W. Bush, one of the few moderate conservative voices in the Republican Party in the US Senate, has come out in favor of gay marriage, making him the first Republican Senator to do so, and unlikely to have others follow him. This seems, clearly, due to the fact that his younger son Will is gay, and Portman wants his son to have a happy life, and the rights and privileges of marriage someday.
One could point out that Portman only spoke up because of his son, which is clearly the case, but it still took courage for him to do what he did.
And it is interesting to see former Senator Rick Santorum spew his usual narrow minded hatred, and one has to wonder what if one of his children came out as gay or lesbian. As a “devout” Catholic, he probably would do what so many “devout” Christians have done, sadly, and that is to throw out their child, disown him or her, have no more contact with him or her, act as if that child no longer exists, rather than understand that gays do not choose to be what they are. Why would anyone want to be facing hate, prejudice, discrimination, and bodily threats if one could avoid it?
So for anyone claiming to be “devout” and “religious” and act like Rick Santorum and so many others, is hypocrisy, and until and when the Republican Party stops allowing the religious Right to control the party agenda, it will never win over the vote of the younger generation, which is totally tolerant on the issue of sexual orientation.
Many non office holding Republicans have come out for gay marriage rights, and Ted Olson, former Solicitor General under George W. Bush, is leading the case to be presented before the Supreme Court, and there is a feeling that the majority of the Court, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who made for the success in the Lawrence V. Texas case in 2003, on gay privacy rights, will declare gay marriage rights to be constitutional throughout the United States, although churches and synagogues would not be required to marry gay people. Such a decision for gay marriage would involve the right of civil marriage alone.
The Republican Party needs to change its view, or else, like in many other ways, it will go into the dustbin of history!
Hello Professor,
A bit off subject but plays well of your earler postings, I want to start off by wishing everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
Now today I can’t help but think of all the financially decimated and starving Irish people who had to leave their families and friends to find a better life.
The absent British land owners shipping everything produced back to England while those who worked and produced crops starved.
So I would now ask of the Irish of the mid to late 1800’s……how did that trickle down theory work for them?
Great point, Engineer of Knowledge, and I hope, when you have time, you will go after Juan, who is constantly on the attack, no matter what the topic, as if this is his mission in life, to attack progressives and defend his limited government which favors the elite wealthy! LOL
I think Rob Portman, elected as Ohio’s junior U.S. senator in the midterms wave of 2010, is not going to have a backlash with reversal of his position on same-sex marriage. If 2016 turns out to be a Republican pickup of the presidency…re-election for Portman. If the Democrats hold the White House for a third consecutive cycle (and a realignment presidential election from 2008 would give credence to predicting, this far in advance, such potential)…re-election might still happen for Portman. (Job-approval support will help determine that outcome. In the bellwether state of Nevada, Republican Dean Heller pulled through with election to a first full term.)
As for the mention of Rick Santorum: I see him as a sexually unhealthy and sad person. Bill Maher has joked that Santorum thinks about gay sex more than men who are gay. I have to say this: I agree. It was not really such a joke. I think it’s true. So, to even address Rick Santorum as narrow-minded isn’t really getting to what I think is applicable to the real Rick Santorum. (Many politicians are two-faced. But Newt Ginrich is more effective in juggling his act.) The fact that Rick Santorum was anywhere near the 2012 Republican presidential nomiation was even more disturbing than the oddity of this fifty-plus man not having himself pulled together to resemble a strong, authentic human being.
D, I wholeheartedly agree with you about Rick Santorum–a very sick “puppy”, who is a very hateful and warped individual, who married a woman who lived with an abortion doctor who delivered her to birth and could have been her dad, and then marries Santorum who is vehemently anti abortion. The man is a mental case with real psychological problems, and if, by chance, any of his children were to be gay or lesbian, they would be mentally ill like him, for fear of his wrath if they revealed their sexual orientation.
And to think that Santorum ended up third in the CPAC straw poll for President in 2016, demonstrates just how nuts the CPAC people are, totally delusional and outside the mainstream of American politics! And they loved Sarah Palin, unbelievable!
Ron: Any Christian or Catholic, (and I am talking as a non practicing Catholic and from what I was taught), who as you say “throws out their child, disown him or her, have no more contact with him or her, act as if that child no longer exists, ” is not following the teachings of Christ. Christ enjoins us to love the sinner even more strongly than we hate the sin. If you are a Catholic, homosexuality is a sin. But as Christ has taught us in The “Pericope Adulterae” at John 7:53-8:11, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”. Thus we do not condemn the sinners, we forgive the sinners, as well as ask for forgiveness for our own sins, and love the sinners, but we do not condone the sin. So I really do not understand your attack on Rick Santorum. Is he suppose to change his faith to accommodate to your views or to what the latest fad is? As a matter of fact Santorum was asked specifically what he would so if his son were gay, and he replied, “I would love him as much as I did the second before he said it. And I would try to do everything I can to be as good of a father to him as possible.” This is in perfect accordance with his Catholic faith. And as a matter of fact it is what I feel, not with my son, but with my brother who is gay. My love for him has not diminished one bit, but that does not mean I do not consider homosexual behavior a sin. As a matter of fact he is in a stable relationship with a man who I have met and he happens to be an excellent and kind person. I happen to have a great relationship with them, but at the same time I once in a while pray for them , as well as for me , and always ask to forgive my sins as well as theirs. So I don’t understand really why so much hatred towards a man, or anyone who is Catholic and follows the teachings of his church. Just because Santorum is a politician does he have to change his faith? As a matter of fact to abandon ones faith because of political expediency would truly be hypocritical. And we have an abundant example of that. As Catholics we are not entitled to rewrite the Catechism (nor Romans 1, for that matter, nor Matthew 19). So if Santorum considers himself a Catholic, he cannot in good conscious cannot say that homosexuality is not a sin or morally wrong. But that doesn’t mean that their should be laws criminalizing homosexual behavior such as anti-sodomy laws.There are many immoral or sinful acts that are and should not be subject to government laws either they be Federal or State laws that criminalizes them, and homosexuality is one of them. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AywpjGKJFVE) But on the other hand , you cannot expect us to change our faith and not consider homosexual behavior a sin. Live and let live, does not mean change my moral and religious beliefs. After all , God gave us “liberum arbitrium” , which means we are among other things free to choose to sin.
Juan, I am very happy to see your view of gays is open minded, not liking it, but accepting it and praying. It is true that Santorum has his views, and is entitled to it, but he comes across in so many ways as narrow minded and prejudiced, and hypocritical as I see it. And you have to know that a lot of so called “good Christians” repudiate their children in a horrible manner, disowning them, which makes them despicable. I applaud you for your tolerant views on this. See, you are not always an aggressive, nasty person! hahahaha LOL 🙂