Younger and moderate straight conservatives are far more ambivalent about gay marriage than you might suspect, writers Nick Schulz, editor of the Tech Central Station website and a former advisor to GOP stalwarts William Bennett and Jack Kemp. Comments Schulz:
While many [younger conservatives] think same-sex marriage is in some ways an incoherent notion, I haven't come across any who think that gay marriage will not at some point be permitted. What's more, many of them are not particularly distraught at the prospect. "
Lots of younger conservatives think of themselves as tolerant, freedom-loving and possessing metropolitan sensibilities; but they also revere tradition and aren't comfortable with needlessly monkeying around with old institutions. The issue of same-sex marriage sits atop the intersection of these values.
And many fair-minded conservatives are suspicious of the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) that would ban same-sex marriages and civil unions. Schulz notes that a possible compromise might be an alternate amendment that says "Nothing in this Constitution requires any state or the federal government to recognize anything other than the union of one man and one woman as a marriage," but which does not ban states or the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, if they so choose. This, in fact, is a "lesser of possible evils" idea that's been floated by IGF's own Jonathan Rauch.
Of course, not fiddling at all with the Constitution as regards marriage is the optimal solution, but many are giving some thought to a less draconian marriage amendment that could be put forward as a means of derailing the noxious FMA, should it appear to be on track toward passage.
Sometimes It's Better to Keep Your Mouth Shut.
Bishop Thomas L. Dupre resigned last week as bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Mass., after he "unwittingly unleashed the forces that led the California man and a Massachusetts man to come forward with [sexual abuse] allegations against him," reports the Boston Globe.
The California man came out as gay in the late 1980s, and was reading an account in a newspaper that circulates in the gay and lesbian community about how Dupre had taken a leading role in denouncing gay marriage, becoming furious at what he saw as Dupre's arrogance and hypocrisy, said [Roderick MacLeish Jr., a lawyer for the alleged victims]. "It is ironic that in his vociferous attack on gay marriage, Bishop Dupre may have in fact opened the door to the events that led to his resignation," MacLeish said.
Dupre could become the first American bishop to be prosecuted on
charges of sexually abusing minors. Hoist by his own petard, as it
were.
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