That's the assertion conveyed in
this Washington Post article. According to the
report:
Activists on both sides have begun to speak of the issue [gay marriage] as "the new abortion" -- a passionate and uncompromising struggle that will be fought in Congress, the courts and state legislatures, and through referendums for at least a decade to come.
While I think that the dedicated activist cadres on both sides are as "energized" as in the abortion fight during its heyday, I don't believe there's good evidence that nonactivists, work-a-day conservative Christians are as incited over two folks of the same sex wanting to tie the knot as they are/were over what they viewed as, at best, the selfish sacrifice of innocent life, and at worst as outright baby killing.
"The two sides are also increasingly identified with the Republican and Democratic parties," the Post article states, but then refers to the vice presidential spouse Lynne Cheney saying, "When it comes to conferring legal status on relationships, that is a matter left to the states," which suggests that even staunch conservatives might not all be ready to fall in line, unlike in the abortion debate.
Contra the Post's premise, William Schneider, a resident liberal at the American Enterprise Institute, writes in an article titled "Wedges Failing to Bite" that:
Asked in this month's Gallup Poll to name the most important problems facing the country, Americans put three issues at the top of the list: the economy and jobs (26 percent), Iraq (26 percent), and terrorism (15 percent). No other issue reached double digits. Six percent mentioned moral values. Two percent thought immigration was a top issue. The environment and gay rights barely registered, at 1 percent each. Abortion and guns were even lower.
Which suggests that even abortion isn't the wedge it once was. Schneider continues:
Conservatives are dismayed by the absence of any apparent voter alarm over same-sex marriages. The movement for a constitutional amendment is meeting with widespread apathy.... Voters see big issues at stake this year. And big issues tend to crowd out smaller ones.... Wedge issues, such as same-sex marriage, don't seem to be having much impact this year, because voters are so strongly committed to their choices in the presidential campaign. It's hard to wedge them loose.
But if Democrats love inciting class-war resentments,
Republicans are addicted to provoking culture-war hostilities --
and the press will intently keep up the drumbeat for
both.