IGF CultureWatch

Republicans are getting better at talking about gay rights rather than talking around them. But you can still see a deep-seated discomfort in their stilted vocabulary.

Michael Steele, chair of the Republican National Committee, had this to say about Dick Cheney's recent sort-of comments about gay marriage, or same-sex relationships, or something along those lines:

Well, I think the vice president brings a very personal perspective to this issue and to the question of gay marriage and gay unions. And I think his comments are appropriate reflection of his family and a situation with his daughter.

You know? My view, personal view is, you know, marriage is between a man and a woman, very much in line with what the president has said. And I think that this battle should be appropriately worked out at the state level.

The states are the ones that are defining the question of marriage, and so they will be the ultimate arbiters, I think, of what constitutes marriage in a given state. So it is the appropriate reflection of the attitude and the culture of a particular community for that debate to take place. And I think the vice president has a legitimate point there.

The "legitimate point" seems to be that the GOP doesn't need to directly oppose state efforts to recognize same-sex relationships, and that is a huge step forward.

But can we stop for a second and ponder what Steele refers to as Dick Cheney's "situation with his daughter"? The situation, for those not in the know, is that Cheney's daughter is a lesbian. She has a similarly lesbian partner, and they live together, as people who have long-term relationships tend to do. My bet is they have sex sometimes. This is not "a situation," it's their life.

This is not as bad as Jeff Sessions talking about people with homosexual "tendencies," nor Cheney's inability to publicly mention gay marriage or civil unions when he intends everyone to understand those are what he is talking about. And all of these are better than George W. Bush's eight years as president -- during the 21st Century -- barely uttering the words "gay" or "lesbian," most notably absent as he was promoting an anti-gay marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The GOP is ever-so-slowly coming out of the vocabulary closet, and I wish them well. Perhaps they'll finally see how antique their arguments look when they finally phrase them in the actual words everyone else is using.

ADDENDUM: A commenter has raised the very good point about how Log Cabin Republicans fit into this. I think Steele's comments show both the magnitude of the problem Log Cabin has long faced, and the success they have had over the years. They are, in the end, trying to get better results from Republicans on gay issues, and that effort is now bearing fruit. It is, I admit, a bit churlish to criticize Republicans too much for the awkwardness with which they are -- grudgingly -- beginning to support gay equality. But that's kind of my point: the failure to use the ordinary vocubulary that the rest of the nation uses regularly to discuss gay equality -- including the word "equality" -- is what makes the GOP look so pitiful on this issue. I admire and respect Log Cabin for getting some GOPers to move away from direct opposition of state efforts toward equal rights. That's why I think these linguistic swerves and curlicues are less threatening than they have been in the past, and should be subject to a bit of ribbing.

And, to be fair, there are still enough Democrats (I'm looking at you, New York) who have the desire and the power to prevent equality in words that are pretty straightforward.