IGF CultureWatch

In her Washington Blade column, Jessica Lee interviews the Cato Institute's Robert Levy on libertarian support for gay marriage and the lawsuit against California's Prop. 8. Says Levy:

Majoritarian outcomes cannot trump the Constitution. Legislators can pass statutes but if they lead to outcomes that do not comply with the Constitution then it is the appropriate role of the courts to overturn them. Gay marriage is one of those instances.

True, but I wonder if it's smart strategically. As this Blade article notes, in 2000 California passed Prop 22, a statutory ban on same-sex marriage, by 23 points; in 2008 California voters passed Prop 8, the constitutional ban, by four points. Winning elections (eventually) is a stronger bedrock for our rights than judicial decrees. And without majority or near-majority support in three-fourths of the states, perceived judicial over-reach could trigger a successful anti-gay marriage amendment to the U.S. Constition that no court could overturn-the worst-case scenario.

A ruling in California is only weeks away, but that's only the beginning. At some point, the case will end up before the U.S. Supreme Court , perhaps years from now. In the meantime, battles will still be fought state by state, and winning over the political center/center right (not just the left!) remains paramount to our success.

The conservative Washington Times (which is a good source of news on, well, Washington conservatives) reports that Sen. John McCain will not filibuster against the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. "The fact that Mr. McCain will not filibuster means repeal is all but certain, although Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has latitude on the timeline," according to the paper.

The decision not to filibuster drops the number of needed votes down to a simple majority of 51. That Republicans are caving shows that despite some primary posturing (McCain is in a tight race with a more conservative opponent), they know which way the wind is blowing.

News to make LGBT progressives nash their teeth. As Washington Post columnist David Weigel reports, Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and a long-time leader among fiscal conservatives, has joined the advisory council of GOProud, the gay Republican group that's positioning itself as more steadfastly conservative than the Log Cabin Republicans. Norquist calls GOProud "an important part of the conservative movement."

Writes Weigel, "Here you've got the fledgling gay group winning another seat at the table, and a leader of the conservative movement pulling the chair out for them."

Also this week in the Post, a recap on how Ted Olson, another stalwart of the right, is pressing the case for gay marriage.

"The right" is not monolithic. Inroads can, and must, be made beyond the party of the left if the goal is to achieve legal equality for gay Americans.

Semi-relevant. This New York Times feature on a recent David Frum garden party gathering of "members of the conservative intellectual elite" to honor the Somalian-born activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali (she faces an ongoing fatwa/death threat for campaigning against Islamist intolerance toward women, gays, non-Islamists) reeks of liberal condescension. But it does mention that:

Also milling about the white-painted porch and leafy garden were the "independent" gay journalists Jonathan Rauch and James Kirchick.

I've been meaning to take note of the seemingly strange, to many, fact that Elton John performed at Rush Limbaugh's recent wedding. Washington Post blogger David Weigel addressed this, quoting Limbaugh biographer Zev Chafets:

On some social issues, like abortion, Limbaugh is a conventional conservative. On others he sounds a lot like Barack Obama. In an interview last summer, he told me that he regards homosexuality as most likely determined by biology, considers other people's sex lives to be none of his business and supports gay civil unions.

Of course, "the LGBT community is none too pleased with Sir Elton," according to gossip site Popeater:

"I'm flabbergasted," Aaron Hicklin, Editor-in-Chief of Out, tells us. "It betrays either ignorance or self-interest or both, and jeopardizes his admirable record on gay rights."

Or this attack by a blogger who thinks the lesson is "It Pays to Hate." Google reveals this is a common response on the LGBT blogosphere.

The real lesson is that Elton John likes to reach out to those who are sometimes our enemies-witness his performance with Eminem, despite the rapper's (at that time) gay-bashing lyrics, at the Grammy's a few years back. In fact, Sir Elton didn't become the wedding singer just because it was a well-paying gig; since meeting Limbaugh earlier this year, he's kept up a fairly regular e-mail exchange, according to conservative talk radio host Mark Levin, a guest at the wedding (as reported by the web site Elton John News). "He's about tearing down walls, not building them," Levin added.

Limbaugh supported California's Prop 8 and mocks Barney Frank. But think about this: if we want to at least modify the Defense of Marriage Act-so that, for instance, federal benefits could be granted to same-sex couples in states that have civil unions/ partnerships, such as California, post Prop. 8- then getting the support of Rush Limbaugh (the "bigoted" voice of the right, who supports civil unions) could be crucial. It's called coalition building-the real kind, not just among groups on the left that all think alike (the current LGBT progressive strategy).

I've been writing about the changing political climate on the right as efforts to roll back the fiscal insanity take precedence over social issues and crowd out the religious right-driven by average people coming together to protest and work for change, often in opposition to the party hack machine. That's an extremely positive development. The libertarian Cato Institute's David Boaz shares that assessment in this blog post, but adds the qualifier that "out in the real world, where real Republicans live, the picture isn't as promising."

A case in point: the disappointing result from last Tuesday's GOP congressional primary in the DC suburbs of northern Virginia (Arlington/Alexandria), where Matthew Berry, a libertarian-leaning fiscal conservative who is openly gay, narrowly lost to Patrick Murray, backed by the local GOP machine. Boaz writes:

Republican activist Rick Sincere tells me that "in the last few days before the election, I received numerous emails from the Murray campaign that included subtle reminders that Matthew is gay and supports an end to DADT. [Murray] also, in a Monday email, took a quotation from Matthew out of context to make it look like he supports a federally enforced repeal of Virginia's anti-marriage law. In other words, Murray played the anti-gay card."

Still, there's reason for optimism about the future:

Blogger RedNoVa made similar observations, adding, "If you were at the Matthew Berry party last night, you would notice that the average age in the room was about 30. Young people were everywhere. The future of our party was there. Murray's campaign crowd was older, and full of party purists."

Boaz also notes chillingly anti-gay rhetoric in a western Tennessee GOP congressional primary, and sums up, "With Republicans like that, it's no wonder that many moderates, centrists, and libertarians still aren't sure they want to vote Republican, even with Democrats running up the deficit and extending federal control over health care, education, automobile companies, newspapers, and more."

Added: From the Log Cabin of Northern Virginia newsletter:

Matthew Berry, the first openly gay man and member of Log Cabin to run for the Republican nomination for the 8th Congressional District, was defeated in the primary on June 8 by Patrick Murray after Murray repeatedly raised the issue of Matthew's sexual orientation and his positions on specific gay issues in emails to supporters just prior to the election.

In the final days of the campaign, Murray attacked Berry for his support of marriage equality and repeal of DADT, which just recently passed Congress. He also falsely claimed that Berry had labeled himself a "liberal progressive" and then called him a RINO to boot, a charge that mystified Berry's many libertarian supporters as well as the many conservative activists and Virginia bloggers who endorsed Berry.

The 8th District is currently represented by Democrat Jim Moran, who has a long history of scandal and corruption during his years in public office. Given the politics and cultural makeup of the 8th District, however, few political observers believe Murray has any chance of unseating Cong. Moran. Many believe Berry's defeat in the primary will unfortunately kill any chance of extending the Republican Party's reach in the 8th District beyond its narrow conservative base.

More. From the Washington Times, Fiscal focus splits GOP factions on social issues. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a likely contender for the GOP presidential nod in 2012, says that given the dire economic situation being created by out-of-control deficit spending, the next president "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues. ... We're going to just have to agree to get along for a little while." Sensible, of course, but enough to trigger the wrath of the Family Research Council (and, as commenter Carl points out, Mike Huckabee).

There is a battle going on for the soul of the GOP, and it matters greatly to gay people who wins.

Furthermore. I should note that while Gov. Daniels called for a true over "social issues," the Family Research Council and Huckabee responded with appeals to ramp up the fight over abortion. Even here, they're downplaying (for now, at least) gay issues, and that's significant, too.

According to this primary election analysis in the conservative Washington Times:

The bottom line on Tuesday's primaries: The Republican Party is facing a purge, and limited-government conservatives are in the ascendance.

After years of taking a back seat as neoconservatives-big-government interventionists-and religious conservatives conducted a tug of war for the GOP's heart, traditional conservatives and fiscally cautious "tea party" activists are shaking up the Republican establishment and also helping shape Democratic contests.

"A center-right coalition, which is not dominated by the religious right or neocons, seems to be emerging as a powerful force in American politics," Republican National Committee member Saul Anuzis of Michigan said. "It doesn't mean their issues aren't important, but they are not necessarily the driving issues as our economy, jobs and ever-growing debt and deficit scare taxpayers."

This gels with what Jonathan Rauch wrote on this blog a few days ago, in 'Tea' Is for Tolerance. But will the hyper-partisan LGBT movement, which often seems to favor all things dependent on bigger government and higher taxes (i.e., the "progressive" agenda) pay heed?

Worth noting: This Washington Post op-ed on marriage equality was penned jointly by Bob Levy, chairman of the libertarian Cato Institute (which often aligns with conservatives to oppose expanded government and higher taxes), and John Podesta, president of the left-liberal Center for American Progress (which often aligns with progressives to support higher taxes and bigger government). Both men serve as co-chairs of the advisory board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is sponsoring the Olson-Boies case against California's Proposition 8, which overturned the legislatively passed extension of marriage to same-sex couples in the Golden State.

Living in a solidly blue district, my household received a fundraising letter from the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee urging us to donate money at www.dscc.org/SilenceGOPlies.

At the site it doesn't, or no longer, uses the ominous phrase "Silence GOP lies," and instead offers the somewhat less threatening "Stop GOP lies" - perhaps because a number of bloggers have called attention to the DSCC's call to "silence" the opposition. Reportedly, many of these fundraising letters also have included a "Silence GOP lies" button.

Think about that; it's not "respond to GOP lies" or "expose GOP lies." The fundraising message (at least in the letter) is "Silence GOP lies." That's a little scary, but quite tellingly captures what's so wrong with the "progressive" mindset today.

And what, exactly, are these "lies"? Some are strongly partisan criticisms of Obama, but others are policy views widely shared by much of the American public, such as the "lie" that "the badly needed stimulus bill" that cost nearly a trillion dollars (helping to create our debt tsunami) and which preserved mostly government jobs wasn't, er, "badly needed." Silence those lying liars before they lie again!

And isn't it the Democrats who like to claim that the GOP uses threatening words in its criticisms of Democrats? So, what exactly is "Silence GOP lies" supposed to convey?

The letter also attacks "Tea Party hysteria" in terms that are, well, hysterical (say, isn't the word "hysteria" supposed to be sexist and no longer permitted? Uh, oh, somebody at the DSCC is gonna be in trouble!).

More. No, my point is not just to engage in partisan sniping, but to critique it. And the "gay" angle is my consistent argument that the fight for our equality should not be tied to just one of the two governing parties (and the negative repercussions of having so much of the LGBT political movement controlled by Democratic party operatives, whose agenda often places their party's needs first.

Blogress Ann Althouse discusses implications of a McDonald's ad running in France (you can view it with captioned translation through the above link) that's caused expressions of consternation from Bill O'Reilly and other American conservatives. As Althouse summarizes,

"we see a young man and understand something about him - he's gay - and then we see his father doesn't really get that, but they love each other and spend time with each other...at McDonald's.

". . .When O'Reilly jokes about McDonald's doing an ad in this series showing a member of Al Qaeda, he's revealing that he thinks gay people are a group that most people view with justified hostility. McDonald's, operating in France, hasn't analyzed things that way. That's their judgment call, and I hope it's a good one."

Actually, I think O'Reilly and other miffed conservatives are showing how out of sync they are. With "Glee," one of the Fox network's biggest hits, including storylines about a gay high school student and his sympathetic but not-quite-comprehending father (shades of the French McDonald's ad), it's clear that the times have changed. I'd be very surprised if in the near future we don't see gay inclusive ads such as this one running here in the U.S., despite the wailings of certain members of the old guard.

More. I should add, it's also another sign of how capitalism drives equality, as discussed here, when not thwarted by social conservatives or anti-market progressives (as in this blast from the past).

Former Congressman Tom Campbell, the fiscally conservative, pro-gay marriage GOP candidate running in California's Senate primary, had been leading his opponents but now trails failed CEO and gay marriage opponent Carly Fiorina going into next Tuesday's vote, as social conservatives ramp up their attacks.

Campbell has the best poll numbers against current Democratic Sen. Barbara ("No Ma'am") Boxer, best know for her advocacy of out-of-control government spending and disdain for the U.S. military. But he may not get the chance to face her.

It would have been savvy for LGBT activists who actually want to see gay equality advance within the GOP, and hence the nation, to at least give Campell support in the primary, but aside from Log Cabin Republicans they didn't. Much better to keep the Republican party avowedly anti-gay in order to fundraise against the GOP demons.