IGF CultureWatch

Something new and interesting in Utah…a bipartisan bill outlawing workplace discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, but with a twist. Salt Lake City outlawed employment discrimination against gays a couple of years ago, with LDS church support, and other Utah cities have followed. But a statewide bill failed last session.

This one is different because (1) it has a Republican co-sponsor and (2) it also outlaws workplace discrimination on grounds of political speech or activity outside the workplace (and unrelated to the job). The idea is that you don’t get fired for being gay, and you don’t get fired for supporting (or opposing) Prop 8.

The bill has support from business (the Chamber of Commerce, no less), and Equality Utah, the main gay group. The LDS church may not actively support it but will almost certainly not oppose it. An interesting question: what will conservatives do? So far, one state conservative group, something called the Sutherland Institute, which looks like a state version of the Family Research Council, has come out against. Other conservative groups/leaders have not yet been heard from, even though the bill would actually do something about complaints that gay-marriage opponents and other advocates of religious-inspired causes are scared for their jobs  because they gave $100 for Prop 8 or whatever.

I’m not naive enough to expect that anti-discrimination coverage for gays will get broad Republican support in Utah, with or without protections for anti-gay activism, religious liberty, or motherhood and apple pie. But this bill might win enough Republican support to pass. Derek Brown, the Republican co-sponsor, is a bright, attractive young guy who looks to me like the future of the party, if the party has the sense to grasp it. Hope springs eternal.

Christie nominates two for state Supreme Court, including gay African-American mayor:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced he is nominating Bruce Harris and Phil Kwon to the state Supreme Court. If confirmed, Harris would be the third African-American justice and first openly gay justice and Kwon would be the first immigrant and first Asian-American justice. . . . Steve Goldstein, the chief executive of Garden State Equality, a gay rights organization, said he was stunned when Christie called to tell him about the imminent nomination of Harris, 60, a graduate of Yale Law School. “As I told the governor right then and there, you could have picked me up off the floor,” Goldstein said.

The GOP will either follow Christie’s direction (and eventually embrace marriage equality, which Christie opposes), or it will continue getting beaten by Democrats who appear tolerant and liberal as they suffocate economic growth.

One takeaway from the GOP South Carolina Primary, won handily by Newt Gingrich: the religious right’s support for distant-third runner-up Rick Santorum proved not to amount to much, despite a high number of evangelicals in the state. Iowa increasingly appears to be an outlier.

As John Avlon writes at the Daily Beast, “If evangelical leaders can’t get their chosen candidate a victory here, where can they do it? … the idea of a mass-mobilizeable, single-issue voter is increasingly a myth perpetuated by special-interest activist groups who are literally invested in the idea.”

Still, Avlon notes, social conservatives

“have certainly been successful in getting Republican candidates to conform to their policy positions. Despite the fact that 70 percent of Republican primary voters say that fiscal issues are the basis for deciding their vote—just over 20 percent say social issues are the defining issue in 2012—this GOP field is as far to the right on social issues as any in the party’s history.”

Gingrich may hold the same anti-gay positions as Santorum, but as of now there’s no love lost between the serial philanderer and the religious right. The same is true of Romney, who still is viewed with suspicion by evangelical leaders.

We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out in terms of the religious right maintaining its dominant position within the party.

Ex-wife says Gingrich wanted ‘open marriage,’ was the campaign story of the day. The GOP presidential candidate’s second ex-wife said he asked for an “open marriage” in which he could have both a wife and a mistress. Gingrich denies the specifics, but the adulterous mistress is now the third Mrs. G.

Added. One man, one wife, one mistress (at a time); otherwise, it’s a slippery slope to who knows what!

Also surfacing: reports that Rick Santorum’s wife, when in her 20s, had an affair of many years with an abortion doctor/father of six (who delivered her as baby!). Candidate Santorum dismisses the charges without quite denying them.

It’s all just further moral hypocrisy by those who belittle committed same-sex relationships as unworthy of recognition and equal treatment under the law.

More. Santorum attacks Romney’s judicial appointments in Massachusetts for being too pro-gay:  An excerpt:

Two of Mr. Romney’s nominations for judgeships in Massachusetts, Stephen S. Abany and Marianne C. Hinkle, were well-known as advocates for special protections for homosexuals. What about the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion? What assurances did the governor receive that these nominees would “only follow the law”?

Kind of makes Romney seem not so bad (relatively speaking).

From the Wall Street Journal, Hope Dims for an Evangelical Pick. Good. The odds are about even that the Republican nominee will be able to unseat Obama. Romney is flawed, but if we’re rolling the dice, better that Romney should land in the Oval Office than an anti-gay equality, anti-personal liberty (anti-free-trade, anti-right to work) zealot like Santorum, or an anti-gay equality, anti-free market, deranged egomaniac like Gingrich.

Political analysts also indicate that the odds of the GOP taking control of the Senate are high as well. So, given that there is at least a strong possibility that the Republicans will control the presidency, House and Senate next year, I wonder if our leading gay lobbies are engaging in contingency planning the way that successful business do, mapping out strategies for various likely (or at least possible) developments over the near term.

The largest and richest LGBT national lobby, the Human Rights Campaign, is in the midst of selecting a new executive director to replace the departing Joe Solmonese. It would be nice to think that, maybe this time, they won’t reflexively go with another leftwing Democratic operative who is uninterested in reaching out to libertarian Republicans (and couldn’t speak their language of personal liberty if he was), and who showed himself to be unwilling to pressure Democrats to spend political capital on our behalf even when they controlled both houses with a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. And that goes as well for the future HRC leader’s willingness to hire lobbyists who aren’t died in the wool Democratic partisans.

If HRC sticks to its old game plan and the Republicans take congress and the White House, that won’t necessarily be bad for HRC (think of the fearsome fundraising pitches they’ll send out); it will, however, prove terrible for those interested in advancing gay liberty and legal equality, or playing defense against rollbacks where equality has hitherto advanced.

More. Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer writes:

after a quarter-century in the wilderness, [Ron Paul is] within reach of putting his cherished cause on the map. Libertarianism will have gone from the fringes — those hopeless, pathetic third-party runs — to a position of prominence in a major party. … Paul is nurturing his movement toward visibility and legitimacy.

The movement for gay equality should be able to make common cause with the movement for greater individual liberty. If it can’t because fealty to big-government leftism is seen as a higher goal, that would be an immense lost opportunity.

More (added Tue. night). Whatever you might think of Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, they’re not the blathering anti-gay bigots that Santorum is, and almost as bad, Gingrich and Perry. So the fact that Santorum, Gingrich, and Perry brought up the rear in New Hampshire is welcome news.

And I’d be very happy if the prime challenger to Romney turned out to be a libertarian-minded opponent of the anti-gay federal marriage amendment who refused to sign Maggie Gallagher’s odious anti-gay marriage pledge, and who defends letting openly gay servicemembers serve their country (yes, Ron Paul). He also understands, unlike Gingrich et al, that businesses in a competitive economy must sometimes be restructured (and yes, downsized) to remain profitable and avoid bankruptcy.

Regardless of Paul’s particular strengths and flaws, the best thing that could happen to the GOP (and the nation) would be the emergence of a strong and permanent libertarian wing to counter the pernicioius dominance of intrusive-government social conservatives.

(Original post)

The view from the Log Cabin Republicans:

“Final pre-primary polls out of New Hampshire show strong support for Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. It is not a coincidence that these are also the candidates who demonstrated respect as elected officials for LGBT Americans and focused on economic rather than social issues,” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director. “Governor Romney, despite his opposition to marriage, continues to stand by his support for nondiscrimination and said in Sunday’s debate that he would stand for ‘increasing gay rights.’ Congressman Paul has a long libertarian record that includes voting for the end of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and consistently opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment. Governor Jon Huntsman is rising quickly in the polls as voters respond to his pragmatic, commonsense conservative message, including his unapologetic support of civil unions.

Even candidates like Senator Rick Santorum are learning that his past antigay language is not going to keep him in the top-tier, while Gingrich and Perry, who have doubled-down on divisive rhetoric, are floundering. In the state which proudly proclaims, ‘live free or die,’ the path to victory is support for freedom for all.”

During Sunday’s debate in New Hampshire, Romney, who opposes marriage equality, tried to soften his image a bit (as Amanda Terkel relates at the Huffington Post), saying: “I oppose same-sex marriage and that has been my view,” but adding, “If people are looking for someone who will discriminate against gays or will in any way try and suggest that people — that have different sexual orientation don’t have full rights in this country, they won’t find that in me.”

He’s both for and against discriminating against gays.

Santorum, who uses much strongly language in opposing marriage equality (he says the “country will fall” as a result of same-sex marriage and that gays adopting children with cause societal “dysfunction”) nevertheless said, “I would be a voice in speaking out for making sure that every person in America, gay or straight, is treated with respect and dignity and has the equality of opportunity.”

Glad he cleared that up.

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Former senator Rick Santorum, reportedly surging in Iowa polls, is not only a virulent homophobe, he also is, according to the Cato Institute’s David Boaz, a long-time opponent of limited government and, in his own dismissive words, “this whole idea of personal autonomy, . . . this idea that people should be left alone.”

More. Romney’s move to the right on social issues, designed to attracted Midwestern and Southern evangelicals, bombed big time in Iowa. Religious conservatives, who dominate the Iowa GOP, went overwhelmingly for Santorum. But if Romney is the eventual Republican nominee, his anti-gay rights and anti-immigrant positions won’t play well with independents. When will they ever learn?

Furthermore. Santorum’s fixation on gay marriage as intolerable perversity gets booed by (some) New Hampshire college Republicans and would be a likely negative among the general electorate.

On the other hand, some are arguing that Santorum would be more likely than Romney, or Obama, to appeal to the white working class. Kimberley Strassel writes in the Wall Street Journal: “He’s the frugal guy, the man of faith, the person who understands the financial worries of average Americans. He’s directly contrasting his own blue-collar bona fides with those of the more privileged Mr. Romney. Identity politics is often a winner, and Mr. Santorum does it well.”

Let’s hope the popular response to Obama’s disastrous leftwing “leadership” to nowhere doesn’t turn out to be American fascism.

And finally… Viva Paul for his bare-knuckled attack exposing Santorum’s hypocrisy.

The anti-gay National Organization for Marriage is running an attack ad against Ron Paul, accusing him of supporting same-sex marriage. And they’ve created an entire Wrong on Marriage website to attack him.

Actually, while Paul opposes the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment, he supports the Defense of Marriage Act. Somewhat muddying his support for the act (which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages), he also says the issue should be left to the states to decide.

But in the GOP field, Paul is viewed as a pro-gay marriage candidate—earning him the ire of the religious right.

Also of interest, Slate’s David Weigel looks at Ron Paul newsletters from 20 years ago that had some disparaging comments about gays. Gay sex columnist and activist Dan Savage tells Weigel, astutely:

“Ron is older than my father, far less toxic than Santorum, and, as he isn’t beloved of religious conservatives, he isn’t out there stoking the hatreds of our social and political enemies … 1990 was 21 years ago—an eternity in the evolution of attitudes toward gays and lesbians. What has he said about us lately?”

More. From Why Ron Paul Matters, a Wall Street Journal op-ed from the Cato Institute:

Support for dynamic market capitalism (as opposed to crony capitalism), social tolerance, and a healthy skepticism of foreign military adventurism is a combination of views held by a plurality of Americans. It is why the 21st century is likely to be a libertarian century.

Wouldn’t that be nice.

The Catholic Church is complaining again about how unfairly government treats them when all they want to do is discriminate against homosexuals, like their Lord Jesus Christ orders them to.  The fight comes up in Illinois, where Catholic Charities, which has a government contract to provide adoption services wants free rein to deny same-sex couples the ability to adopt.

Frankly, I don’t mind that much if the church openly discriminates.  I left them long ago, over issues just like this, and I can see an upside to the church continuing to drive decent people from its ranks.  And from the purely legal perspective, it’s true that while no one has a constitutional right to obtain government contracts, religions do have a constitutional right not to be disadvantaged when they exercise their religion.

It’s a harder question than the bishops claim whether providing adoption services under a government contract is “the exercise of religion” as envisioned in the first amendment; but the law is fairly clear that government should make reasonable accommodations to religions if at all possible.  And I think it’s possible here to accommodate a religion that is so firmly staking out discrimination against homosexuals as a core tenet of its belief system.

But I think it’s also fair to point out that maybe there’s a little the church could give on, too.  The law in Illinois that is the thorn in the bishops’ side does not legalize same-sex marriage.  It provides for a lesser, but equal-ish civil union for same-sex couples.

I don’t believe I’ve seen the bishops, or the Vatican, take the firm position that in order to “protect” heterosexual marriage, government cannot tolerate any formal recognition of same-sex couples, and that any law providing that recognition is the same as legalizing marriage.  The church’s position in Illinois, though, requires something very close to that — a firm theological belief that all same-sex couples should be disabled from adopting children because they cannot possibly provide children an acceptable family structure.   The issue is not marriage, it is same-sex couples adopting, specifically, but being acknowledge by the government in general.

From what I’ve seen of the current Catholic church, I think this is pretty much what they do want to say, but until they are courageous enough to admit it, I think they’re being a little disingenuous in treating a law that is distinctly not a same-sex marriage law as if it is identical for God’s purposes.

Even the most adamant Catholics I know don’t think it’s a big deal to accept same-sex couples under some rubric or other, even if they’re not yet ready to accept full marriage equality.  They are willing to give a little bit.  In this, they differ from their leaders quite dramatically

The church always demands that government make accommodations to its beliefs, but is there nothing here the church can give on as well?  Is the church’s notion of fairness only a one-way street?

Former two-term governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson is reported to be ready to bolt the GOP and seek the Libertarian Party nomination for president, which would put him on the ballot in all 50 states. Johnson recently declared his support for marriage equality.

Political consultant Roger Stone believes that Johnson could have a bigger impact than many expect, writing that “Americans are about to discover Governor Gary Johnson and his Freedom Agenda. They are going to like what they find.”

If, say, Romney were to lose to Obama by a smaller percentage than Johnson’s vote, might that be a wake-up call to the Republicans?