Republicans driving LGBT progress?! The Atlantic loses its mind

[xchrom]

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/28/republicans_driving_lgbt_progress_the_atlantic_loses_its_mind/



In a recent piece in the Atlantic, reporter Molly Ball largely credits Republicans for the progress in the fight for marriage equality. She points to recent events involving Republicans that prove that the GOP is actually a hospitable place for the LGBT community and the progress it seeks.

I will not be the first, but let me be the latest, to reply: no, it is not.

Because of actions by judges appointed by Republican presidents, Ball assumes this signals a shift in party thinking. Judges, appointed for life and intended to be independent of the partisan factions in elected office, often evolve in their own thinking over time. In these cases, these judges were ruling in light of the recent Supreme Court rulings of Perry and Windsor. In other words, they were following orders from a higher court, not asserting their own, partisan judgment. Ball further suggests that by “declining to oppose” same-sex marriage, it follows that Republican governors like Brian Sandoval, R-Nev., Susana Martinez, R-N.M., and Chris Christie, R-N.J., are the cause of positive changes to the way LGBT people in this country are treated under the law and indicative of the impact of Republican support for marriage equality.

Republicans are playing a role in the changing landscape of same-sex marriage. While it is certainly true that some within the party and within the conservative movement are, in fact, changing their minds, Republicans are not by any stretch of the imagination driving the improving legal and social positions for the LGBT community in the United States. Not by a long shot. And scientific, empirical political science research confirms it. I’ve just finished writing a book on the topic (co-authored with Dr. Melissa Michelson) that examines support for LGBT rights and same-sex marriage among different identity groups.

A few glaring facts are treated as ephemeral aberrations in Ball’s piece: only three Republican U.S. senators support marriage equality. That’s right, three. Out of 45 current Republican U.S. senators. There are currently 184 current members of the U.S. House of Representatives on record in support of marriage equality. Of them, 182 are Democrats. That’s 98.9 percent. There are 17 current governors who have announced their support for marriage equality. All 17 are Democrats. And those Republican elected officials who recently declined to oppose marriage equality cited in Ball’s piece? Let’s review some background from these so-called Republican “drivers of momentum.”

[dlwickham]

1. the author of the Atlantic article is smoking some serious crack

wow

[joeybee12]

2. How can anyone with a name like Molly Ball be taken seriously? knr