What's wrong with the Republican Party, and what they could learn from the D.C. GOP

Nationally, the Republican Party is doing what it can to undermine gay marriage everywhere they can. In 2004, Karl Rove pushed ballot initiatives to ban gay marriage as a way to turn out conservative votes. It was cynical, buit worked. They've been pushing it ever since. 

The Associated Press reports today:

A House committee is recommending against repealing New Hampshire’s five-week-old gay marriage law.

The Judiciary Committee also voted today to recommend that the House kill a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The vote was 12-8 on both measures, largely along party lines led by Democratic opposition.

It is notable that the New Hampshire legislature voted to override the Democratic Governor's veto to pass this law, so wide majorities should be expected to defeat these proposals.

Unfortunately, the vote in New Hapshire is falling along partisan lines. Republicans across the country are lining up  on the wrong side of history, and against liberty, individual freedom, and fiscal responsibility, all things that they say they support.

Similarly, Republican failed to undermine our families in Iowa today:

Following failed attempts in both the Iowa House and Senate Tuesday morning to force a vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, Republican leadership has conceded that the issue won’t likely come up again before the November elections.

The notable exception is the D.C. Republican Party. The DC GOP likes to point out that they are proportionately more pro-gay marriage than the D.C. Democrats. While this appears to be true, it is notable that there are no elected Republicans on the District Council.

Councilmember David Catania, the first gay person elected to the Council and author of the marriage bill, left the Republican Party after having been rejected as a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention for speaking out against President Bush's support for a Constitutional Amendment to ban same-sex marriages. Carol Schwartz, the long-time councilmember and long-time gay rights advocate lost her primary to Patrick Mara, a gay marriage supporter. Mara lost in the General election to Democrat turned independent, Michael Brown. Brown campaigned for and vote for gay marriage.

The current D.C. GOP head is Robert Kabel. He's gay and has lobbied the Republicans in Congress with Patrick Mara to leave D.C.'s marriage law alone. That's an uphill fight, but nice to have the local party on our side.

The 2008 D.C. GOP Platform states: 

The District of Columbia Republican Committee believes that legal issues regarding the family and marriage are primarily the responsibility of the states and should not be addressed in the United States Constitution.

That's a lot weaker than I would like, but it is considerably better than we find anywhere else in the country from Republicans. We can only hope that the D.C. Republican Party can somehow bring the national party back to its ideals of limited government and personal responsibility and liberty. These are principles that call out for marriage equality.

The D.C. Republicans are going to have a hard time defeating independents, let alone Democrats, to regain Council seats. But at least they've learned to back marriage equality. 

Comments

[Charlie]

The DC Republican Party recognizes the truth in Harry Jackson's comments about conducting a marriage referendum. In his own word:

"For if opposing the redefinition of marriage is like opposing civil rights, then my fellow voters and I are no better than racists, the moral equivalent of those who turned the fire hoses on blacks in Birmingham in 1963."

http://townhall.com/columnists/HarryRJacksonJr/2010/02/01/freedom_forgotten

[Bob Summersgill]

I should have added what the D.C. Democratic Party's 2008 Platform says about gay marriage: absolutely nothing. http://www.dcdsc.org/docs/DCDemocraticPartyPlatform.pdf

They have since passed a resolution in favor of gay marriage, however, I don't see it on their website.