The Republican Party
is making news these days as the Party tries to make itself into something
more acceptable than just the narrow group of right wing voters. But possibly the biggest obstacle to greater
acceptance of Republicans is their opposition to gay marriage. The issue has turned on them with a fury,
from being an electoral asset less than 10 years ago to be an electoral
albatross today.
Another nail in the coffin of opposition to equality
for gay and lesbian couples is the changing attitude of corporate America . The crazy quilt of rules and regulation on
gay marriage is making life more difficult for businesses than it has to be,
and businesses are seeing
which way the wind is blowing.
As the federal law which prohibits recognition of gay
marriage heads for an oral hearing at the Supreme Court, some employers are
signing up for equal rights.
on March 27th the case
reaches the Supreme Court. Last week 278 employers, including Deutsche Bank and
Microsoft, signed an “amicus” brief urging the nine justices to scrap the law.
The problem is that
nine states (plus Washington ,
DC ) allow gay marriage, and three
others recognise gay unions solemnised elsewhere. This conflict between federal
and state law creates all sorts of headaches, such as separate payroll systems
and differing tax treatment of health-care benefits. “Even sophisticated
employers struggle,” the brief says.
Ok, it would be nice if these companies supported
equality on its own merits, but hey, let’s take what we can get. As for Republicans, looks like
their opposition to equality is the equivalent of swimming uphill (love to
mix the metaphors)
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll found
record high support — 58 percent — for gay marriage.
In a new survey released Monday, only 36 percent of those
polled thought marriage for gay and lesbian couples should be illegal and 6
percent had no opinion.
Gay marriage has been one of the country’s fastest-shifting
political issues of the decade. Just three years ago, the same poll found 47
percent of respondents favored legal gay marriage and 50 percent were against
it.
which means the rest of us get to watch how the GOP squirms
out of this one.
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