Ten GOP senators voted for LGBT rights. The culture war as we know it is over

[Playinghardball]

The passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (Enda) in the US Senate yesterday, with the votes of 10 Republican senators, is not the decisive victory civil rights activists might hope for – the bill still faces a hard slog through the House. More practically, as Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat from Massachusetts) pointed out in a typically emphatic floor speech, this single political success does nothing for the thousands of homosexual and transgendered Americans who face employment discrimination today (surveys show that between 15% and 43% of the LGBT community experience some form).

But especially considering the voting records and public statements of those 10 GOP senators – most of them had explicitly opposed ENDA at some point – it’s impossible not to see the ENDA vote as a watershed moment. Taken with Tuesday’s election results, it points to another near-abandoned front of the once-lively culture war. Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, a surprise last-minute supporter of the bill, made news last spring when he admitted that it was probably “inevitable” that a GOP candidate will support same-sex marriage. And, he generously allowed, “I think he’ll receive Republican support.”

At the time – just six months ago – that seemed like an acknowledgment that the GOP base would grudgingly accept an outlier (“I think he’ll receive Republican support”). The political atmosphere has begun to turn inside out; very soon, it will not be question of whether a GOP candidate could be a serious presidential contender and still support marriage equality, but whether a GOP candidate can be a serious presidential contender and not support marriage equality.

I take Senator Warren’s reminder about the lived realities of LGBT individuals very seriously. Many thousands of them do not live with the openness and freedom that straight people take for granted. What’s more, convincing Republican politicians to ban employment discrimination has proven to be something of an easier sell than marriage equality. Of the “ENDA 10″, only Mark Kirk, Rob Portman and Lisa Murkowski have taken a stand on the side of human decency. But advocating against the basic rights of LGBT Americans is becoming a political liability and not a strength. And, actually, ENDA yes voter John McCain (who, along with yes vote Orrin Hatch, voted against the law in 1996) recently became a vocal proponent for LGBT rights internationally. In his strident op-ed response to Vladimir Putin, he criticized the Russian leader and his allies for “writing laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn”.

More here: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/08/ten-gop-senators-voted-for-lgbt-rights-the-culture-war-as-we-know-it-is-over/

[cali]

1. sure. as long as you don't consider the war against women's reproductive rights

and lots of you don't.

we thank you for cutting that out of the equation.

After all, it's only a matter of life and death. no biggie.

[historylovr]

3. Wish I could rec your comment.

Yep, everything's done now, because hey, forget us women.

[cali]

5. hey, we're making progress on LGBT rights. fuck women.

fuck it that women still earn far less than men for equal work

fuck it that men have no problem getting their little blue pills for those everlasting gobstoppers- oops, I mean hard ons, covered by insurance, while women are fighting to get birth control covered.

damn.

(I shouldn't have to add that I completely support LGBT rights and have long before they became the social cause de jour)

[Scuba]

2. The right doesn't need the culture wars anymore ....

... now that they've re-engineered the Democratic Party so it's also fiscally conservative. And us suckers on the left are supposed to be happy with a small handful of gains on social issues.

Mission accomplished.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. +1 Exactly

[Laelth]

6. +1. n/t

-Laelth