Queer Quote: Sen. Rob Portman Supports Marriage Equality

Rob Portman was the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under President George W. Bush and is now an U.S. Senator from Ohio. He had supported DOMA and a federal constitutional amendment prohibiting recognition of same-sex marriage nationwide. His college-aged son, Will Portman, came out to him as gay two years ago and now Senator Portman has come out in support of marriage equality, the first sitting Republican Senator to do so.

His statement of support (published in today's Columbus Dispatch) is today's Queer Quote:

"I've come to the conclusion that for me, personally, I think this is something that we should allow people to do, to get married, and to have the joy and stability of marriage that I've had for over 26 years. That I want all of my children to have, including our son, who is gay."

Reactions to his statement have been mixed. LGBT activists are happy that a Republican senator is now supporting marriage equality, but some progressives are noting that he is only doing so because he has suddenly discovered that homophobic public policy can negatively impact his family, even though the argument for marriage equality supporters has always been that families all over the country are affected by the lack of empathy towards LGBT people's civil rights. Conservatives are claiming that one can love one's gay family members while still supporting public policies and legislation that discriminate against them and diminish LGBT citizens' civil rights.

It is also not going un-noticed that Portman was a finalist in the Veepstakes last year to be Mitt Romney and that even though Romney's people claim that they knew Sen. Portman's son was gay and that it did not impact their decision to choose Congressman Paul Ryan instead, the fact is that Portman has not publicized this change-of-heart on anti-gay legislation until it was going to have limited negative impact on his political career.

Portman's op-ed also takes a position on gay Götterdämmerung, stating that he thinks that the Supreme Court should leave the questions presented in the Hollingworth v. Perry and United States v. Windsor (on the legalization to marriage equality) to the states.

Here's the important section of the piece, titled "Gay couples also deserve chance to get married":

The process of citizens persuading fellow citizens is how consensus is built and enduring change is forged. That’s why I believe change should come about through the democratic process in the states. Judicial intervention from Washington would circumvent that process as it’s moving in the direction of recognizing marriage for same-sex couples. An expansive court ruling would run the risk of deepening divisions rather than resolving them.

I’ve thought a great deal about this issue, and like millions of Americans in recent years, I’ve changed my mind on the question of marriage for same-sex couples. As we strive as a nation to form a more perfect union, I believe all of our sons and daughters ought to have the same opportunity to experience the joy and stability of marriage.

It's becoming clearer and clearer that opposition to LGBT equality is a more and more isolated (and rare) position. And that's a good thing!

4 Weeks Till Election: Obama 294, Romney 191

There are now exactly 28 days until election day on November 6, 2012. In this week's summary of the TPM Electoral College Scoreboard, the Democratic ticket has 294 electoral votes (down from last week's total of 332) while the Republican ticket remains constant at 191 electoral votes.

The movement by the Democrats is primarily due to polls showing that Colorado (9) and Florida (29) have slipped from being leans Democrat (light blue) back into the Undecided/Toss-up (yellow) category.

The general impression is that the President's lackluster performance in the first presidential debate has given the Romney-Ryan a boost in the polls which should be reflected in the current and next batch of polls.

Saturday Politics: Romney and Ryan Kissing!?

Hat/tip to TowleRoad

Queer Quote: Paul Ryan Says DADT Is "Past Us"

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan is on the Republican presidential ticket and is well-known as someone who is generally opposed to any kind of equal rights for LGBT people. However, this past weekend when he was in Miami, Florida he was asked about what should be done about the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"  (DADT) policy which excluded openly gay, lesbian and bisexual people from serving in the United States Armed Forces.

To the surprise of many, Ryan (who voted against the legislation to repeal DADT in the U.S. House in December 2010) appeared not to be eager to revisit the policy and bash gay people. In fact, he ade this statement which qualifies as today's Queer Quote :

"Now that it's done, we should not reverse it. I think that would be a step in the wrong direction because people have already disclosed themselves. I talked to a lot of good friends of mine who are combat leaders in the theater and they just didn't think the timing of this was right to do this when our troops were in the middle of harm's way in combat. I think this issue is past us. It's done. And, I think we need to move on."

If even the homophobic candidate for the Vice-Presidency is not interested in reversing DADT repeal, then last week's 1-year anniversary of DADT's absence will not be the last.

7 Weeks Till Election: Obama 274, Romney 206

There are 49 days (7 weeks) until Election Day 2012. In today's Electoral College Scoreboard, President Obama leads with 274 votes to Mitt Romney's 206 votes. Last week, Obama-Biden 2012 led with 256 votes to 206 for Romney-Ryan 2012.

The only change from last week to this week is that Ohio has changed from being a a"yellow" (undecided or too-close-to-call) state to a "light blue" (leans Democratic) state, giving its 18 electoral votes to the Democrats and thus making it increasingly unlikely that Republican candidate would win the election.
It takes 270 electoral votes to be elected President. No Republican presidential candidate in modern times has been elected without winning Ohio.

2012 Elections: Romney Picks Paul Ryan

Yes, he is pretty. But he's no Sarah Palin. And he's very conservative. And 42 years old. Is he really ready to be President of the United States?