GOP Sunday Villagers jump ship on marriage equality opposition

Marriage equality appropriately came up in all the Sunday AM gab fests this week. The Supreme Court announced Friday they'd be hearing constitutional challenges to both the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8 gay marriage ban. Depending on how they rule, there is a chance marriage equality may be universal in the United States as soon as June 2013. And it kind of looked like the GOP talking heads were making peace with that real possibility.

In the wake of opposition's defeat at the ballot box, the usual suspects who are ordinarily happy to carry party water instead punted. Recall the GOP platform for 2012 had this language authored by Christian Right conservative Tony Perkins:

"[W]e believe that marriage, the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage."

So, the official GOP stance is not at all supportive.

George Will concern trolls, as he's wont to do, about the court getting ahead of public opinion like they supposedly did on abortion. (As though had they waited, we wouldn't still be having this fight about who gets to control women's sexuality.)

But then, George Will delivered a body blow:

'Quite literally, the opposition to gay marriage is dying. It's old people.'

Which is remarkably fact-based for Will. And every political strategist knows, the GOP has old people locked up best they can, it's the youth vote they're losing by the boatloads.

The panel spends much time talking about the historical context in relation to Roe v. Wade.

They still totally miss any references to an obvious one: Loving vs. Virginia, the last time the court asked to sort out disparate marriage laws among the states. Hmmm ...

[Or as LuvSet points out, Turner v Safley a case involving prisoner's rights to marry (they got 'em, gays don't), a case that is, in part the basis of the Olsen/Boies challenge.]

But if they want to talk about the court rushing public opinion, let's point out gay marriage is way ahead of interracial marriage at the time the court legalized that. The year after that decision, in 1968, Gallup polls showed only 20 percent of Americans approved of interracial marriage, versus well over a dozen polls showing consistent majority support for marriage equality (and now four elections to prove it). So, though marriage equality's opponents love to call it "divisive" and "controversial," it's light years ahead of where interracial marriage was in 1967.

More impressions from Sunday talk after the fold ...