If the numbers are to be believed, younger members of the Republican Party, those under 30, are helping to tip the scales in favor of same-sex marriage. According to FreedomToMarry.org, 61 percent support same-sex marriage. Furthermore, 40 percent of all Republicans support the rights of same-sex couples to enter into marriage while 56 percent agree with the following statement: “The freedom to marry is a fundamental constitutional right.”
But for Mark Ridolfi, writing in yesterday’s Quad City Times, this isn’t exactly what you’d call an “Aha” moment in the evolution of the Republican Party. “Nineteen states allow gay couples to marry. Another 14 have court orders calling gay marriage bans discriminatory. That leaves 44 percent of all Americans living in states that allow gay marriage, including Iowa and Illinois. The last three annual Gallup Polls showed a majority of Americans support it.”
The quandary, as Ridolfi sees it, is getting those numbers to translate into action. So when four young members of the Republican Party showed up in his office last week to declare their support for same-sex marriage, he perhaps realized that something was, in fact, shifting.
“Lots of people feel deep down it’s the right thing to do,” said Ed Lopez of Rhode Island, a vice chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus and a one-time member of Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s New Hampshire exploratory campaign. He was joined by two other visiting Republicans and former Iowa State Sen. Jeff Angelo, one of the rare Iowa Republicans who supports gay marriage out loud. “This group is a godsend,” Angelo said. “It takes away the image that it’s all futile.”
Lopez is typical of the type of person supporters of same-sex marriage are counting on to help tip the tide once and for all on one of the biggest cultural issues of our time. Raised Mormon, Lopez is a military veteran whose own beliefs have, in the argot of the day, “evolved.” He found himself increasingly at odds with those outside his circle of family and friends who disagreed with him. “We’re finding an abundance of hypocrisy for people who want to engage in important issues,” he said. End the hypocrisy and the party will see resurgence in interest from young people.
“The best guardian against big government is a strong family raising children. We’re saying whether it’s a man and a woman, two men, or two women,” said Tyler Deaton, the group’s campaign manager and a National Committeeman for New Hampshire Young Republicans. The group’s $1 million campaign will use grassroots organizing and some web advertising to recruit sympathetic Republicans willing to carry the gay marriage message to party conventions. They believe opposition to gay marriage is alienating existing and potential conservatives who otherwise would support Republican candidates.
Whether or not a single issue can persuade a generation that has repeatedly shown support for big government solutions to the problems of our time remains to be seen. But the message is finding resonance and the challenge now depends, in large measure, on whether or not other Republicans are willing to step forward to declare their support for same-sex marriage.
