Part of me wants to say “Hip Hip Hooray for Rob Portman!” The republican senator from Ohio came out yesterday in support of same-sex marriage – which is gutsy in a party that generally thinks homosexuals are deviants, the earth is seven thousand years old, and all you need are bootstraps to be as fat and happy as Wall Street CEOs.
It seems Rob’s son came out to him and that is what changed his mind. This is all still laudable, but when you are unable to have empathy for any sort of person until there is one of those sorts of people in your own family you might be lacking a sufficient amount of empathy. I’m not even sure empathy is what we feel for our own children considering the absolute closeness we feel with them. The sadness and joy we feel when our own children feel sadness and joy seems closer to some sort of Vulcan mind meld than something called empathy.
Either way, I’ll go with “Hip Hip Hooray!” And add, “Welcome to the enlightenment, the 21st century, and common human decency!”
Luke Soiseth 
Ah, I agree – still, it’s at least promising that he wasn’t so locked up in his dogmatic politics to change his mind, and do so publicly. The fact that you can’t choose who’s gay and who isn’t suggests that a lot of republicans will soon find themselves in a similar position. Excellent stuff!
Yeah, I should just be happy he’s made a small crack in the party that will one day inevitably yawn wide. The future is never discrimination in any forward moving society. It will always be acceptance. Onward!