Gay Marriage and the Republicans

Gay Marriage and the Republicans - A non-Republican friend of mine asked me the other day - what do I think the Gay Marriage flap will do to the GOP?

For me, the solution is simple (as most pie-in-the-sky ideals are): get government out of the business of "Marriage". To government at any level, the only concern should be recognizing and enforcing a contract between two people. The moral and religious aspects should be the province of the churches (and synogogues and mosques) that are where most marriages take place - if the churches opt to perform and observe same-sex unions, that'd be their theological prerogative (one with which I'd sincerely disagree on theological grounds). Opposite-sex couples that disagreed with their church's stance (as I would with the pro-same-sex stance in my own Presbyterian church) could marry elsewhere; same-sex couples who felt the need for a church-sanctioned marriage could find a church that observes them - or, if the motivation is more financial than moral, just sign their contract at a courthouse ceremony.

It is, of course, not that simple in the real world. Hardly anyone separates the religious/moral and legal aspects of marriage in their own minds, or in practice. Marriage is marriage is marriage. And it's between a man and a woman.

Could this be the big wedge that derails the GOP juggernaut?

Good question.

Abortion divides Republicans, of course. To some, it's an evil to be scourged from the earth; to other Republicans, it's a troublesome civil liberties issue that we have to live with.

Governmental philosophy divides the party as well. The national divide between the Reagan/Goldwater Repubicans and the Rockefeller/Whitman Republicans is mirrored in Minnesota by the split between the Michelle Bachmans and the Dick Days of the party.

But both of those issues are ones on which Republicans can agree to disagree; they can put some emotional distance between themselves and the issues by not getting abortions and observing the Big Tent philosophy of coming together when the chips are down.

But Gay Marriage hits everone, whether in the pocketbook or in the vows they take with their spouses. To many Republicans, Gay Marriage is not only about a fundamental realignment of the moral basis of marriage - it's also a government subsidy of a lifestyle.

Both, of course, would be answered by getting goverment out of the "marriage" business; the moral aspects would be decided by the religious institutions and the participants, which is where the decision belongs; the machinery of the actuarial industry will determine the market benefit or detriment of the practice, which is both the motivation for many gay marriage activists and the key objection for many opponents.

But since that won't happen in the real world an y time soon, the question is: can Republicans co-exist on this issue? Or is it something we're going to has out? And how?

Feedback is eagerly solicited.