GOP: The Next Generation

I’ve read quite a few news stories about waiting for the “racist generation” to die out. Some say that ignorance fades – and tolerance rises – with each generation. How many of us can say that we’ve seen changes in our own families? Did you have racist grandparents that somehow yielded more tolerant grandkids? But of course when it comes to racism we still have quite a ways to go.

But I’m not here to talk about that. I want to talk more about gay rights, and homophobia. In other words, I want to write about waiting for the “homophobic generation” to die out.

I can already see the changes in my own life. I graduated high school in 1990 – not all that long ago. But it was virtually unheard of to be "out" in High School in my day. Sure, we all speculated about the sexuality of our classmates, just as people likely speculated about mine. There were no same-sex couples at my senior prom, nor was there a gay-straight alliance in my school. That’s changed in the 19 years since I’ve graduated. We’ve all seen the stories – gay couples going to their prom, and teachers and students alike forming and joining gay-straight alliances. And, overall, the number of people who actually know someone gay is on the rise.

Yet in politics it has remained relatively polarized. It has been easy, and often convenient, for me to make simple general statements such as: most gay people are Democrats, the Democratic Party is more tolerant of gays than the Republican Party, and most Republicans don’t support gay rights. The Republicans even used opposition to gay marriage as a huge rallying point in the 2004 presidential campaign, and this certainly riled up the conservative base and got them out to vote. Did people vote for Bush, or against gay rights?

But now in 2009 something is happening. Some Republicans are starting to come out in support of gay rights. Are we seeing a new, more tolerant face to the Republican Party? Or is this simply desperation within a party that most agree is sinking fast?

Or is the “homophobic generation” indeed starting to die out?

Alex and I already posted about Dick Cheney’s support of gay marriage, which was shocking in its own right. Now we have Meghan McCain, daughter of Senator John McCain, speaking openly and loudly in favor of gay rights; she even came out against Proposition 8 in California. And she’s not only a Republican, but the daughter of a Republican that has voiced opposition to gay rights. I guess we can say that she’s the more tolerant generation.

She stated that she feels that the “old time” Republicans are scared of change. Take a listen:



So, is Meghan McCain the face of a new, more tolerant Republican Party? Is she the next generation of a party that will now embrace equality for gay Americans?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to go all Log Cabin on you ... trust me. For every Meghan McCain, there's still a hundred Rush Limbaughs. And even if the GOP changes on this one issue, I still have differences, as a liberal, with much of the party platform. But it certainly is a refreshing step.

And Meghan can be my galpal any day!