Despite the outsized coverage teatards get on Fox, social wedge issues like racism, misogyny and homophobia that have worked for the GOP in the past aren't going to put the party back on top this time.  It's the demographics, stupid.  The GOP has probably tapped out the religious right. The teatards represent an evolutionary dead-end for the party.  The "movement" is the logical terminus of Republican drift. 

Still, even here in Massachusetts, some GOP contenders for the governorship are flirting with those worn-out old wedge issues, homophobia the most overblown among them. The likeliest challenger, however, is taking a different tack.  Charles Baker has chosen a gay running mate and says he wants to focus on economic issues that  families, straight and gay alike.  Imagine that. 



While Baker's choice of Richard Tisei is a giant leap forward for the GOP, it would be a rash to say it puts a stake through the heart of the social wedge strategy that has worked so well for the party in the past.  Is it safe for gays to vote for Baker because of his gay best friend?

Well, consider that the GOP, which is not a party that cleaves to Christian values by any stretch of the imagination, effectively courted the religious right for votes by telling them what they wanted to hear and throwing them a bone every now and again.  Still, despite the inflamed rhetoric of the last several election cycles, they did not exactly deliver the theocracy you could be forgiven for fearing was in the offing.

During the height of the religious right's supposed influence the gap between rich and poor grew to beyond immoral proportions, child mortality rates in the US ballooned to the highest among industrialized nations, the number of death-row executions exploded, and the US rushed into what will likely become the most expensive military adventure in its history. 

Furthermore, many of those hit hardest by the GOP's disastrous fiscal policies were those stupid enough to have voted them in in the first place.  

So, it would be a mistake to assume that simply because the GOP has tapped out one voting bloc and desperately needs to explore new funding sources, the party is ready to represent the diverse needs of the gay community.  It's a little like how they've appointed tin-eared Michael Steele as party chairman in a lame attempt to woo African Americans.  They may have a black chairman, but do they really get the black community?  For that  matter, do they even have a black chairman who gets the black community?

Or let me put it in terms my gay brethren can understand.  Is this just a NSA hook-up, or do we have a potential LTR on our hands here?  Because gay rights and women's and minority rights are entwined, a lot more has to happen before the Republican Party is ready for some serious P-n-P. 

But on the bright side — at least some in the GOP have realized that gays in this country actually outnumber teatards.  And not just by a little.  By a lot.  And we actually know how to read and write.  And we vote.  Oh, and we have a lot more discretionary income.  DING DING DING! 

If the trend in Massachusetts catches on even just here in Massachusetts then gays may find themselves with something they haven't had in the past — a choice. Between two parties that want their vote and are willing to work for it.  We may even see a day when human rights would not need to be the overriding factor in who gets our vote, because both parties, by committing to respect for those rights, have made it a moot issue.  

Up to now no self-respecting gay of my generation could justify voting Republican.  And Dems like Obama know this.  Thus we take what we can get like good little second-class citizens and keep quiet for the most part about our contributions to society and culture, workforce and economy.  But if marriage equality is abandoned as a wedge issue, even just with Massachusetts' Republicans, then it would represent at least a step towards the return of a viable two-party system in the state — and maybe spark a national movement.

The GOP's embracing of the religious right was a devil's bargain, and it's left them with nothing but a tiny, increasingly shrill and hysterical fringe.  Forward-looking Republicans have to see that gay- and race-baiting and woman-hating are not the future of their party, and have no place in American politics.

Let's see what Charles Baker has to say about it.