UPDATE: A Jenene points out, it failed. Steve Benson at Washington Monthly notes, "At the rate they're going, supporters might be able to get the two-thirds they need sometime around 2026. Good luck with that." Yeah, especially considering by 2026, gay panic will be about as politically viable as racism (still powerful for some, but pretty marginalized).
So the US Senate has decided that the best possible use of its time this week -- what with everything else that's going on -- is debating a G-D Constitutional Amendment (with no chance of becoming law) which would prohibit homosexual couples from any sort of marriage. It's pure symbolism, meant to excite the fundimentalist wing of the party base, a Rovian scheme to put some zing back in the Republican base for this November's congressional elections.
I'm thinking it's gonna backfire, on a number of levels.
Fundimentalists may believe the rapture is nigh, but they're not fucking stupid. They're aware that the Federal Hate Marraige Amendment -- unlike the series of state ballot measures which were part of the GOP mobilization in 2004 -- has zero chance of becoming law, and their growing ire over Bush's lack of leadership on their brand of "Moral Issues" is unlikely to be assuaged by week-long meaningless gesture of a debate. I don't think this will get the evangelical legions back to rooting for Republicans. It may in fact turn many of them (who really believe this is important) off from the process.
Furthermore, this conclusively brands the GOP as the party that hates teh gay, which is a long-term loser. If you look at attitudes about homosexuality, there's a clear generation gap. People in my generation are overwhelmingly ok with queers. People over the age of 50 are overwhelmingly not. People inbetween are split pretty evenly, though trending towards "ok" as more and more homosexuals are exposed as -- egad! -- normal human beings with feelings and thoughts and hopes and dreams (some of marriage) just like anyone else.
Now, if we can get the fucking Democrats to shut up about video games, and slap some sense into whatever consultant is telling Hillary to act like a crochety old man, there might be a chance for building a future progressive majority that's invested in the political process, rather than apathetic or antagonistic towards it.
This is something I'm interested in working on, so I'd like to say thanks to Bush, Rove and Frist for serving up me and my generation a big fat softball.
And to all my gay friends, just hang on. It's going to take a decade or so, but pretty soon most of the hardcore resistance to marriage equality will be dead of natural causes and our peers will be coming into power. Keep reaching for that rainbow. It's getting closer.
