Republican Party chair in Illinois throws "full support" behind same-sex marriage

Wow, this is a really big step. Good on Pat Brady

 

That's pretty awesome! I never thought that I would see a headline saying that a republican party chair supports same-sex marriage.

 

^Me either

 

I've supported more republican beliefs myself... but this... I never expected it to happen. Hugs to Pat Brady!!

 

If anything i thought theyd the the ones to put up a stop sign too it. This is a interesting step.

 

I am a Republican.
I know that the history of the party was aligned with anti-slavery.
I am not surprised it happened, I know God talked to his heart.
The key thing to making me choose to vote for gay marriage rights in my state...yes i am coming out i did change my vote to say yes to it...was that it protected all ministers and others who perform marriage from being called criminals for feeling they would be sinning against their god for marrying anybody...currently if a minister feels a couple is divorced or different religions or just not ready for marriage...he can also say he is uncomfy and refuse. Freedom of religion and no persecution is perfect!
So again, that is why I am not surprised.

 

it's just a shame abt everything else he believes then tbh

 

It took the loss of the White House in the general election to give them a clue how outdated their positions are. I am glad Brady took the step. Chances are this will put Illinois in our column. Fantastic

 

Thats just it! Its more of a bottom-up thing than a top-down thing. The republican party wants votes. The majority of people did not like their policies and therefore did not vote for them. So, since they want to win, what do they do? They change. This concept is explained more in Kelly Kollman's article, European Institutions, Transnational Networks and National Same-sex Union Policy: When Soft Law Hits Harder if you want to read more about why this move is more strategic for them. Nonetheless, its really a great thing!

 

Ha. So many people on here hold this monolithic view of the two parties, not realizing how diverse this country is. Republicans from Illinois share little in common with Republicans from Texas for instance. The same is true for Democrats.

But the Republican party in Illinois is basically the bitch of the Dems in every way so I can't respect them, though bravo for supporting this piece of legistlation.

 

Impossible though it may be, I'd like to think that Rod Blagojevich was somehow involved with this.

 

It doesn't have anything to do with their history of opposing slavery. They realize they have to change if they want to stay relevant. They changed in the late 70s to get the pro-discrimination religious segment and they have carried them ever since. Since that group is shrinking, they're starting to dump them which I fully support. I hope some gop will support equality in IL.

 

Thought it would be years before something like this happened.

 

"No church or religious organization would ever be required to perform a union with which it disagrees"
I feel that statement is a tad fishy.

 

Yeah, except that's ancient history, and today the Republicans are the refuge of neo-Confederates who still haven't gotten over losing their right to own slaves.

This is nothing but a political move from a desperate party, and it's explained pretty simply by electoral demography in Illinois. The Republican Party is pretty much dead in Illinois, and it's extreme far-right positions on social issues are what killed it. (The same has gone on in other states that used to be Republican-leaning, like California)

The Republicans can win in rural downstate Illinois with this Akin-Santorum agenda, but there's not enough people there to make a difference. The party is doing worse than ever among urban and minority voters, so they can expect to continue to be slaughtered in Chicago, Cook County, where over 40% of the state's population lives.

Unless they can start appealing to minority voters, their only hope is to try to win back the suburban white vote, people who used to vote Republican until it became the party of Christian fundamentalists and their hateful agenda. Republicans used to sweep the suburban collar counties around Chicago to win statewide elections in Illinois but now they vote Dem, Obama won them twice...they're still wealthy and they still like tax cuts but they don't want to vote for religious wackos who can't shut up about abortion and gays. It's pretty much the same story throughout the country where the Republican Party has collapsed since the 1980s.

So we can expect to see state Republican Parties in liberal-leaning 'blue' states start endorsing marriage equality, but it really doesn't mean a whole lot. These parties have hit rock-bottom already, they are desperately flailing around now. They don't have any influence, they know equality in their state is inevitable, and just want to tag along for the ride in the hopes that it will convince voters they are sane on social issues. It's the national party that sets the agenda, and at the RNC in 2012 they authored the most aggressively anti-gay and hateful Republican platform ever. When you voted for Mitt Romney or to send a Republican to Congress, that's what you voted for.