SALON

Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 6:56 PM UTC

Director of Log Cabin Republicans: You can thank Mitt Romney for recent marriage equality gains

Gregory Angelo thinks Mitt Romney's 2012 defeat was a tipping point on gay marriage, not Barack Obama's reversal

By

Topics: Gay Marriage, Mitt Romney, Gay Rights, Marriage equality, Barack Obama, Rob Portman, , ,

Director of Log Cabin Republicans: You can thank Mitt Romney for recent marriage equality gainsMitt Romney(Credit: AP)

President Barack Obama publicly backed marriage equality in May 2012, reaffirmed his position in his second inaugural address and had his administration file pro-gay marriage briefs in both the Prop 8 and Defense of Marriage Act Supreme Court cases. In the months since, politicians from both parties have come out in support of gay marriage, and many advocates view the president’s reversal on equal marriage as a tipping point for other lawmakers, even among Republicans.

But not Gregory Angelo, the executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans. He credits Mitt Romney’s tone-deaf position on these issues and his crushing defeat in the 2012 election for slowly (seriously slowly) bringing the GOP around to marriage equality, as he told the Advocate:

“With this recent group of Republicans, I wouldn’t say it was Barack Obama; it was Mitt Romney [that swayed them],” says Gregory Angelo, Log Cabin Republicans’ executive director. “It was the crushing defeat of 2012. Voters did not appreciate the Republican messaging on marriage equality.” Now Republicans are concerned with winning the next election and some believe digging in their heels on this issue will not help.

“This is just getting the Republican Party in line with the preponderance of the nation that supports marriage rights and equal rights for same-sex couples,” Angelo says.

But another top Republican operative is dubious of Romney’s, or Obama’s, ultimate influence: “I think that most of the signers of the brief, like other Americans who have increasingly embraced the freedom to marry, are most impacted by what they see in their own lives,” former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman told the Advocate. “That’s how change so often occurs — people reflecting on their core values and also their experiences,” he added.

Mehlman may, ultimately, have the stronger point. Because if Angelo is right and the GOP is genuinely concerned with winning over the majority of voters who now support gay marriage, they are doing a really, really terrible job of it.

Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com. More Katie Mcdonough.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 6 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Facebook has been used to find ex-lovers, childhood BFFs or the one who got away. He used it to find the guy who, without his consent, made him his drug mule.
249 points250 points | 23 comments
vote
“This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann”
165 points166 points | 75 comments
vote
Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary” - 29% say they believe they'll have to act "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few years
49 points50 points | 18 comments
vote
"New evidence reveals big banks still illegally foreclosing on thousands of homes – and weak settlement allows it."
28 points29 points | comment
vote
Are millennials delusional? New research suggests that members of "Generation Me" are warped by a profound sense of entitlement
26 points27 points | 16 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations