Rob Portman becomes only GOP Senator to endorse gay marriage.

[Mr. Morden]

To be clear, Portman still says that he opposes gay marriage being imposed on all 50 states at the federal level.  His new position is that he wants DOMA repealed and the federal government to recognize same sex marriages in states where they're legal, but wants each state to be able to decide for itself how to define marriage, and hopes they all include same sex marriage in said definition.

So his position is more or less a mirror image of Marco Rubio's, who's also embraced the federalist position, but says that his preference is for states to exclude same sex marriage from their definition.

In any case, the question now is whether Portman will pay much of any political price for being the first GOP senator to back gay marriage.  My guess is that he won't, which begs the question as to whether this will start a chain reaction, that leads to several other Republicans backing it as well.

[Mr. Morden]

Certainly preferrable to "I opposed same-sex marriage until my pollsters told me not to."

Indeed.  Is Portman's shift really "worse" than Obama's?

[Mr. Morden]

Incidentally, while Portman is the only *current* Republican US Senator to support gay marriage, I believe there was one other who came out for it while still in office, and is now no longer in the Senate.  Anyone know who it is?

[Mr. Morden]

Incidentally, while Portman is the only *current* Republican US Senator to support gay marriage, I believe there was one other who came out for it while still in office, and is now no longer in the Senate.  Anyone know who it is?

Lincoln Chafee.

Correct.

[Mr. Morden]

Josh Barro on why Portman's son will make it harder for gay marriage opponents to go after him on this, and put them in an uncomfortable position:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-15/how-rob-portman-will-change-the-gay-marriage-debate.html

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[Mr. Morden]

Some CPAC reactions;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NVw7xnIMY4&feature=player_embedded

Well in this unscientific sample of 4 people, we have two evangelical ministers, one who thinks that sodomy is evil, and another who thinks gays should never have come out of the closet. Was the taker of the videos cherry picking in order to embarrass?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Do you really think these reactions aren't typical?  Do you think even 10% of the people who attend CPAC support gay marriage?

Never been to CPAC, but I'd guess that there's a significant fraction of people there who are apathetic on gay marriage.  I mean, it is more movement conservatives than "Religious Right" types, and a decent share of those there are young people.

Incidentally, Politico has an interesting story on the "GOP elites vs. the base" on gay marriage:

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/gop-elite-embraces-portmans-gay-marriage-switch-88936.html?hp=t3_3

[Mr. Morden]

Will Portman speaks:

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/03/25/portman-coming-out/