In the Family

Love or Ideology? Heart or Strategy?

E.J. Dionne Jr. shares my skepticism about Dick Cheney's sudden discovery of his heart last week at a moment that perfectly coincided with the adoption of the harshest anti-gay platform the Republicans could have conceivably written. He uses the synchronicity of the two events to discuss his own feelings on gay marriage and, more specifically, those of his Catholic mother after she discovered that her godson is gay. As Dionne says,

When my mother discovered my cousin was gay--she was, I think, early among the relatives to know this--she not only accepted the fact, she embraced him and his partner. And she became a committed supporter of gay rights simply because she believed that any attack on gays constituted an attack on her godson.

That story, for me, is the reason why my side of this issue will eventually win the day. I expect nothing less from my own family members than Dionne's cousin got from his, and in a world where more and more gay people are out to their families, it's harder and harder to imagine that intolerance will remain a politically expedient message very far into the future. As the Republican Convention dawns today, that's a reason to have hope.