Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

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Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 10:16am

Republican Rob Portman announces his support for same-sex marriage in a personal & revealing column, writing 'something happened' to change his view.
SOURCE

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 12:38pm

Did he think we didn't exist until he found out his son was one of us? Or did it just not matter? I'm not going to fault someone for coming around to the right side of this issue, but I do always find it a little distressing that most conservatives won't take an enlightened view on this issue until it begins to concern a member of his own family.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 1:03pm

Sometimes that's what it takes. Being forced into a perspective they were previously unwilling to acknowledge. Is that the way it should be? I don't think so, but reality is rarely how I view things should be.

“It allowed me to think of this from a new perspective, and that’s of a dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have – to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years,” Portman told reporters during that interview.

Those who oppose LGBT equality simply don't want to think that way. Gays are "those other people" who are not like them and should not be like them. And they have no reason to think otherwise until it hits them over the head in a very personal way.

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 1:38pm

I personally don't care what it took, I'm glad he took the 'right' side (at least from my perspective). He could have rejected his son-lots of parents of gay and lesbian kids do. I admire him for accepting his son and being big enough to admit his view might have been wrong.

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 2:26pm

Maybe we need to be doing a lot more converting of GOP Leaders' kids, if that's what it takes.

I guess he'd support the Voting Rights Act if one of his kids turned out to be black.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 2:38pm

I'm with Dreaming. At least he WAS able to change his views -- how many parents (whether or not they are politicians)do not allow themselves to reconsider their beleifs.

Let's just be glad that there is another one ON our side.

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 2:41pm

Well, he's sort of on our side on one issue at best. Let's not forget that he's still a Republican. He's voted the Party line very consistently, and was apparently one of the lead contenders to be Mitt's VP pick.

"But what Portman is telling here is that on this one issue, his previous position was driven by a lack of compassion and empathy. Once he looked at the issue through his son's eyes, he realized he was wrong. Shouldn't that lead to some broader soul-searching?"

Not likely.
An Interesting Take

Updated On: 3/15/13 at 02:41 PM

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 2:45pm

“Well what did Sen. Portman expect when he sent his son to Yale?”

I'm not sure which article was posted, but this one from ThinkProgress has some gems from today's CPAC. The above quote is from a guy named David Kern.

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 2:47pm

Think Progress (with video!)

#10

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 2:51pm

An interesting article below, with a memorable quoted tweet:

"Rob Portman converts to vegetarianism after watching BABE."
Don't Expect Too Much More Of This Empathy Stuff

#11

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 3:06pm

Can his son come out as uninsured, too?

#12

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 5:30pm

Roscoe, your comment wins.

I saw this comment on Gawker, and this kind of sums up how I feel:

On the one hand, I want to be happy to win another heart to acceptance of people as people where they couldn't connect before, and I'm happy this man's son might have checked his dad on his narrow definitions of love and challenged him to expand them.

On the other hand, this is what bothers me: when you discriminate against people for who they are, what they do, what they believe and who they love even when none of that hurts you at all because it's just not your way, and you will only change your mind when it affects your personal life (and thereby your sense of self), are you not just continuing to be a selfish creature? In other words, something in me is just screaming right now, "Compassion: you're doin' it wrong."

#13

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 7:02pm

It's always good to have another person on the side of equality, but given that Portman almost was Romney's VP candidate, he doesn't seem to really care that much if he was willing to run with a man who doesn't support his son in any way at all.

I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.

#14

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 7:06pm

And if his kid hadn't turned out to be gay, I guess he'd still be anti-gay? I just think it's time to stop applauding people for stuff like this.

#15

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 7:17pm

This basically was the plot of X-Men: Magneto built the wave that turned people gay, er, mutant to pave the way for gay, er, mutant domination.

good to know it would have worked if it wasn't for those meddlesome kids.

#16

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 7:31pm

Phyllis, my feelings are divided almost in half. Part of me agrees with you--his feelings are still essentially ones of self-interest.

On the other hand, it's hard to admit you're wrong--particularly for a politician. And I don't think it's going to gain him very much politically.

So I end up back in the middle. I guess if I had to vote for preferring he said it or didn't say it, I'd choose preferring he said it.

#17

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 8:33pm

He's known his son was gay since at least 2011...
I wonder why it took him 2 years to get here.

Updated On: 3/15/13 at 08:33 PM

#18

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 8:52pm

Yep, there's that, too.

#19

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 8:55pm

I guess it took him two years to decide that since he his son said it wasn't a choice for him, maybe it wasn't a choice for a lot of other people, too.

Good for the kid that his dad is supportive, but like I said above, I'm over acting like just not being an a-hole about gay people is something to celebrate.

#20

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/15/13 at 11:56pm

There was a time when a father in Portman's position could very well have disowned a gay son, or at the very least ignored his existence and continued spewing homophobia for the sake of politics, and that would have been a fairly mainstream choice. So yeah, things have changed in a substantive way here.

#21

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/16/13 at 2:35pm

Sure, but I still don't think he's someone to be lauded for not just not being a douche, politician or not.

#22

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/16/13 at 2:49pm

I made the mistake of reading the comments on this story on CNN.

Very sad and disturbing.

It's strange how conservatives seem to have instantly turned on him because of his son. None of them seemed bothered by the fact that Newt still loves his lesbian daughter.

"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>> “I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>> -whatever2

#23

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/16/13 at 2:56pm

Newt's sister is gay. Dick Cheney is the one with the gay daughter.

#24

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/16/13 at 3:20pm

Whatev's

Potato, Potato...

#25

Senator's dramatic reversal on gay rights

Posted: 3/16/13 at 4:19pm

Also, Newt still believes that gays should be second-class citizens.

"Reacting to Sen. Rob Portman’s sudden support of same-sex marriage, former GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Friday that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman ;no matter what politicians decide.'

“'Well, my stance hasn’t evolved. I observed in December that we’re faced with realities that are different than my personal beliefs,” Gingrich, a former House Speaker, said on CNN. “I believe as the Bible teaches, marriage is between a man and woman. I actually think that marriage is between a man and a woman no matter what politicians decide. I don’t think they have the power to change what is a religiously inspired definition.'”

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