Interesting perspective from Paul Thornton at the Los Angeles Times. GOP presidential candidates will engage in gay-bashing, but their homophobic views engender mocking, not serious discussion. That's a big change:
Could this be the biggest gay-bashing election in recent history? Doubtful, since President George W. Bush set such a high bar in 2004. Quite the contrary: Call me an optimist, but I see such highly publicized gay-baiting as a positive development.
Why? Not so long ago, the virulently homophobic views offered by some candidates were treated almost as viable alternatives to the positions taken by less anti-gay politicians. It was as if all those views came from the same menu of Reasonable Points of View Worth Debating. Now, the radical ideas espoused by Bachmann, Perry, Santorum and others are held up not for genuine consideration but for scorn (notwithstanding the last GOP debate in Iowa). Perry's and Bachmann's views aren't weighed against President Obama's "evolving" stance on same-sex marriage; rather, they are simply ridiculed. It says as much about our society as it does the candidates.
It gets better indeed.
As we've noted many times, the trendline is moving in our direction -- and moving fast. Blatant homophobia might still appeal to the hard-core haters in Iowa, but it's a bad strategy overall.
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