Reply #18: It's not just a democratic issue

[HFishbine]

Check out this surprising pleasure. Last night I was invited to a brainstorming session for a candidate running for city council. Although it is a non-partisan race, I soon learned that the candidate is a registered republican.

As the eveniing was winding down, I brought up the last issue on my list with the caveat that the candidate may want to at least think about this. My suggestion was to include in his platform chaniging the city's hiring policy to prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians (no, our city does not yet have such a policy).

The candidate was right there with me. He agreed without any debate. He recognized it as an issue of fundemntal fairness. Now, while I recognize that this is far from gay marriages (something the city council can't do anything about anyway), the point is that a republican candidate is willing to stand up for equal treatment of gays and lesbians as part of his campaign.

Republicans have gay friends and family (some, I dare say, may be gay themselves). They are not all comfortable with the idea of denying gays and lesbians equal rights. If the republican party takes up the banner of denying equal rights to people because of their sexual preferences, they are going to lose voters, not gain them. The dems would be wise to recognize that some of our "liberal" issues have appeal to republicans.