April 17, 2009, 9:51 am

Top G.O.P. Consultant Endorses Gay Marriage

If Steve Schmidt is for same-sex marriage, can Senate Republicans be far behind?

Well, yes. We don?t expect establishment Republicans in Washington ? or establishment Democrats, for that matter ? to suddenly endorse gay marriage. But in a possible sign of the momentum of the gay-marriage movement, Mr. Schmidt, who was a senior adviser to the Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, last year, is promoting gay marriage this afternoon.

He endorsed same-sex marriage last month, in an interview with the Washington Blade.

Today, Mr. Schmidt, who also served as a top Bush aide, discusses the subject with the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that supports gay rights. According to CNN, he will call on conservative Republicans to drop their opposition at a lunchtime speech in Washington.

Mr. Schmidt, who has a sister who is a lesbian, plans to say that there is nothing about gay marriage that is un-American or that threatens the rights of others and that in fact it is in line with conservative principles.

?There is a sound conservative argument to be made for same-sex marriage,? Mr. Schmidt plans to say, according to speech excerpts obtained by CNN. ?I believe conservatives, more than liberals, insist that rights come with responsibilities. No other exercise of one?s liberty comes with greater responsibilities than marriage.??

[The rest is here .]

[I posted something a few days ago about Catholic-convert Tony Blair's comments on the magisterial position on homosexuality.  This is from the April 18th edition of The Tablet:]

Mr Blair also asserted that most Catholics disagreed with the Pope when it came to homosexuality. "If you went and asked the congregation, I think you'd find that their faith is not to be found in those types of entrenched attitudes," he said.

A seasoned observer of Vatican affairs reported that these remarks had caused consternation in Rome because they were understood to imply that Mr Blair knew the Catholic world better than the Pope. "What really annoys people is the arrogance of dictating to the Pope and saying that his liberal class, liberal angle is more in tune with Catholics than the Vatican," said the source. There is a "huge tension between [Blair's] socially liberal politics and the Church he has joined - he has to square the circle of his views and his religion." A spokesman for Mr Blair told The Tablet this week that: "teaching and doctrine does evolve and is elaborated over time by successive generations".

Martin Pendergast, a steering group member of the Catholic caucus of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, who coordinates twice-a-month Masses for London's lesbian and gay Catholic community, thought Mr Blair had been right. "Tony Blair has simply echoed the views of many ordinary Catholics in this country, particularly those who have lesbian or gay family members," said Mr Pendergast. "As on many other contemporary issues, the Vatican becomes more and more isolated in its rhetoric, even from many of its priests and bishops."

James Alison, a Dominican theologian who has written on gay issues, said: "It was a breath of fresh air for it to be said in public what we all know: the Catholic faithful are by and large much more relaxed and friendly about gay people than is our clerical structure."

[The whole piece is here.]