'Anti-gay stand will cost GOP long-term'

Some insights on the Republicans' gay-bashing from a new conservative blog, I Am The Force:

Most people in today's world have friends or family members who are gay. We should all be thankful to them for coming out of the closet and helping dispel ignorance and fear in the "straight" community. The Gundrum Republicans are wrong today because the gay couple down the street is no threat to you or your family. They are people, the same as you or I, who deserve to live their lives as they wish and be left alone to do so. The concept of toleration is even offensive and passe'. You shouldn't have to tolerate them, because there is nothing offensive to tolerate. Who they love and what they do in their sex lives is none of your business, and doesn't affect you and your family in any way. So there may be many people out there who still fear gays and lesbians, but that does not excuse a political party trying to exploit those fears for partisan political advantage. If you can't be okay with the private lives of others, well then, at minimum, just leave them alone. Is that too much to ask?

More and more regular people in Wisconsin and around the world are understanding this every day. And over time, the civil rights of homosexuals will become as solidly recognized as the civil rights of women and minorities. When George Wallace stood at that schoolhouse door to fight integration, he certainly experienced short term political gain from the white Jim Crow supporters of Alabama, but he was wrong nevertheless. And history will judge the Mark Gundrums of the world in the same manner. It is a shameful thing to condemn a sub-group of people in our society as second class citizens. The Republicans of Wisconsin are simply wrong on this issue, and they will eventually pay at the polls.

Read it all.