Jonathan Rauch, a personal favorite, has a moving piece in the National Journal on the “Moral Crossroads” that Republicans face as gay marriage goes mainstream. When public opinion reaches critical mass in favor of civil marriage equality, as it most assuredly will, and bigotry towards homosexuals becomes as socially unacceptable as racism, what will Maggie Gallagher have to say for herself? 

Peter Sprigg and Maggie Gallagher are cut from different cloths in some respects–Sprigg condemns homosexuality, whereas Gallagher accepts it–but they have in common what they offer to couples like Mike and Bill: silence. The same is true of nearly all other prominent opponents of same-sex marriage. (David Blankenhorn of the Institute for American Values is an honorable exception.)

If gay couples can’t be allowed to marry, what should they be able to do? Asked this question, cultural conservatives say, in the words of Tom Lehrer’s song about the German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, “That’s not my department.” Effectively, conservatives are saying that what Mike and Bill do for each other has no significance outside their own bedroom.

Read the whole piece.