How Many House Democrats Are Still Unevolved On LGBT Equality?

Boehner happily swearing in a very unevolved Pete Gallego (D-TX), the one freshman Blue Dog

With Bill Nelson (D-FL) finally getting on board the equality train there are no Democratic senators left except for ones who probably go back and forth in their minds every night about whether they should switch to the Republican Party or not, like the idiot from Arkansas who bragged on film about his sadly low IQ. He also has the lowest score on LGBT equality issues of any Democrat in the Senate, a 50%, same as Susan Collins (R-ME), closet case Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and John McCain (R-AZ). Aside from Pryor, the only unevolved Democrats on this matter are arch-conservatives from red states: Tim Johnson (SD), Mary Landrieu (LA) and Joe Manchin (WV). I suspect Landrieu's reticence-- cowardice?-- to embrace equality will hurt her badly with her New Orleans base and she'll lose her reelection bid in 2014. She's using an ass-backwards strategy that is always a loser for Democrats; Republicans have their own candidates and they're not going to rally around a Democrat just because she's reluctantly anti-gay. Tom Johnson is retiring so it will be interesting to see how his son Brendan, a probable candidate for the seat, handles the issue.

The evolution of conservative House members has gotten less attention than conservative senators like Mark Kirk (R-IL), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Bob Casey (D-PA) announcing they've come around. One longtime homophobe with a miserable record on LGBT issues has been Blue Dog Jim Cooper, whose Nashville district is far more evolved than he is. Recently he gave up on the bigotry too though and announced he would back marriage equality. Until now, Cooper has had a dismal lifetime crucial vote score of 28.57 on LGBT issues, worse than libertarian-leaning Republicans. We had a hint Cooper had started evolving last July when homophobic fanatic Steve King (R-IA) proposed an amendment to a defense budget that would prevent gay soldiers from marrying on bases. Although 17 of Cooper's Blue Dog and ConservaDem colleagues backed King, Cooper actually voted with the Democrats. Several of the 17 who voted with King have since been defeated in primaries and general elections but 9 remain in the House today-- John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA), Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA), Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX), Gene Green (TX), Dan Lipinksi (IL), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC), Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN) and Nick Rahall (WV). A tenth, Blue Dog homophobe Joe Donnelly is now in the Senate; he endorsed marriage equality on his Facebook page yesterday. There are also two freshmen who have been elected since then who campaigned on anti-equality platforms, Bill Enyart (IL) and Pete Gallego (Blue Dog-TX).

There's still some hope for more evolution from some of this lot, though. When the GOP tried to strip protection for gays and lesbians out of the domestic violence legislation in February, only 2 Democrats voted with the GOP-- anti-gay fanatics Mike McIntyre and Dan Lipinski. 60 Republicans voted with the Democrats against the amendment.

Echoing a growing number of Democratic politicians, Rep. Jim Cooper said Tuesday his support for gay marriage developed over his years in office and that he sees the issue mattering for economic development as well as civil rights.

Tennessee Republicans, meanwhile, continued to express opposition while saying the issue is one for the states.

The comments of Cooper, a Nashville Democrat, came in an interview and followed his prepared statement from the day before in which he said he favors recognition of same-sex marriages while recognizing some churches may continue to object.

"We're just talking about civil marriages here," he emphasized again Tuesday.

"A number of groups are trying to figure out what to do," he said. "The nation is working its way through this now."

He added, "My views have evolved over time."

..."My denomination changed its mind (on gay marriage)," he said of the Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal House of Bishops, meeting in a national convention in July 2012, OK'd priests blessing same-sex couples but stipulated a blessing did not equate to approving marriage. The latter remained a matter for civil authorities, it said.

Cooper said he was also pleased to see Davidson County adopt a policy that prohibits private-sector firms wanting county business from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender.

"The principle of non-discrimination is important," he said.

And if firms from states that recognize gay marriage want to relocate offices and employees to Tennessee, the congressman said, they may want assurances such marriages will be accepted in the Volunteer State.

"We need to be as welcoming in Tennessee as we can be," Cooper said.

Tennessee, however, adopted a state constitutional amendment in 2006 that says marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

Congressional records show Cooper voted in 2006 for a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman as well.

Every Blue America candidate favors marriage equality, of course. Yesterday I asked the Democrat running against John Boehner in western Ohio if he feels this is an issue people in his district are playing attention to. He does-- and he's very aware that his position is very different from Boehner's. Andy Hounshell: "I want everyone to have the opportunity to be as happy as my wife and I are. It's not just about saying you are married either. There is much more to it than that. You have to be legally married to receive medical benefits, survivor benefits, etc. There is no logical reason why two consenting adults should be denied the same opportunity that I have."