This is just fascinating (thanks to Kristen). I’ve always been intrigued by the ways people change their long-held beliefs. Representative Marie P. St. Fleur and Senator Marian Walsh, both Catholics, changed their minds about gay marriage, and now will support it.
But check out the reasons given: they’re not secular and civic appeals to the limits of religion in the public sphere, analogous to Kerry’s views on abortion. Instead, they really seem to have tapped into the essential core of decency in their faith, in spite of the teachings of the church establishment. For those of us on the left, let us not forget that these folks are stuck in the middle of the fray, and that they are demonstrating great courage.
Here’s St. Fleur:
"I absolutely see myself as a faithful Catholic, but all that I’ve been taught as a Catholic suggests I am supposed to embrace people who are different, and particularly those who are marginalized. I didn’t ever see my faith as one that taught me to ostracize people because they were different from me."
Wow. Thanks Marie and Marian.
So what did you make of A.G. Tom O’Reilly’s decision to move toward the light? Politically informed or Pollitically motivated? Does it matter?
Nope, doesn’t matter to me why he changed his mind (or didn’t change, as the case may be). It’s a politician’s job to be responsive. See my post here.My position is that we need to lower the political cost of people changing their minds on this issue, not say to them, “You should have been with us all along!!” Maybe that’s true, and I wouldn’t blame pro-marriage folks for supporting another candidate who they think has been more consistently with them. But it seems awfully perverse to maintain hostility towards someone who has come around to your position. Apparently that’s happened, too. Very very unforunate: what about the next pols that want to change their position? What if they feel like they’ve got nothing to gain politically from us, so they remain in opposition? We’ve got to give them a political incentive to change their minds. Politicians are like dogs: they need discipline, by a strict and consistent system of reward and punishment :)Also, this issue is still very close, even in true-blue MA. Folks who support civil rights don’t have the luxury to refuse allies, even latecomers to the party.