HRC -- increasingly out of touch with America

It seems that each new press release from the Human Rights' Campaign (HRC) provides more evidence that this organization is "out of touch with the American public." While I join HRC in denouncing the federal government's payments to columnist Maggie Gallagher, I wonder at the overheated rhetoric of its release.

HRC's Political Director Winnie Stachelberg claims that "Gallagher seems deeply out-of-touch with most of the parents for whom she purports to advocate." Ms. Stachelberg seems obsessed with defining Republicans and their advocates in the media as being out of touch with America. Yet, very often the American people in various states and districts have elected these allegedly "out-of-touch" Republicans to office, often by comfortable margins.

Once again, the problem is that, in many cases, opponents of same-sex marriage are not out of touch with the American people. I dare say Ms. Gallagher speaks for millions of American parents who are uncomfortable with the idea of gay marriage. Instead of calling her out of touch, we need to understand why so many Americans share her views.

It is HRC which remains out of touch with the American people. Indeed, its committee to select a new executive director isn't even representative of the gay community. The only Republican on the committee gives money to Democrats while approximately one in four gay and lesbian Americans voted to reelect our Republican president.

Another example of how out of touch HRC has become is the juvenile poll which today appears on their website. About the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA the proposed constitutional amendment, formerly known as the FMA), HRC asks, "What would be a better name for this amendment?" Voters can choose from the following options: "Misplaced Priorities Amendment", "Hurting American Families Amendment", "Promoting Federalism Amendment", "Right Wing Extremist Fundraising Amendment" and "Stamp out Diversity in America Amendment."

I'm trying to figure out what exactly this accomplishes. While HRC and its allied organizations are busy vilifying the opponents of gay marriage as "out of touch" and renaming the MPA, they should be talking to these opponents so they can better understand why so many people support the amendment. Let me repeat what I have written before though perhaps in different words, we need to figure out why, in every state where referenda defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman have been put on the ballot, they have passed, in some states by substantial margins.

Let's stop calling our opponents names and instead make every effort to understand their motives and to change their minds.