"I was wrong about same-sex marriage." D. Frum

Former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, David Frum, wrote those words on his CNN blog.

I was a strong opponent of same-sex marriage. Fourteen years ago, Andrew Sullivan and I forcefully debated the issue at length online . . . Yet I find myself strangely untroubled by New York state's vote to authorize same-sex marriage -- a vote that probably signals that most of "blue" states will follow within the next 10 years.

I don't think I'm alone in my reaction either. Most conservatives have reacted with calm -- if not outright approval -- to New York's dramatic decision.

Why?

The short answer is that the case against same-sex marriage has been tested against reality. The case has not passed its test.

Since 1997, same-sex marriage has evolved from talk to fact.

If people like me had been right, we should have seen the American family become radically more unstable over the subsequent decade and a half.

Instead -- while American family stability has continued to deteriorate -- it has deteriorated much more slowly than it did in the 1970s and 1980s before same-sex marriage was ever seriously thought of.

This is the truly astounding thing about this New York vote: the growing shift of some Republicans to support for same-sex marriage, including some of the heaviest funding of the campaign to pass the new law. Ken Mehlman, former Bush campaign manager and head of the RNC, was one of the primary Republican fund raisers and activists behind the scenes.

In 2003, moderate/conservative David Brooks wrote a New York Times column on why conservatives ought to insist on gay marriage, not oppose it. His idea was about fostering stability of relationships, which he deemed a conservative value. Brooks must have gotten a lot of negative feedback from fellow conservatives. To my knowledge (and I've been watching for it), he has never referred to it again -- nor have I seen any other reference to that column since I read it at the time. I still have my copy of it.

The tide seems to be turning in conservative support. Either, like David Frum, because they see the collapse of any rationale for opposing it or, as seems to have been the case with some conservatives in New York, because they see the political advantage to supporting rights.

Now isn't THAT a refreshing thing ? ! ! !

Ralph