Top Republicans Support Same-Sex Marriage

In an article in USA Today, 80 top Republican leaders, including many from the G.W. Bush administration, came out in favor of gay marriage by urging the Supreme Court to support gay marriage rights in upcoming cases at the court.  The article says:

More than 80 prominent leaders will file a friend of the court brief this week in advance of the justices hearing oral arguments in two gay marriage cases. These Republicans are essentially saying gay couples have a constitutional right to marry and want the court to strike down California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage.

The signers currently include former governors Jon Huntsman of Utah, Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey and William Weld of Massachusetts; former White House chief of staff Ken Mehlman and former national security adviser Stephen Hadley; and retired members of Congress, such as Mary Bono Mack of California and Deborah Pryce of Ohio.   Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman is also on record as backing the legal brief, which is a change of her previous position.

Republicans should support same-sex marriage for the following reasons:

• We should support any and all of our fellow citizens who want to INCREASE their personal responsibility and personal commitment to others, however they define them. This should be applauded not denied.  
• Opposition to same-sex marriage has the effect of persecuting some our fellow citizens. This persecution does the worse possible damage during stressful times of debilitating illness or death by denying same-sex couples important legal rights that are granted to hetero couples.  Remember, in Christian ethics, to love is always right and failure to love is always wrong.  Persecution and denial of basic rights is a failure to love.
• Denying same-sex partners the right to marriage, which has the effect of ostracizing and persecuting them, does nothing to change their orientation or behavior---it just makes their already difficult life more difficult.  And for what?   Gay opponents can't condemn same-sex partners for their frivolous lifestyle and lack of commitment AND then deny them the means to make lasting commitments!  They can't have it both ways.
• There isn't the slightest shred of evidence that same-sex marriage does anything harmful to the existing institution of marriage.  Same-sex marriages will always be a small number in the general population, say less than 1% of total married couples, so there's no threat to the majority.  
• Speaking of the majority, same-sex marriages should be protected by the Constitution to overcome the "tyranny of the majority."

Some readers might have a negative opinion of gay folks.  However, the reality is that you likely already love a gay person.  There's always a gay member of the family or gay friend of the family that is already loved or held in high esteem. You just don't know it because they are embarrassed to tell you due to excessive stigma in this culture.