Family Research Council vice president Tom McClusky yesterday appeared on The Janet Mefferd Show to discuss a Politico article on how same-sex marriage has become “virtually a dead issue” among the senior brass of the Republican Party. McClusky denied concerns that opposing marriage equality will make the GOP more unpopular by arguing that polls which show growing support for legalizing same-sex marriage are “skewered” [sic] because people are likely lying in opinion surveys out of fear that they would be criticized for revealing their true views to pollsters. “The other side is taking up the cause of bullying and it’s kind of ironic because they’ve really mastered the art of bullying,” McClusky argued, saying that gay rights supporters are trying to “silence” groups like the FRC:
McClusky pushed back against Republican politicians who wanted to prioritize economic issues over social ones, warning that society will “crumble” if same-sex marriage becomes legal:
Mefferd: Ultimately, why do you think this is an issue worth fighting for even if they dub it in the media as a losing issue, the gay marriage issue, why is it worth fighting for?
McClusky: Even more so than the economic issue this is a generational issue. I look at my nieces and nephews, I look at my wife and the children that we hope to have and I understand what would happen to society if marriage were to go away or to be redefined out of existence. Societies that try to do away with marriage, they crumble, they fall apart. We need to emphasize more on the family and without that fight the U.S. will just not be the U.S. anymore.
Mefferd: I unfortunately agree with you on that.
He even floated the creation of a third party composed of disgruntled conservative Republicans and black and Hispanic Democrats who would come together in opposition to gay rights and abortion rights:
Mefferd: If the GOP continues to go in a direction where they will not get on the side of traditional marriage and be willing to fight for it, what do Christians do?
McClusky: I think you will—there are always threats of a third party—I think if something like that were to happen you would see a third party. It would be made up of more than just disgruntled conservative Republicans. On the marriage issue there’s African Americans who normally vote Democratic, there’s Hispanics, and the same on the life issue, and there are a lot of good Democrats like say in the state legislature of New York who fought against same-sex marriage and Maryland who tried to, I think what you see is a lot of people drifting from both parties into a third party or some sort of independent party that is more pro-life and pro-marriage.
