(OKLAHOMA CITY) Earlier this evening I had a conversation with some gentlemen who happen to be gay Republicans.  Although I respect everyone's right to choose political affiliations, I generally assume the choice is one based on reason as opposed to tradition or some form of tunnel vision.  Self-identified gay Republicans can take the most anti-gay Republican idea, statement, or action, and go through logical gymnastics to show how it is best for the big picture.

These gentlemen saw no double standard whatsoever when it came to hiding the present vice president's daughter and partner, Mary and Heather, so as not to offend homo-hating sensibilities.  Contrast this with the welcome extended so far, and the potential for national exposure and praise, to the father of the Republican vice-presidential candidate's grandchild by her unmarried daughter, Bristol.

Yes, there is a promise of a marriage, but when I grew up, promises meant nothing, and if someone impregnated the daughter of someone in the parish the couple showed up on Friday night with their parents for the shot gun wedding.  If someone was found to have a wedding date that was a Friday, everyone knew what had happened.

Like it or not the guy had to "man-up". There was no promise.  The girl was pregnant now, so you made the kid legitimate now, and the father became the father now, not some future date.  What?  Is a cute church wedding in the plans of the Palin family?
 
What is the message sent to American high school students when a jock knocks up the governor's daughter?  He now stands on an international stage, the world watching, and can have the biggest  locker room brag in the history of high school Monday mornings.
 
It seems in the Republican Palin family jock sex under the bleachers is a sacred thing provided you tell your mother and the guy promises to make it right at some future, unspecified date.  What would be an abomination for the poor and those of racial minorities if they did it, is somehow a wonderful event with an aura of purity if you're a Republican.

"It happens in lots of families," is now the politique de jour. Yet a stable, long-time loving relationship between two people of the same gender is not as honorable as, in spite of an emphasis on abstinence only, the football jock getting lucky with not just anyone's daughter, but a governor's daughter.  Marriage is a sacred thing, sometimes, for some people.
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I want to thank Joe Quigley as a major contributor to this article.