Another Republican Leader Tells GOP to Back Off of Same-Sex Marriage

Yet another moderate Republican spoke at the Log Cabin Republican convention urging the GOP to get out of the marriage business. Who was it? Former New Jersey governor Christine Whitman.

"I am not saying to Christian conservatives, 'There is no place for you,'" she said. "I am saying, 'Please stop saying there is no place for us.'"

"The government should have no say about marriage, and the plank in the Republican Party platform that calls for preserving marriage between a man and a woman should be scrapped," CNSNews reported her as saying.

“Well, I am somebody who believes in the separation of church and state and that the government, frankly, ought to be out of the business of marriage entirely,” Whitman told CNSNews.com after her speech.

“It ought to be everybody – heterosexual, homosexual. When you go down and register to get married, that’s when the legal transfer of everything occurs and that’s a legal recognition of a relationship – and if you want to get married in a church, a temple, whatever, and you find one, great!” she said.

Is there a growing trend in the GOP leadership towards being more inclusive?

The National Journal did a recent insider poll about their beliefs on where their party should stand on same-sex marriage. It indicates that the Republican party is far from agreeing with the former governor.

Some specific responses from the Republicans:

My party should support it:

"Perception of complete hostility to all gay rights is killing the GOP among voters under 29. Evolve or perish, Republicans."

My party should oppose it:

"Our party's defense of traditional marriage is one of those issues that distinctly define us. But we have to argue for traditional marriage, as opposed to just railing against gay marriage."

"Homosexuality should not be encouraged, period."

Unfortunately for Steve Schmidt, Meghan McCain and Christine Whitman, not many in their party is listening. If they really want to bring effective change to the GOP, which is increasingly losing touch with the country, then they have a lot of work to do.

And I fully encourage them to keep it up.