If there are two things the Beltway media loves, it's crowing about "bipartisanship" and congratulating Republicans for (allegedly) making some kind of social progress. So the mainstream media swooned on Tuesday after 12 Republicans joined Senate Democrats to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that offers some protections for same-sex couples in the event that the Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage. Watching cable news or reading headlines, one would get the impression that after two decades of fighting LGBTQ rights at every turn, Republican hearts have suddenly grown two sizes, leading them to rally to protect the right for same-sex couples to get married.
"The GOP's same-sex marriage evolution," gushed a Politico headline. As most Republicans voted against same-sex marriage, this was caveated as a "slow, choppy tidal shift," but the implication that we're heading toward an inevitable endpoint, where Republicans stop opposing equal rights for LGBTQ people, remained.
