海角大神

Democrats flooded Twitter and email inboxes this week with praise for the聽watershed Supreme Court decision聽shielding gay, lesbian, and transgender people from job discrimination. Republicans 鈥� not so much.

The court's 6-3 ruling came just two days after an event that played out in the opposite direction. Freshman聽GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman, who鈥檇 officiated at a same-sex wedding, lost his party鈥檚 nomination in a conservative Virginia district.

The two developments underscored an election-year challenge facing the GOP: how to reconcile broad national support for LGBTQ protections, even among many Republicans, with fervent opposition from some of the party's die-hard conservative voters.

On Election Day, that question will be easily overshadowed by聽the moribund economy,聽the coronavirus pandemic, the interaction between聽race and violent police tactics,聽and by President Donald Trump himself. Still, the week's events point to a culture-war schism in the GOP that Democrats are happy to exploit, even as Republicans struggle to prevent moderate suburban voters from deserting them.

鈥淭his is something suburban voters support,鈥� said GOP pollster Glen Bolger. 鈥淎nd that is a group that Republicans are having challenges with.鈥�

Polling illustrates the GOP's dilemma.

In a December survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 62% of Americans overall said they backed banning discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people in workplaces, housing, and schools.

That included around 3 in 4 Democrats and nearly half of Republicans. That's a turnaround from more negative feelings people had two decades ago.

鈥淲ake up, my Republican friends, the times, they are a-changing,鈥� Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday.

Yet just 33% of white evangelical Protestants said they supported prohibiting broad LGBTQ discrimination. In a September 2019 survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, 61% of Americans said making same-sex marriage legal was good for society while 72% of white evangelical Protestants said it was bad.

Those voters are a crucial GOP bloc, especially in rural districts, and party leaders cross them at their own peril. The Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the Constitution ensures a right for same-sex couples to marry.

鈥淚t鈥檚 decided law鈥� but some Republicans are using same-sex marriage as a 鈥渄ivisive political tool,鈥� said Jerri Ann Henry, who resigned last year as executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBTQ members of the party.

Ms. Henry, a GOP strategist, said the battle over the issue is 鈥渢he exact thing that will further alienate suburban and independent voters.鈥�

Within hours of Monday's Supreme Court ruling, Democratic lawmakers unleashed a flood of statements hailing it. GOP reaction was harder to find, with top Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., mum.

Notably, praise came from two moderate GOP senators, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Maine鈥檚 Susan Collins.

鈥淎ll Americans deserve a fair opportunity to pursue the American dream,鈥� tweeted Ms. Collins, a four-term senator in her toughest reelection race. She called the decision 鈥渁 major advancement for LGBTQ rights.鈥�

Ms. Collins鈥� likely Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon, tweeted that the decision showed Ms. Collins 鈥渨ill continue to be a reliable vote for Trump鈥檚 anti-LGBTQ+ nominees.鈥� Ms. Gideon's focus was Ms. Collins' pivotal 2018 vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, which Democrats consider a major vulnerability for Ms. Collins. Mr. Kavanaugh voted against this week鈥檚 court ruling.

Other Republicans were less receptive to the court's decision.

Carrie Severino, president of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, suggested the ruling would motivate conservative voters eager to ensure that Congress, not courts, control the law.

鈥淭he Supreme Court is always a hugely important issue to conservatives,鈥� Ms. Severino said Tuesday.

If the court鈥檚 ruling wasn鈥檛 painful enough for Republicans, the opinion was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, Mr. Trump鈥檚 first Supreme Court appointee. Trump administration lawyers had argued on the side of employers who opposed lifting the discrimination ban.

Mr. Trump has voiced support for LGBTQ rights and appointed openly gay Richard Grenell to be acting director of national intelligence, though he鈥檚 since been replaced.

But Mr. Trump has also appointed numerous federal judges who opposed LGBTQ rights and rolled back federal protections for transgender people. And the GOP has embraced its 2016 party platform anew for this year鈥檚 campaign, a document that 鈥渃ondemns the Supreme Court鈥檚 lawless ruling鈥� that legalized same-sex marriage.

鈥淒onald Trump has racked up some firsts, and that sets the tone in the Republican Party,鈥� said Charles Moran, managing director of Log Cabin Republicans. But he added, 鈥淭here are definitely battles we still need to fight in some heartland areas鈥� of the country.

Mr. Riggleman learned that firsthand last weekend. His short-circuited attempt to be renominated to Congress demonstrated that while religious conservatives have gotten more attention lately for opposing abortion, battling same-sex marriage resonates for many.

A member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, Mr. Riggleman was endorsed by Mr. Trump and evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.

But he was defeated Saturday at a GOP nominating convention in rural Virginia that, amid the pandemic, was conducted by delegates who voted by driving up to a church near his opponent's home. It was the only polling location in a district that sprawls from northern Virginia to the North Carolina border.

Mr. Riggleman officiated at a wedding last summer of two of his male friends and campaign aides. He said that during Saturday's voting, a constituent asked him to repent for conducting that wedding. He said he responded he had nothing to repent for.

Mr. Riggleman said younger Republicans and those who've served in the military like himself don鈥檛 see gay marriage as an issue. He said if the GOP wants religious liberties protected, it must embrace civil liberties, too.

鈥淚f we can鈥檛 get over how other people live, I think the Republican Party is dead in Virginia,鈥� Mr. Riggleman said. And he voiced no regrets for officiating at the wedding.

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 change a damn thing," he said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽AP writers Emily Swanson in Washington; Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia; and Elana Schor in New York contributed to this report.

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