As I wrote yesterday on some other magazine's web site, the conservative argument on gay rights has gone from "It's not you, it's me" to "It's not me, it's them." After abandoning moral condemnation of gayness, the opponents of gay rights insisted that the problem wasn't gay people themselves, it was that straight people, confronted with gay people, felt all weird, and that's why those rights had to be restricted. So for instance, they argued that the ban on gay people serving in the military should be kept not because gay soldiers couldn't serve with distinction, but because their presence made straight soldiers uncomfortable. It's not you, it's me.
But now that has changed, to "It's not me, it's them." The oddest moment of this whole Indiana controversy was when Mike Pence, in his press conference on the issue, explained just how desperately he hates discrimination against gay people. "I don't support discrimination against gays or lesbians or anyone else," he said. "I abhor discrimination. I want to say this. No one should be harassed or mistreated because of who they are, who they love, or what they believe. I believe it with all my heart." Inspiring, and if you know Mike Pence's history on this issue, positively gobsmacking.
But that's where Republicans have come to. They still want to maintain the right of people to exercise their "conscience" in commercial transactions, but they also want everyone to know that they themselves would never, ever even consider discriminating in that fashion. If Mike Pence were a baker, he'd probably make nothing but cakes for gay weddings, so deeply committed is he to the principle of non-discrimination. It's not him, it's those other deeply religious people.
Is it sincere? In many cases I'm sure it isn't. I can't read anyone's mind, so I can't say for sure whether Pence experienced a genuine change of heart (though I have my suspicions). But that doesn't really matter; what's important isn't what politicians believe deep down, but what they do.
If you want a hint as to why the GOP is insisting that they themselves are so deeply offended by the thought of a butcher, baker, or candlestick maker refusing to serve a gay customer, even as they want to maintain the legal right to do so, look no further than this poll from the Public Religion Research Institute (h/t Sarah Posner):
I'd certainly like to see more polling on this question (and I'm sure some such polls are in the field right now), because I'm shocked at those numbers. Given how much we've been hearing about the terrible plight of anti-gay bakers and photographers, I would have thought that many more people would say yes to that question. You could certainly phrase it in ways that would produce higher numbers, but it's still striking.
If that's where public opinion really is, you can bet that more Republicans are going to evolve on this question, and right quick.