The republican party for moral and political incentives should take a pro-gay rights stance.

I would like to begin by stating my main contentions and by defining my position. As the affirmative I believe that if the United States republican party were to take a pro-gay rights stance officially, it would be quite beneficial to the party in the respect that they would see an increase in support. I will support this with my contentions and arguments. First, I believe that because the republican party is a conservative party, they should take this stance to encourage less government interference in the personal lives of Americans. Second, the republican party could expect to see more independent voters cote republican during elections. Also I believe that pro-gay rights more so aligns with the traditional ideals of the republican party pre-twentieth century. Conservatism traditionally has been defined in politics as a sentiment of having minimal government interference in the day to day lives of citizens. Nowadays it is defined as wanting to stick to the traditional system and maintaining only the status quo. I would contend that the former definition is a much more universal and powerful political stance to take, after all it is the stance that the signers of the declaration of independence took and also the stance of political thinker John Locke, for whom many American values are based. I believe that preventing gays from getting married is a regulatory interference in the personal and economic lives of both homosexual citizens and the persons with the power to marry them, and is therefore anti-conservative. The republican party should take a pro-gay rights stance to increase voter support as well. Gallup polls show that 52% of Americans are in favor of gay rights(1). This may not seem like a very large majority but 31% of republicans are already in support of gay marriage (2). Since the republican party is not a single interest party, changing this one stance in the party could result in an increase in its vote base among all independent and third party voters and possibly even convince certain democratic party members to start voting republican. Many other notable conservatives such as Ron Paul and Former Vice President Dick Cheney and former first lady Laura Bush are all in favor of homosexual marriage. Before the twentieth century, the conservative parties stood for equality and minimal government interference in the personal lives of Americas. I ask you, why has that changed? I could not tell you for sure why some people think that being a conservative should be about fighting change rather than fighting for individual liberty and the freedom to pursue happiness. Are homosexuals people? Yes. Are they citizens of the United States of America? Yes! Should they therefore enjoy equal rights just the same as every other liberty loving individual in America? Yes! Should they therefore be allowed to pursue personal happiness and fulfillment? Yes! Should big government prevent that? I am a conservative and I say no! So for the sake of equality and for the good of the republican party, vote affirmative. 1. . http://www.gallup.com... 2. . http://www.people-press.org...