While I do not want to touch off one of these divisive debates, which divert attention away the more immediate issues in today's politics, there is a palpable, if implied, fallacy in your argument, yesterday, which should at least deserve a more than passing comment.
The propensity of politicians (Left, Right or just eager for attention) to jump on bandwagons, can never justify the notion that basic moral or legal questions should simply be determined by "counting noses." The idea that Government should have the right to forbid citizens, able to afford to hire others with their own funds, from exercising their preferences for their kith & kin, or people who share their theological views or a common history, is not validated in respect to our cultural insights by politicians' climbing on bandwagons.
No it didn’t. LBJ had to turn to Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirkson (R.Ill.) to get the bill passed.
So you begin your post with a total lie (note your addressee list) and yet you expect anyone to believe the rest of it?
Why?
Ohioan: "The idea that Government should have the right to forbid citizens, able to afford to hire others with their own funds, from exercising their preferences for their kith & kin, or people who share their theological views or a common history, is not validated in respect to our cultural insights by politicians' climbing on bandwagons. "
Sure, that was the argument by opponents of the 1965 Civil Rights Act at the time, including, as listed by Pelham above: Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan & WF Buckley.
But most, including Buckley, later came to regret their opposition to such 1960s era laws.
So, it turns out that the only long-term opposition came from erstwhile Southern Democrats who now form some of the Republican political base.