Free Republic

Look behind the incredible speed of same-sex marriage judicial victories, including Monday’s Supreme Court decision, and you’ll find federal employees. They are not high-profile politicians or appointed officials. You won’t find them on the Sunday morning talk shows or in the national headlines. But they have been in the vanguard of the marriage equality movement even as they toil in their everyday, low-key jobs. The first lawsuit against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, was filed in 2009 by a postal worker in Massachusetts.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says its doctrine on marriage will remain unchanged despite Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized gay marriage in five states, including Utah, and opened the door for legalization in six more. “As far as the civil law is concerned, the courts have spoken,” the church said in a statement reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision. “Church leaders will continue to encourage our people to be persons of good will toward all, rejecting persecution of any kind based on race, ethnicity, religious belief or nonbelief, and differences in sexual orientation.” In...

Karl Rove recently tried to advise Republicans on how the party can more effectively take back the Senate in November. He made two main suggestions. One was that Republican candidates must “make the case for electing someone new who will be a check and balance in the Senate on Mr. Obama and his agenda, rather than returning a Democratic loyalist who toes his line.” Rove’s second suggestion was that the party should “offer a positive, optimistic conservative agenda to make independents who disapprove of Mr. Obama comfortable voting Republican.” Rove is right on both counts, especially about offering a positive...