Focus on the Family (FOTF) President Jim Daly is having trouble making up his mind on the conservative fight for same-sex marriage. Last month he conceded that opponents of equality had lost, then reversed his concession in two columns that same week. Now, he has conceded again. Follow the flips and flops as Daly tries to balance being rational and appeasing the anti-gay FOTF members he serves:
– 5/23 — “We Probably Lost”: “We’re losing on that one, especially among the 20- and 30-somethings: 65 to 70 percent of them favor same-sex marriage. I don’t know if that’s going to change with a little more age — demographers would say probably not. We’ve probably lost that.”
– 5/25 — “No White Flag”: “So, let me be clear: I am not waving a white flag. I’m not even contemplating picking one up. There is still much work to be done by those of us in the faith community to advocate for marriage as it has been defined, and practiced, by every civilized society for millennia.”
– 6/9 — “Yeah, It’s Over”: “What I was trying to say in that interview, when the question was asked about the younger generation, is you can’t deny the stats. So when you’re looking at that and they’re saying 65 to 70 percent of those under 40 or 35 — I can’t remember exactly — support same-sex marriage, if that does not change within that community as they become 50 or 60, yeah it’s over.”
It looks like Daly finally settled back on the most sensible answer. As we reported earlier today, younger people support marriage equality at strikingly higher rates than their elders. Still, it’s unlikely Focus is going to stop bullying the LGBT community, even if their leader has the focus to see how out of touch such beliefs are.