I come not to mock Rob Portman

This is the big news of the morning. Republican Senator Rob Portman now supports gay marriage because he found out his own son is teh ghey.

Portman, an Ohio Republican, made the stunning revelation just a week before the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments on a 1996 federal law asserting that gay marriage is not legal, a measure that Portman co-sponsored as a member of the U.S. House.

This, of course, unleashed a tsunami of snark on the intertoobz. Me, I'm not willing to give the man any huge huzzahs for coming out as it were because I agree the timing is just a little too convenient. Also, it's not exactly a full-throated endorsement for equal marriage rights:

But like former President Bill Clinton, who signed the law, Portman now wants Congress to invalidate the law’s declaration that marriage is between a man and a woman. Instead, Portman said he would prefer that it be left to the states to decide the definition of marriage.

Sure leaving it up to the states now run by crackpot conservatives is going to be a big game changer.

Nonetheless, I'm not willing to criticize him too much because it does help over the long term. This is how society changes. I remember when it was absolutely scandalous for a man and woman to cohabitate outside of holy matrimony. Still recall the first couple I heard about who did it. It was spoken of in whispers, only among the closest family and friends. It was a huge deal that they put both their names on the mailbox. Even divorce was a big taboo only 50 years ago.

Took a generation or two before these things became socially acceptable. It happens in exactly this way. One preachy moralist at a time finding a path to tolerance. And that first step is almost always taken because it happens in the family. So, while I don't feel much like lauding Portman, neither will I mock him. No matter what his motivation, it's not an easy thing for him to do and every little bit really does help over time.