Deal breaker

The immigration bill is back in the news. Congress has returned from a break and it looks like the Senate takes up immigration next.

When Obama outlined his version of the bill a couple months ago it included gays, specifically that a gay citizen is able to sponsor a non-citizen partner or spouse for a green card. But that small provision is missing from the bill written by the bipartisan "Gang of Eight." Why? Because the GOP has declared that provision to be a deal breaker. Include it and the whole package is dead. That view has been stated by Marco Rubio, the senator of the Gang of Eight who has been quite visible pushing the bill.

The response from some gay rights groups: Really? The GOP is crawling all over this bill to regain standing with Latinos after their disaster last November and a whiff of gay taint is enough to toss away that goal? The GOP hates gays that much? Hey, guys, gay equality is not the hot-button issue you're portraying it to be. Don't blame us for your dysfunction.

Some suspect the GOP is hoping Latinos will blame gays for the failure instead of blaming the GOP. Others note gay inclusion might not matter if the Supremes rule in our favor in June.