Some high-profile Republicans, including former governors and Congressmen are now supporting same-sex marriage.  More than eighty prominent members of the GOP will be included in a friend of the court brief this week, just prior to the US Supreme Court hearing two same-sex marriage cases. The brief asks the court to strike down California’s Proposition 8, defining marriage as one man and one woman.  Two lower courts have already declared Prop 8 to be unconstitutional.  GOP members who have signed the brief include former Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, and former National Security Advisor under President Bush, Steven Hadley.  Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., is the only current member of the House currently listed as supporting the brief.  This is a very risky and controversial position to take if a GOP insider, but nationally, it’s an important step toward gaining back some relevancy and credibility.  If the Party doesn’t recognize the shift socially in this country on a whole host of issues, it will not win a national election for many years.  Perhaps this is an attempt to reverse that trend with most current members of Congress not having to take the heat for it.  It clearly won’t be well received in a number of places in the country but those people are becoming fewer in number, though vocal. The friend of the court brief is being organized by the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the advocacy group that is challenging Prop 8.  Adam Umhoefer, executive director of the organization  said, “The conservative movement toward the freedom to marry is what we like to call the ‘Ted Olson effect.  We value the support of our conservative colleagues and welcome their voices to the growing majority of Americans who stand for marriage equality.”  The other case the Supreme Court will be ruling on is The Defense of Marriage Act.  Should the court rule in favor of same-sex marriage and strike down Prop 8 and DOMA, it will set the stage for legalized same-sex marriage throughout all fifty states.  It will also cause bitter arguments and anger but it will be no different from integration in the south.  Change for those that have strong and in this case, blind beliefs, is difficult.  But in the end, the US will be more inclusive and ultimately, better for it.  The strangest part is, most people, in the states that are most opposed to same-sex marriage, won’t experience a change in their daily lives.  It will have absolutely no affect on them or their families, unless of course they have gay family members.