Will the “moderate” candidate for the GOP nomination in 2012 come from Utah?

In a surprise move, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has come out (yes, chortle) in favor of civil unions. It’s a totally unprompted move — there’s been no pressure on him to do anything like this, and he’s been on the so-called “pro-marriage” (that is, anti-gay) side of things for years. He’s not running for reelection in Utah (where 70 percent of voters oppose civil unions, according to the linked article), so this can really only be looked at as positioning for 2012.

That said, it’s positioning of which I heartily approve. As I’ve long argued, often in front of hostile conservative audiences, the GOP simply has to come to some accommodation on the gay issue. Gay people aren’t going back in the closet, and straight America is rapidly becoming comfortable with homosexuality as what it is: a biological fact of human existence. So, the GOP can spend the next couple decades at war with gays as they once were at war with all minorities. Or they can quickly accept that America needs to legally recognize gay couples — whether it’s left to the states for a while or whether we see federal recognition of (at least) civil unions in the near future.

The bill Huntsman is supporting won’t pass in Utah (barring a miracle). But it’s good to think we might have a conservative, Western candidate in the GOP primary holding aloft the banner of a more tolerant, more modern Republican Party.