The House Republicans can’t help themselves. They rarely miss an opportunity to engage in legislative gay-bashing. It’s like catnip for them — and the President’s determination that DOMA is unconstitutional is giving them another opportunity. Majority Leader Eric Cantor wants us to know that he’s in synch with Speaker John Boehner on the need to defend DOMA — and we can expect a decision by Friday:

“I stand by [Boehner’s] commitment to make that happen,” Cantor (R-Va.) said Monday afternoon at a press conference, promising to outline their plans in detail Friday. Cantor said the Justice Department’s refusal to defend the law is a problem separate from the substance of the law itself, which allows states to decide whether to recognize same-sex unions in other states. The Justice Department has called another provision, that bars same-sex couples from receiving federal-worker benefits, unconstitutional. “Again I do believe that this is a case that is distinguishable on its merits and to have the administration take the position, the president take the position, that he’s not defending the law of the land, is something very troubling I think to most members of the House,” Cantor said. When pressed on what House Republicans planned to do, he demurred. “I think you’ll see that on Friday,” Cantor said.

Note how Cantor is trying to finesse this issue. He’s pretending to focus on the process, not the substance. But, for his GOP caucus, this is all about the substance. They are so apoplectic because DOMA impacts LGBT Americans.

And, again, the House can defend DOMA because there’s a statute in place just for these kinds of situations. While working for President George H.W. Bush, Chief Justice John Roberts took a similar action.

The White House has figured — finally — that it’s good politics to be on the side of equality. So, I can’t wait to see how the Republicans handle this — and to see how ugly it gets. When some of those GOPers get going on gay issues, they lose control.

The best part is still that House Republicans are taking strategy advice from Rick Santorum:

In a taped interview posted Monday, Boehner (R-Ohio) said the GOP-controlled House could appoint a special counsel to defend the law commonly known as DOMA, a suggestion first made by former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).

Yep. Santorum.