Rob Portman’s family life does not usually get much attention, and no wonder: The Republican senator from Ohio makes Mike Brady look like Ozzy Osbourne. But earlier this year, Portman published an op-ed in The Columbus Dispatch about his own personal journey down Gay Marriage Acceptance Road. Portman had once disapproved of a practice which, naturally—sorry, religious conservatives: unnaturally—violated his solemn Christian beliefs. Then the issue come home to his family. And, of course, things changed: “Knowing that my son is gay prompted me to consider the issue from another perspective: that of a dad who wants all three of his kids to lead happy, meaningful lives.”

Portman received a certain amount of grief for the lateness of his conversion, and for the solipsism of his article: What about issues that don’t directly touch the lives of the sainted Portman clan? In those cases, could the downtrodden or the discriminated against count on the firm support of the newly righteous senator?

On the whole, however, the criticism was limited. Liberals were happy to have a new ally. And the religious right generally didn’t put up too much of a fuss because, after all, who wants to castigate someone for something so personal?

This is preposterous: Gay marriage isn’t a personal issue. Facts like that, though, get lost in the culture of personalization that characterizes modern-day politics: "My brother is a firefighter," "my sister is a cop," "my uncle served in the military," have become stump-speech refrains, as if it were the only reason to support the fire department or the Pentagon. (Lines such as “My mother is on food stamps” tend to be heard less frequently).

And now that the GOP divisions over gay marriage are back in the news, it’s no surprise that, once again, the controversy over the issue is being driven by something “personal.” It begins in Wyoming, where a right-wing challenger to sitting GOP Senator Mike Enzi is clearly enunciating her opposition to same-sex marriage. That’s not exactly newsworthy in a party dominated by the far right. The news is that the candidate is Liz Cheney, whose sister Mary is both gay and married. (Since people like Liz Cheney no longer control all the levers of government, I can happily report that Mary is married to a woman).