In April, GOP state chair Pat Brady came out in favor of marriage equality. Brady is one of the growing number of Republican realizing that while the gay marriage issue secured power for them less than a decade ago, their opposition to it has now created a hurdle over which they may not be able to leap.

When Brady changed his stance, he said of the Republican party:

“I think there are people in the party who don’t necessarily agree with me, but the point is …. we’re a party that welcomes all ideas,” Brady said in April. “You don’t have to be exactly a platform Republican to be welcome in the party, and that’s the direction we’re taking the party.”

That was in April. It’s now May. How’s that working out for Pat?

Party chair Pat Brady resigned on Tuesday after a months long opposition campaign by his fellow Illinois Republicans, the Chicago Tribune reported.

When you sold the GOP to the fundamentalists and the god botherers for their votes, you signed on to become the party of ideological purity. The present GOP and the majority of their voting base wouldn’t know pragmatism if it was crawling up their ass. And changing your mind, to them, is not the hallmark of personal integrity and self-improvement – it is a signal of defeat and weakness.

Pat Brady did the right thing when he admitted he was wrong about gay marriage. I’d love to see him make the same admission about his assessment of the Republican party.