Stone:Gay and lesbian voters should be very happy that Mitt Romney won the Sunshine State’s Republican presidential primary last month. The results showed that Florida Republicans care more about liberating our economy than shackling our community. By choosing a pro-growth businessman over a social conservative, Floridians chose to look  forward rather than backward.

Terrill: I don’t think that gay and lesbian voters have much to cheer about in any of the Republican candidates. Romney may be considered “Republican Light” in some circles, but we both know that he recently went on a tirade about Obama’s so-called “assault on marriage and religion,” so let’s not pretend that he will fall on the right (our “right”) side of that particular issue at the end of the day.

Stone: Speaking of Barack Obama, Florida voters look forward to  electing a new president.  Erosion of support among youth and the  elderly alike, not to mention Jews and Hispanics, will cost the  president come November.  With Obama’s approval ratings below 50 percent, the president is in real political trouble in the Sunshine State.  Like liberals always say, demographics are destiny.

Terrill: Speaking on behalf of all “liberals [who] always say” that—come to think of it, when do we say that?  This particular liberal does not think that approval ratings polls are worth the paper they’re printed on.  Personally, I have never been selected by such a poll for my opinion–I don’t own a landline telephone–so therein is your flaw.

Stone: Political activists don’t complain about polls unless they are behind in those polls’ numbers.  When you hear, “the only poll that matters is the one on Election Day,” for example, you can bet your bottom dollar that person’s cause is grasping at straws. But if you don’t  trust polls, which is a legitimate position to take, then trust your gut. President Obama won Florida with 51% of the vote. Since 2008,  do you think he has earned or lost support?  Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.

Terrill: I’m a multicultural kind of guy—and I realize that Florida’s Hispanic voters, mainly Cuban Americans, have always had a good number of Republicans in their midst. This year might be different, though, as Republicans like Arizona’s Jan Brewer, Donald Trump, and other “birthers,” “ID’ers,” and genuine racists have clearly indicated that not everyone is “American, First” in their eyes.  Romney is perhaps even worse when it comes to race issues. When you belong to a church that did not let a black person through the front door until the late 1970s, you’ve got big race-relation problems.  At least with Obama, Hispanic women are now represented in our highest court and gays can openly serve in their country’s armed forces with pride and dignity.

Stone: Left wing charges of “bigotry” neglect certain inconvenient truths. For starters, the reason gays can serve their country is that a  growing bipartisan consensus says they should.  For the LGBT  community, marriage equality is rightfully the mother of all culture wars.  I take great pride pointing out that both of the attorneys who argued Bush v. Gore in 2000, teamed up in bipartisan support for equality.  Liberals pummel conservatives as bigots on the issue, ignoring their own elephant in the room. Putting politics above  principle, Obama lacks the fortitude to speak up for marriage before the election. So I challenge any left-wing activist to come out from behind their 2012 rainbow sign and riddle me this: how does Obama’s position on marriage differ from Mitt Romney’s, again?

Terrill: I agree that Obama could stand to “gay up” his rhetoric on  marriage, but certainly not before the election. That would just  firebrand the opponents.  Regardless of Mitt Romney’s recent anti-gay marriage revelation, experience tells me that he would sign any bill that Congress brings him, no matter how objectionable.