As GOP wrestles with party future, members split on gay rights

>>> in just a few minutes, the president is set to meet with senators john mccain and lindsay graham to discuss immigration reform . it's a topic that republicans have been forced to revisit as the hispanic voting bloc grows larger and larger. we'll keep an eye on what comes out of what meeting. meantime, marriage equality . make no mistake about it, this is a party divided. "the new york times" reporting this morning on prominent republicans and four former governors who have signed on to a legal brief arguing gay people have a constitutional right to marry. that brief will be submitted to the supreme court this week in support of a lawsuit to overturn california's controversial prop 8. at the same time today, we learned two groups representing gay republicans will not be in the room of next month's annual gathering of conservatives known as cpac . two conflicting messages that lead us to the "spin cycle." guys, you know, i go to cpac every year. i love speaking there. it's a great way for conservatives young and old to get together and sort of touch base, get to know the young people coming in to the movement and sort of sort issues out. but this is i think a real mistake. first of all, i've worked with go proud and log cabin republicans for a while. these are some of the hardest working conservatives in the business. these are people who have struggled to reconcile their private lives with their political lives and how they make sense of that. they have had to work harder than many of us in the movement to sort of come out, represent their conservative ideals which for the most part, you know, discuss fiscal policies and fiscal issues and still stand up and be proud conservatives and we're essentially telling them, we're a little ashamed of you. we'd like you to come but don't be too loud about it. you know, go do this in the back room. i don't think that's right. and, you know, this sort of around the edges conversation about cpac saying, no, no, no. they can come. they just can't sponsor feels like a bit of a cop-out. we should be lucky to be having these guys do any work for us.

>> yeah.

>> instead of turning them away. i don't think we can afford that right now.

>> you can come but stay in the closet. right?

>> right.

>> don't be too loud.

>> exactly what it sounds like.

>> don't be out there. quietly come and don't be too gay while you're there.

>> be less gay.

>> another interesting thing, cpac also did not invite chris christie which, you know, he's the most popular republican figure probably in america right now. and they're saying we don't want you. we don't think you have anything to say to help the party . it's really, really backwards thinking. if they want genuinely to move the party forward, so they basically said, chris christie , no. mitt romney , yes. which is not a productive place to be right now. and going back to the issue of keeping out go proud and log cabin republicans , 64% of millennials support gay marriage . it is overwhelmingly supported by young people and if the republican party wants to be seen as a modern party , they have to get rid of some of these views that look like they look straight out of the 1950s and what young person supports a party that out of the mainstream.

>> i give the party credit here because there's a splintering and change happening fast. cpac , notwithstanding. wpac is quickly becoming the outlier here. there's plenty of social conservatives in the party resistant to gay marriage for a long time and the supreme court brief signed by dozens of prominent republicans, meg whitman on the list, former bush administration officials, three of the four former governors of massachusetts -- mitt romney .

>> the one going to cpac .

>> slipped through on that. yeah, i have -- we have to say, too, i think that this is -- this is something that's changed quickly and is changing quickly in both political parties . in 2004 , when this issue landed on the national stage and the first really polling i saw on it back then 30% for gay marriage and now overwhelming majority support talking about a younger generation and that even applies starting to poll evangelicals who you think of the most opposed to gay marriage . there's significant support. it's faster on the democratic side but the wake of november, it's starting to happen on the republican side .

>> it's easy to forget that the president just came out in support of gay marriage less than a year ago.

>> you're absolutely right. here's the battle for the war of the soul of the gop. it's happening not only in terms of gay marriage but also in terms of immigration. and part of the problem is that the gop for so long has been using the sort of boogieman to rally the wagons in terms of gay americans, immigrants and blacks, as well, and hard to get off of that heroine that worked for them in the '80s. not so much since then. i suspect no matter what they say, this is a pretty strong, amazing year for gay rights . i see this amicus brief to help with the scotus battle and prop 8 and doma and as you sort of touched upon a little bit, bloomberg reports today that the president is thinking about making gay marriage a constitutional right and an extraordinary step. one way or another this battle's going to come down on the right side of the history. this is the last du jour segregation we have in america and it's time it fell and it's about to happen.

>> well, the last thing i'm going to say about this, guys, is i have been thinking about this a lot and i know a lot of people on my side of the aisle have been struggling with this for sometime now, too. i've been scheduled to speak at cpac and i don't think i can until this issue is reconciled and figure it out.

>>> up next, the rising cost of food and america 's kids paying the price.

>> my dream is to go to college but i can't say i'll make sure you eat in to years. i'm