EDGE Los Angeles

Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady resigned Tuesday, citing his wife’s battle with cancer and his desire to focus on family after six tough years in Republican politics.

Soon after top conservative organizations threatened to leave the GOP if the party did not actively oppose marriage equality, the Republican National Committee unanimously voted to oppose same-sex marriage in its platform.

Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum said if the Republican Party supports gay marriage it would be "suicidal."

That’s one among a Republican National Committee survey’s many odd questions that’s yet another sign that the Grand Old Party is trying not to be so, well, old.

Lady Gaga apparently turned down a $1 million offer to perform at the Republican National Convention last August.

Several Republican fundraisers told Politico that thanks to Senator Rob Portman’s switch to supporting gay marriage, they now see a way to unlock big money in states like New York and Florida.

The cost to taxpayers for a House Republican decision to fund the legal team supporting DOMA has climbed from $500,000 to as much as $3 million, Democrats say in questioning the GOP stance on the gay marriage issue now before the Supreme Court.

In the wake of what looks like a Supreme Court slam dunk, Fox News audience favorite Bill O’Reilly in his own inimitable way, joined the flood of senior politicians rushing to join the marriage-equality bandwagon.

This was to be a roadmap for a new, more inclusive GOP: attract minority voters, support immigration reform and embrace "welcoming and inclusive" attitudes on gay rights. But minutes after unveiling the proposal, the party chairman distanced him from it.

Saying that the issue could come up again in April, the Illinois GOP’s central committee bowed to pressure by prominent Republican leaders to cancel a meeting where members would discuss firing Chairman Pat Brady for his support of gay marriage.