CLIVE, Iowa Nearly every 2024 GOP presidential contender or likely candidate that spoke at a major evangelical gathering in Iowa over the weekend vowed to fight against woke transgender policies.

The fact that not a single person on stage mentioned same-sex marriage, the banning of which was once a top priority for social conservatives, put a punctuation mark on the new rallying cry on the right.

The GOPs shift on social issues is the result of quickly changing public attitudes including within their own party toward the acceptance of gay marriage, as well as polls that show some Americans unease with the pace of change on trans issues.

We might not like it, but you only get one life. Make yourself happy, Renee, a retired county treasurer from Harrison County, Iowa, said of same-sex marriage at a Saturday event hosted by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, a leading organization of social conservatives.

Over a thousand people flocked here to see most of the declared and prospective GOP presidential candidates make their pitch to voters, the first such event of the 2024 presidential caucus cycle.