The words just don't seem to go together, do they? "Gay" and "Republican". It's like oil and water, black and white, Muslim and Jew. It sounds like a recipe for self-loathing. Of course, I recognize that the beliefs and philosophies of gays and lesbians can't be pigeon-holed simply because of their lifestyle. Even so, being a gay Republican would certainly seem to run counter to one's own interests.
If the Log Cabin Republicans hope to maintain ANY credibility, there is no way that they can endorse George W. Bush. This occupant of the White House wants second-class citizen status for gays and lesbians to be enshrined in the Constitution. How long before they're all forced to wear pink triangles?
Patrick Guerriero, executive director of conservative gay rights group Log Cabin Republicans, has been getting asked one particularly humorous question a lot these days: "So who are you going to vote for? John Kerry or Ralph Nader?" After all, he and his group of gay Republicans have seemingly been hung out to dry by the Bush administration and its backers in Congress.... Still, Guerriero and his fellow gay conservatives have been left feeling beleaguered by all the antigay rhetoric that surrounded the Senate debate. "I do a lot of soul-searching," Guerriero admitted. "Our membership is ticked off."
Mind you, that does not mean Guerriero is going to leave his Log Cabin post or the Republican Party. Growing up in a middle-class Boston suburb, he feared that his sexual orientation would thwart his political ambitions, especially as a budding young Republican. But unlike generations of gay and lesbian conservatives before him, he has refused to stay in the closet and has been successful. However, he is furious that the GOP – of which he and others have remained loyal to for so long – seems to be completely shunning gay men and lesbians while catering to a far-right agenda in which advocating the opposition of gay rights has become a favored means for raising campaign funds.
Log Cabin Republicans may share the overall Conservative bent of the GOP. What many seem not to realize (or have chosen to gloss over), though, is that supporting and working for the GOP is tantamount to sleeping with the enemy (no pun intended). Conservative, Red-Meat Republicans HATE homosexuals and their lifestyle (and no, I don't think it is possible to overstate this point). Supporting the GOP amounts to working for your own political and social marginalization. It seems a recipe for self-loathing.
I certainly don't expect a Log Cabin Republican to abandon their Conservative beliefs, but does it make sense to work to elect a man who is sworn to reducing gays and lesbians to second-class citizens? If there is any logic in play here, it's lost on me.
