Subscribe to Breaking NewsRuby-Sachs: Log Cabin Republicans and the next election
I’m confused by Log Cabin Republicans.
I see their booths at gay events, I even became friends with one or two in law school, but still, the idea of voting for a party that works against your equal rights amazed me. So I looked them up.
According to their website, Log Cabin Republicans have a, “firm belief in the principles of limited government, individual liberty, individual responsibility, free markets and a strong national defense.” Moreover, they believe in working within the Republican Party to bring about equal treatment for gays and lesbians.
Perhaps a foolhardy effort, but then again, working within the United States government for equal rights for Black people or immigrants seemed pretty ridiculous at a time in history too.
So let’s take them at their word: they are fiscal conservatives who perhaps believe in a strict construction of the constitution and a cap on judicial activism. They also feel that the best way to achieve equal rights is to work with those who wish to oppose them.
I still have one problem. The next election may choose four years of economic and social policy, but it will also make one other important choice that will affect the rights of gays and lesbians for at least three generations to come: Supreme Court appointments.
Today, the Court has four liberal justices, Ginsburg, Stevens, Souter and Breyer. And four conservative appointments who tow the party line, Alito, Roberts, Scalia and Thomas. Kennedy, a conservative appointment who waffles, has often been the necessary vote to tip the balance in the liberals’ favor.
He was in the most recent Roe v. Wade challenge and again in Lawrence v. Texas.
This is important to understand, Lawrence v. Texas is the same decision that allowed Log Cabin Republicans to have sex at all, legally, in many of their home states.
The problem is that these judges age, and two of them, Stevens and Ginsburg, are aching to retire (literally).
If Obama becomes president he would, at least, be able to maintain the status quo, maybe put a woman or two up there, and create a few more years of an even fight for those hoping for progressive judgments.
If McCain wins, two conservative appointments would shift the majority, leave us with six conservative votes, and little hope for the rights of gay men to engage in sexual intercourse legally.
It’s not just gay men who will suffer. The right of women to enforce the Violence Against Women Act will be in jeopardy. As well, habeas corpus, that age old right to know what crime you are charged with committing, is also at risk. Not to mention abortion. We would have a conservative majority in all the unforeseen legal challenges the Court may choose to adjudicate in the future.
This president can do whatever temporary decision making it wants and nothing will have such a lasting effect as the choice of the next two justices of the Supreme Court.
Log Cabin Republicans may advocate gradual legislative change, but when the very act of love that defines your personal identity (and membership in your group, I assume) is threatened, perhaps sacrificing a few years of small government is worth it.
As I see it, a commitment to social justice and liberal views should entail a commitment to gay rights. The inverse is not necessarily true, however. Hopefully, most LGBT people would extrapolate from their own situation a general principle, but some will not. Some people will believe that they have a right to have sex with whomever they wish, seeing this purely as an issue of individual liberty. I think this is philosophically myopic (and personally despicable), but there is no straight-forward reason why gay people cannot be conservative.
emma:
It’s ‘toe the line’, not ‘tow’
Anyway, the shallowness and lack of strategic thought by many here (probably the younger ones) is absolutely appalling.
Sometimes in order to advance overall, you must step back slightly , appearing to bend when, in reality, you are doing no such thing.
If you want OBAMA to win, then he CANNOT come right out and support gay marriage – at least not this early.
What he CAN (and likely WILL) do is to assume a mildly progressive position (Yes to civil unions, Yes to serving in the military) and ONCE HE IS IN OFFICE to appoint socially liberal justices to the SCOTUS who will look favorably on FUTURE gay challenges to existing statutes.
He can also NOT VETO any pro-gay legislation coming his way from COngress.
In this way, he can maintain his public base and support while actually FURTHERING gay legal issues through not interfering with them in Congress AND appointing justices who will do far more good for us than any stump speech ever could.
Sometimes you have to thinnk AHEAD and think STRATEGICALLY in order to achieve your goals.
Obama understand that. many here do not.
Is there actually any legitimate threat to Lawrence v. Texas? That seems a bit far-fetched to me.
So many of you seem happy to degrade Log Cabin Repulbicans. I wonder how many of you have ever taken the time to discuss thier views with them? Do any of you even know what their views are? Ever ask? Ever? A bit hypocritical wouldn’t you say?
They beleve in “individual liberty”???
Blarney!
What about the personal liberty to marry the person of one’s choosing? Let Mary Cheney marry her ‘partner’? Not in our lifetime if they can help it.
Log Closet is more like it.
P.S. Wayne, is there a single thread where you don’t type the exact same message? You keep ranting against Obama – we get it that you don’t like him. You refuse to read, let alone hear and understand our response: we support him because he doesn’t promise to kick gays out of the Constitution like your ‘friend’ McCain and his party promise to. And because he is the least likely to nominate radical, right-wing, extremist Supeme Court Judges.
If you can’t accept that, then why haunt so many boards? Scared much?
For me is is very simple. Any gay person who votes for a Republican has no self respect. Is it black and white? YES. Don’t vote for someone who HATES you. And make no mistake, they hate our community. And with a real national health care program, the self-loathing gays who vote for the GOP might be able to get some therapy.
This article is shrill, and really misses the right critical tone to aim at our Log Cabin friends.
First of all, a conservative Supreme Court will not likely overturn Lawrence vs. Texas. Conservatives have an issue with a notion of privacy, but they also do not like overturning established precident. Also, there are a number of other legal arguments at the core of Lawrence that’ll likely withold an overturning of Roe, or any another challenge to the consitutional right to privacy.
But the really dumb thing about this article is that it doesn’t begin to engage what conservative’s like the log cabin really believe. As I said above, most of them disagree with a constitutional right to privacy, while they still believe that gay men have the right to have sex. These issues are completely divergent issues, and much bigger than liberal versus conservative.
Also, how would a true conservative oppose Habbeaus? This is an unsupported alarmist cry. Remember, we currently have a right leaning court, and they still agreed that Gitmo detainees and all illegal enemy combatants should have access to Habeaus. If McCain wins, we have little reason to believe that his appointees would reverse a court precident for something as gigantic as Habeaus. It’s almost impossible to think that the court would even hear another case regarding Habbeaus for enemy combatants. So why is Habbeaus under assault if McCain wins the presidency? Remember, John McCain was pro Habbeaus and anti torture for Gitmo detainees.
So here’s a better gripe about the log cabin: the claim to support conservative philosophies, but still support a fiscally reckless GOP that has shown little reforming spirit. They claim to be big on national defense, but they support a party that has rushed to war, and has lowered spending on military research and development (while Obama has indicated that more R&D is necessary).
Basically, gay liberals need to actually learn where gay conservatives stand on the issues, and from there we can begin having conversation with one another. The Log Cabiners shouldn’t be critiqued for the judicial appointment issues. They should be critiqued for supporting a VP candidate who hates gay people, and has the record to back it up (her use of the word “tolerance” is a euphamism, not a sign of progress). They should be critiqued for not demanding more gay rights issues out of the GOP, despite McCain’s decent record. And they should be critiqued for siding with the GOP above siding with their own declared conservative ideals. In many ways, Obama is the more conservative candidate, at least in terms of the pre-right wing fanatic definition of neo-con infected the GOP.
We should be happy the log cabiners are there to do what the rest of us are afraid to do. They’re trying to make the GOP more gay friendly, and that’s admirable. But they need to take a harder stand in critiquing the party that they support. The GOP is not philosphically conservative, they’re ideologically extreme. Our conservative homo brothers and sisters have some explaining to do.
The log Cabin Republicans have sold their souls over the mantra “lower taxes”. Pure and simple. They have chosen money and their greed over their basic rights in this country.
And to those fools who say Obama is somehow worse or just as bad because of the “civil union” thing. Would you rather have that or someone ACTIVELY campaigning to deny you both a marriage AND a civil union?
Ruby-Sachs makes excellent questions points in this article- gays voting for McCain is like the middle class in Kansas voting Republican. They vote against their economic interest- gays are voting against their civil rights interest.
I would think a log cabin republican would like Obama/Biden’s stance on gay rights- everyone equal under the law but marriage is for the church to decide.
Wayne- I don’t think you know what you are talking about with Obama’s stance on gay marriage. He is a member of the UCC church that recognizes gay marriage- but believes that the church and state should be seperate- civil unions for all (even straight people) but marriage is granted if your church will recognize it.
Obama’s positions are not being ruled as discriminatory- Wayne-you are using hyperbole to try and distract from the real issues here and that is that log cabin republican’s don’t care about anyone but themselves and their own economic interest, selfish, self-serving voters who only support their bank account.
Wayne, come on – if you read anything about what Obama/Biden say – they support equal rights. The arguement you use is trite when you compare it to McCain/Palin who would have us rounded up and held in the ghetto’s until they could figure out how to dispose of our bodies. Yes, you are right that separate but equal doesn’t work but it is a stepping stone that will get us to full equality instead of what the Republican Party wants and that is for all of us to be forcibly converted to christianity, illegalize sodomy, over turn abortion rights – oh, and lets not forget – replace the constitution with the bible, torture prisoners, ignore the right to personal property, wire-tape without cause, buy up your mortgage so the government can own your home..what am I forgetting? So get off your moral high horse about separate but equal and how horrible Obama is until you read what he really supports and that is granting us every single civil right, tax equality, overturning DOMA (which will mean our marriages count), ending DADT, passing hate-crime legislation and the list goes on and on…so what are we missing – well, for the time being it would be the term “Marriage” replaced by “civil-unions” but that will be short lived as that eventually, like Sep/equal be overturned to full equality…isn’t that what we want???
UGH. Why is it whenever someone mentions that the GOP is a virulently anti-gay party, some loon ALWAYS chirps in with “But the democrats aren’t giving us every single thing we want either!”
People. That the democrats are doing ANYTHING is still far better than what the republicans offer. As long as liberals roost in the dems, and the conservatives in the GOP, either you support the party that is our best chance at equality, or you hang yourself and vote GOP.
Obama is a politician. In fact, he probably would give gay people absolute equality, and then he’d get laughed out of the presidential race. Those are the facts of being in politics these days.
Obama may have to support less equality than we deserve, but at least he’s still on our side.
Gay ‘republicans” are only concerned with ONE thing: Not having to PAY taxes like the rest of us!! These spineless pukes would sell every one of us up the ol’ proverbial river in order to save a few bucks on their tax returns! Absolutely PATHETIC! Please folks do NOT support these scam artists! Thank you for your time.
The Uncle Tom Cabin Rethuglicans are beyond redemption. Bottom Line, if you swim with sharks your going to get bitten, swim long enough and you’ll be eaten. The Rethuglican Party will never, I repeat, NEVER do anything to bring full equality to homosexuals in the U.S. After 2 decades of constant attacks both verbal and, at times, physical, it is time to man up, step up and take a stand. Are you a homosexual who wants and deserves full protection and recognition under the constitution or will you remain a steppin’ fetchit for pompous religious ideologues who want your vote and your silent acquiescence. Those are the only choices and make no mistake (I’m talking to you Wayne)collaboration is collaboration PERIOD.
Time to decide.
As for Obama being a fraud, it is true he is untested but, we know McCain is anti-homosexual, we know Palin has a virulent hatred of homosexuals. These are facts well in evidence for all to see and yet, people like Wayne and the Uncle Tom Cabin Rethuglicans continue to suck on the teat of a hateful and spiteful party and for what? in a word MONEY. Let’s be blunt, rich queers who have ‘made it’ feel no need to give a damn since they can ‘buy’ their equality and be the lapdogs of the right. “Why should I help those regular fags? I have my condo, my porfolio and I can hobknob with the rich white straight crowd and they love me.” You have to love the delusion these sycophants live in.
Obama is most assuredly not perfect and he may not move as fast as we may like but given that we know the rethuglicans will do all they can to push the goal post further from us makes the decision clear.
Here endeth the lesson.
And Gays who vote for Obama risk enshrining a failed policy of “Separate But Equal” civil unions for Gays for generations. The Supreme Court of Conn. just ruled that the position Obama supports is DISCRRIMINATORY AGAINST GAY PEOPLE!!!!! Not to mention that Obama is already backtracking on his promise to repeal DADT. Obama’s positions are being ruled to be Discriminatory, and you can’t even count on him keeping his word. Obama is a fraud, who will tell you anything if it helps to get him elected.
And now that the Republicans have become the party of the bailout and nationalizing banks, how can the Log Cabin Republicans exist anymore? Isn’t it necessary that they become the Log Cabin Independents, or Libertarians?