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Loading ...Besen: Goodbye, gay conservatives
In response to mounting criticism of gay conservatives, Dale Carpenter, a prominent gay writer, is threatening to bolt the movement.
In a recent column, he spoke of his “rising anger” with how gay advocates treat his ideological brethren. Of course, we know this is a bluff because Carpenter and other gay conservatives have nowhere else to go. They are dependent on the very liberalism they condescendingly deride and rejected by the very political party they claim to be a part of.What is notable about Carpenter’s tirade, is how it is at odds with his often intelligent columns. He regularly offers sharp legal critiques and prescient political analysis. However, when discussing gay conservatism, Carpenter uncharacteristically becomes irrational, falling into an undeserved victimhood that is a hallmark of gay Republicans.
For example, Carpenter is upset because Jonathan Crutchley, the co-founder of the gay cruising site Man Hunt, was skewered after giving a contribution to John McCain. Carpenter surmises that there is a witch hunt because of Crutchley’s political affiliation. This is not true. If he were just another gay business owner, no one would care whom he contributed to. However, it is preposterous for a man whose commodity is sodomy to give money to a candidate who wants to appoint Supreme Court Justices who would be in favor of outlawing gays from having consensual sexual relations. It is this type of cognitive dissonance that earns gay conservatives such deserved contempt.
Republicans in Congress have blocked gay rights progress for nearly three decades. It was President George W. Bush who stumped for a Federal Marriage Amendment. It was Sen. Majority Leader Trent Lott who once compared gay people to kleptomaniacs and alcoholics. I could fill 10 columns with despicable acts and words lobbed at the GLBT community by members of the Republican Party. While the Democrats are not perfect (see Sam Nunn), anyone who compares the two parties is smoking something that has higher street, than political value.
The modern Republican Party was molded by President Nixon’s “southern strategy” and built by Ronald Reagan, a president who ignored the AIDS crisis. It has been home to horrendous bigots, such as Sen. Jesse Helms, Rep. Bob Dornan, commentator Pat Buchanan and Vice President Dan Quayle – who pushed the term “family values,” which notably did not include GLBT families.
In 1998, Republican Pat Robertson ran for president. Robertson lost, but he amassed a huge mailing list, which was transformed into the Christian Coalition. Under the leadership of Ralph Reed, this organization married the Republican Party and this list is today referred to as “The Base.”
As long as this crowd is on speed-dial to the White House, gay conservatives are a politically powerless sideshow. This group should be boisterously rooting for a collapse of the GOP, so the party can be rebuilt from scratch as an inclusive entity.
The core problem with Carpenter’s arguments, is that he invokes a mythical conservatism that is fighting a liberal straw man. The small government party that wants to keep out of peoples’ bedrooms is dead. It has been replaced by a brand of Republicanism represented by Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Bush. Not only are these politicians anti-gay busybodies, but they aren’t even fiscally conservative. In 2009, America is projected to run a half-trillion dollar deficit, plummeting from the seven hundred billion surplus under Bill Clinton.
The issue I have with gay conservatives is that they consistently subjugate GLBT concerns. This is revealed when Carpenter says that “we disagree” with the movements “most visible activists…about how much weight should be given to purely gay issues in a time of economic and military turmoil.”
I wasn’t aware that Congress had to choose between the economy and protecting GLBT people from job discrimination. I had no idea that passing a hate crime law might hinder our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently, Carpenter and other conservatives think they should get to the back of the line and wait for their rights to be doled out at a time of peace and prosperity (when Democrats are in the White House, I presume).
The truth is, I agree more with Dan Quayle than gay conservatives like Dale Carpenter.
Family Values actually do matter and I will not apologize for placing the protection of my family above tax cuts for the very wealthy. Carpenter does not like it when gay conservatives are called self-loathing, but what else can one call people who don’t prioritize legal protection for themselves and the ones they love?
If Carpenter and other gay conservatives leave the movement, nothing will really change. Gay progressives will still be doing the lion’s share of the work, while conservatives will enjoy the privileges of their newfound freedom, while complaining about those who are largely responsible for their liberty.
Wayne, brilliant article, as always. I don’t have much to add except I have always wondered why a gay Republican votes for anti-gay Republican, rather than in their own best liberty and equality interests (and I say “his” because the vast majority of gay Republicans I have met are men, and I have attended several Log Cabin mixers when I was an LGBT activist in the 90s). I remember when Clinton was running for his first term, and proposed a national AIDS strategy to create a cabinet level position to combat AIDS, and would monumentally increase funding for HIV research and treatment. And yet, I still had to lobby my Republican HIV+ friends to vote for Clinton over Daddy “do nothing on AIDS” Bush. Their lives were literally at stake in this election – status quo or a real chance at medical and treatment breakthroughs. And yet these gay Republican men were still hesitant to not vote Republican. A few told me they did vote for Clinton but not the majority. Maybe if I had a PhD in psychology, I could figure this one out.
David,
You can drop the “oxy” and save your ink cartridge. “Moron” says it all.
I also feel that the characterization of gay conservatives as being republicans may be ill-advised.
I’m described as ‘conservative’ by some people for the apparently ultra-right wing beliefs that the nanny state idea is bad for us, that the Constitution allows us to own firearms and that to governments should not interfere in markets unless there is legitimate (scientifically-identified) economic reasons for them to do so.
I’m not a Republican, but am I welcome in your Democratic party when I oppose several of your party’s fundamental principles?
Josh, your youthful inexperience is showing. First off, and I mean this, at 22 you have no concept of what gays have suffered throughout the last 3 decades. By the time you came out, the dirty work was done. You may still encounter some degree of bigotry for being gay but nothing like the crap I and others had to endure, at the hands of CONSERVATIVES. You do make a valid point only in so much that one should not be a one issue voter, but please do not be so naive as to simply negate the facts of history where conservatism and homosexuality are concerned. What Wayne has written is on the mark. Being conservative is not a bad thing, I myself am very much a fiscal conservative but I cannot and will not abide any organization, let alone a political party, that would harm me in any way. Like it or not, at some point you have to decide to stand up and be counted. I did it in the 70’s and I suspect the reception I got was far more virulent than the one you probably went through. I know you probably think I am being condescending but in truth I want conservatives to understand that sometimes you have be willing to fight for what you rightly deserve and with all due respect, conservative leaning gays and lesbians don’t do that. They benefit from the fight but are unwilling to stand up and be counted when it really matters.
Josh,I forgot to mention, I am not a Democrat or Republican, I am a Canadian Libertarian.
Just as I thought. No “conservative” will defend his views. Just more rants about how mistreated.
Can I pass the baby bottle?
My partner and I of ten years were fervent supporters of Hilary for president; however when she lost the nomination we stuffed our disappointment and rallied behind the Democratic nominee. We were stunned and amazed the other day when my partner’s Lesbian aunt and her long term partner viciously attacked Senator Obama and stated they were voting for Senator McPlain. When will people ever learn? The Republicans have no love for any sexual minority except when it comes to getting donations from misguided gays and lesbians.
Wayne, you are whining yourself. You are also counter-productive by trying to alienate people who would be on your side in the fight for equality. Instead of casting stones and acting in a Bush-like “us vs. them” mentality, it would be better to acknowledge that people come in more than just “Democrat/Liberal/Progressive” and “Republican/Conservative” (and also to acknowledge that these words all have different meanings and are not completely inter-changeable), and then try to work with people. Make your points on issues, by all means, but your over-simplistic attacks on a group of people you lump together unceremoniously is rather shameful, and frighteningly similar to the attacks made by those whom you purport to be against.
I completly agree, expect that I do care what canidate and issues gay business owners support. I think it is important to support people who think like me, gay or straight. Therefore I find out the views of business owners. I also vote with my Liberal, Democratic dollars everyday, not just every 4 years.
Well said Wayne – as usual. Thank you for being such a voice of common sense on all the various gay issues today. Years ago I talked with you for about an hour on the phone about hate groups in northern Idaho. I’ve always been very impressed with you and appreciate all the work you do..
So once again the LBGT community demonstrates its ability to eat its own kind. This is not the type of talk we need right now Wayne. Obama is trying to pull people together and here you are pulling a Palin trick. Attacking those whom you disagree with in this manner is unproductive. You’re preaching to the choir while locking the door to the possibility of civil dialog and unity with the LGBT community.
I don’t agree with gay Republicans on 95% of the issues in play right now. Those that are closeted and working against our interests like Senator Craig should be drawn out into the spotlight, but those choose to work from the inside of the Republican party (however much I may disagree with their strategy) and don’t support measures that work against our families, should at least be given a safe haven for open conversations.
We are in this together however much some people may want to deny it. Enough of the attacks Wayne. This election year has gone negative enough already without you adding more fuel to the fire. Are you going to follow Obama’s example of reaching out or Palin’s example of divisiveness?
Dave Wimberly Said:
“Small government stays out of our bedrooms and out of woman’s wombs.”
Actually, a smaller government in the past did no such thing. “Smaller government” from days past simply focused its resources on topics that the administration (feels is) felt was important.
For over 1000 years, the “smaller” governments persecuted gays and often tortured or executed them. One who does not study and understand history is doomed to repeat its mistakes and ills and become its victim.
I am apalled at the comments here that anyone in the LGBTQI community would defer their freedoms and liberties to any group or political party. Our “queer freedoms and liberties” have been hard fought with blood and guts and pain and anguish.
We have had to spend untold amounts of emotion, time and money to get our dire situations in front of the courts to overcome the “tyranny of the majority” and the evils of those in power.
We have had to live in fear and hiding to be able to keep our lives and hard earned possessions. Here is a list of unfair practices we still endure:
(1) We have to pay higher taxes as “legally unrecognized” couples and families.
(2) We have to pay higher taxes on our company benefits via our domestic partnerships, civil unions and marriages as unrecognized by 47 states and all same-sex relationships unrecognized by the federal government.
(3) We have to pay exhorbitant legal fees and attoney fees to draw up “specialized contractal instruments” to protect our homes, savings and our “unrecognized rights”, just to access our partners and children in times of distress, bad health and death.
(4) We also have to pay to renew these papers on a regular basis to keep up with the changes in laws, or suffer the loss of “what we thougth we were agreeing to in perpetuity.”
(5) We have to live with unfair laws that either indirectly or specifically target our same-sex relationships, such as unfair housing situations, personal discrimination or even FORCED separation at our end-of-life events.
(6) We have to endure our homophobic family members trying to or succeeding to break our wills, trusts and other contractual agreements. Even if they do not succeed, they requrie us to employ attorneys who charge large fees.
(7) We have to face the terror of verbal and physical attacks, some of which result in murder, and then are ignored by the legal system and police. Not all states have any or sufficient hate crime laws on the books, which sill includes the Wyoming where Matthew Shepard was murdered over 10 years ago.
(8) We have to endure “comdemnation” from about 95% of the religious organizations, who spout hatred and bigotry without apology. Does anyone remember when some paramedics, nurses, doctors and funeral directors would not handle a person who had HIV or AIDS? Well, it still exists in places in the US. We listened to it being called the “gay plague”, even when a majority of cases were (and still is) among hetersexual people.
(9) We have to endure banishment, neglect and disregard from famly and friends when we come out and begin truthfully living as designed by our DNA.
(10) We seldom have any support from some in the medical and health care community. They quietly refer us to another provider, and even hear lectures about how their religious beliefs (which are a choice!) superceed our right to decent health care.
I am sure there are many other items to add to this list. Please feel free to enumerate these and others.
Anyone who disagrees with these truths surely has their head in the sand and must be purely materialistic.
As for me, being human and being treated fully humanely, from birth to/though death, trumps all other ideals and philosophies.
These ideals MUST transcend politics, and superceed all religions or other belief systems.
Quasi: Can you cite that bit about 95% of religious orgs condemning us? I’m concerned that that number might be significantly exaggerated.
What more do people expect from members of the Log Cabin Republicans given that, in the late 80’s, they promoted the idea that the way to gain Gay rights was to act straight and stop pushing for rights?
Well put.