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Loading ...Besen: Log Cabin blues
The gay Log Cabin Republicans are broke and their party is seriously broken.
The group’s $100,000 debt comes at a time when the GOP is indebted more than ever to extremists.
Instead of learning from Election Day, the party is pandering to those who believe in the “End of Days,” which will only expedite the party’s political apocalypse.Changing demographics have transformed America into a high definition flat screen, while Republicans resemble a bulky, black and mostly white television set. With twisted antennas, they can’t get clear reception, and they rotate the dilapidated dial in search of a meaningful message. Only two channels seem to break through: UHF reruns of “Leave It To Beaver” and the Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club.
This may appeal to those stuck in the past or the party “faithful,” but it’s no way to tune into tomorrow.
A microcosm of GOP madness is the race to choose a Republican National Committee chairman. One candidate, Chip Saltsman, the Tennessee party leader, handed out a Christmas CD at a holiday party that featured the song, “Barack the Magic Negro.” Saltsman told the New York Times that he believes those voting for chairman have “gotten past it.” No doubt they have — and this is the problem.
Another candidate, Katon Dawson, head of the South Carolina GOP, had to quit his membership in an all-white country club, to run for chairman of a nearly all-white country club — the RNC.
Two African Americans (Michael Steele and Kenneth Blackwell) are also contending for the prize, hoping to change the party’s image. But, even if the GOP somehow manages to overcome its poor reputation on race, it is still hostage to the whims of social conservatives. For example, Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, may not get the job because he, while anti-choice, favors an exemption in cases of incest or when a woman’s life is in jeopardy.
In obsessing over such parochial issues, the Republican Party has chosen the Revival Tent over the Big Tent, at the very moment they need to appeal to moderate swing voters.
Those on the party’s delusional wing are flirting with former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a conservative African American, to chair the RNC. Blackwell once compared gay people to “arsonists and kleptomaniacs,” described their lives as a “transgression against God’s law,” and believes that they can “change.” In 2004, Blackwell led the campaign to amend Ohio’s constitution to prohibit recognition of same-sex marriage or civil unions.
Those who support Blackwell foolishly believe that public relations can repair race relations and give the party a modern facade. This cynical strategy will not work any better now than it did when the Republicans elevated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. It also seems self-destructive for a party to consider a man as its leader who lost his 2006 Ohio gubernatorial race by a 24-point margin. That is not exactly “a winner.”
Furthermore, as the first African American RNC chairman, Blackwell would be compared to the far more eloquent and historic Barack Obama. While Obama focused on issues such as healthcare and the economy, Blackwell — if the past is indicative — would fixate on homosexuality and abortion. For most Americans, Obama would provide inspiration, while Blackwell would be a cause of division and irritation.
If the GOP were trying to commit suicide, electing Blackwell would be the perfect poison pill to swallow.
In a sign of how lost Republicans truly are, the New York Times reported that several operatives said that the party should “seek to recover its standing among Hispanic voters.” I’m not sure how this will occur. The GOP base is virulently anti-immigration and mentions “The Wall” more often than Pink Floyd.
As if to confirm that the Republican Party is plunging to new depths, there are rumors (in jest for now) that “Joe the Plumber” may run for the U.S. Senate seat in Ohio. And, speaking of raw sewage, Ann Coulter has a detestable new book, Guilty, which reminds the nation of why conservatives have fallen out of favor.
The gay and lesbian community is poised to make an enormous amount of progress. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told The New Yorker that he expects Congress to pass laws outlawing employment discrimination, addressing hate crimes and ending the military’s disastrous Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy.
I wish I could say that this will be a bipartisan effort — but it won’t be. It will be a majority of Democrats, with a few exceptions, overriding the objections of a Republican minority in lockstep with the Religious Right.
Even if we do achieve legal equality, we will still have to endure the continued verbal abuse, humiliation, and lies spewed by some Republican members of congress.
While gay Republicans were building a Log Cabin, social conservatives built a skyscraper that blots out the sun. Until this monstrosity implodes, Log Cabin will remain in the shadows.
Whether Log Cabin has money in the bank is irrelevant, as the Christian Coalition drove them out of business a long time ago.
So the self-hating anachronistic Log Cabin Republicans are in bad shape. Boo-fracking-hoo! If we are lucky and if they could see the ‘handwriting on the wall’ they would just disassemble their Uncle Tom’s Cabin and go home, or, better yet, wake up and stop hating themselves so much. That’s probably too much to hope for…
Be VERY afraid of Ken Blackwell. There is evidence that Blackwell actively rigged the ‘04 election results in Ohio (the Ohio GOP was very tight with Canton-based Diebold at the same time). Blackwell was the Secretary of State who threatened to invalidate any ballot material which was not printed on 80-lb stock, or something like that. Blackwell is an ideologue, to the point that he was a key backer in a change to Ohio’s business taxes–a change which it was clear would result in deficits. Blackwell and much of the Ohio GOP (who ran the state for 16 years, from an increasingly extremist position) were openly aware of this. Another Blackwell-backed initiative was the one that forced adult bookstores and stripclubs to close at midnight (and on Sundays I think). We’re not talking about Alabama; this is a state of 11.5 million people, with three urban areas over a million people. Blackwell was a very active backer of Issue 1, the anti-gay constitutional amendment that passed by roughly 65% statewide. He’s as insane as Allan (sp?) Keyes, but he hides it better.
Log Cabin? Seriously…a bunch of white guys in denial, thinking that having a “fabulous” house in Palm Springs or Wilton Manors will somehow get them back in the Rich White Guys’ clubhouse. Sorry, faggots. Look at Mark Foley.
Funny how Republicans are blamed for causing hate and division, meanwhile, we have some Democrats commenting with slurs and insults.
Log Cabin Republicans do not hate themselves. I am extremely happy to be a gay Republican, and I refuse to be lumped in with the crazed majority of my party. The TRUE doctrine of the Republican Party is civil equality, fiscal conservativeness, and limited government.
Last time I checked, Democrats were the ignorant party that wanted to keep blacks in slavery.
John Galt:
You are living in the past in honoring the TRUE doctrine of your party. That ship has sailed and pirates hijacked it. They loathe you and all of your gay brothers and sisters. It doesn’t matter what your views are for smaller government and fiscal responsibility. It’s not a very intelligent reason to stay at the party where everyone hates you.
Bail them out on the condition that they never again endorse a ‘pub for electoral office unless he or she signs a pledge not to engage in, condone, or support discrimination against glbt persons in any shape, form, or fashion.
John Galt, the “true doctrine” of the Republican Party hasn’t encompassed equality for anyone since 1964 at best; most likely since 1864.
…and which party is running the slave states these days? What is the black prison population down here? Come to the South and see if you can find some civil equality. OH YEAH — the *TRUE* TRUE doctrine of the Republican Party is civil equality for rich free white men.
Last time I checked, prisons held prisoners. You know…. folk that have BROKEN THE LAW. I don’t care what color the prisoners are. They are there for a reason.
Anyway, to those that are calling themselves Democrats…. Let me know how that’s working for ya.
John Galt, I am with you. I am a gay Republican, too.
Ah Yes! Jews in the SS! Give me a break! The Republican Party, like a good old dog that did some good has now got rabies and there’s only one cure, the question lies in the method. If
it stays calm and harmless- lethal injection. If it’s crazed beyond control with christian fundies – then the bullet to the head from a safe distance, lest you become infected yourself. All you proud gay republicans, escape from the madhouse and start your own party with other HUMAN Beings!
Trace it’s great being a Dem right now, I’m having the time of my life!
Obviously you had to include in your screed some level of hideous disgust for religion but in your hopey changey unicorn world you forgot two words.
New York
Oh, yeah, there was all this amazing awesomeness when the “preferably to you” godless Democrats took full control.
Then what happened to gay marriage prospects in the great state of New York?
Oh, yeah, you can get married as long as you do it in another state.
Besen: tl;dr
Debra: I can name several mainstream Republican politicians that don’t hate gay people. If, hypothetically, I am a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, should I be a dem or a republican? The dems won’t like me for my economic views, and the GOP won’t like me for my social views.
Charlie: Godwin’s Law. You automatically lose whatever conversation you were contributing to.
Kari, what’s a fiscal conservative? One who advocates prudent use of tax money? One who is willing to tax to provide necessary services? One who is generally guided by spending what you have, with deficit spending allowed under exceptional circumstances? Is a fiscal conservative somebody who expects users to make some contribution to certain services? Then I’m a fiscal conservative, and I’m a Democrat. I can be both because, to give one example, my state (Ohio) was run for 16 years by the GOP. The Ohio GOP had/has a rigid doctrinaire addiction to The Private Sector–even when contracting-out of services resulted in more tax money spent on reduced services. That happens when the contractors are all connected to the powers in office. Given that Ohio’s recent swing to the Dems has a lot to do with the still-unfolding corruption of the Ohio GOP, don’t try throwing mud like Blago and Illinois, or Ohio’s own ongoing mess in Cuyahoga County’s Democrat-controlled machine. Governator did NOTHING to undo any of Cali’s permanent ad-hoc budget-busting back-scratching; ditto for outgoing head of NY State Senate. Just sayin’.
I am FAR from a GOP member. In fact I am a Socialist Party USA member in the US and a Parti Quebecois member in Quebec. I believe the entire Democratic Party in the US is too conservative and too capitalist for my taste. And I am a REAL Socialist believing that the means of production need to be controlled by the state with democratic oversight by workers and people. Yet as socialistic as I am, even though I view the gay and lesbian rights struggle in light of class struggle. I would be stupid if I thought gays and lesbians in America should marry our movement to one political party or ideology. In fact it is counter-productive when gays and lesbians become partisan loyalists.
As a Socialist, I can tell you that there are plenty within Socialist Parties around the world who couldn’t give two sh*ts about gays and our rights. But in an open, multi-partisan system gay and lesbian people need to work within those parties which represent their views. Being that a good chunk gay men are quite fiscally conservative, even a few are socially conservative on issues like law and order, military and the like. Why shouldn’t they work within the GOP for change, even if they swing vote? Why should someone sell out their principles on other issues for a party(the Democrats) who don’t do very good of a job on delivering on gay rights?!? Why is it that Gay Democrats bash gay Republicans for simply being Republican, while they never critique their own Democratic candidates for selling out to the cult of bipartisanship, and playing like they’re more Republican then the Republicans? To me, the gay and lesbian rights movement is international, it transcends every possible barrier, be it social, religious, class, race, gender, nationality, language and so on. So why should the gay rights movement, in the United States suicidally limit itself to being married to the Democratic Party?!?! In our diverse nation, there are so many gay and lesbian people who have positions on issues ranging from Libertarian to Anarchist to Communist to Far Right and Eco-Socialist Left. If the gay community doesn’t want people to fit into a square peg of being gay white male cute and young, then why would it want gay people to all be registered Democrat?
I count among my friends in Tennessee, an older gay couple, one in his mid 50s and other in his late 40s, who are both Republicans. One of them voted for McCain, the other voted for Obama. Both are nominally pro-life, as am I, both served in the military and came from working class backgrounds. One is Jewish grew up in Detroit, worked for GM and moved to Middle Tennessee to work for Saturn. He was a member of the UAW, but was one of those Reagan Democrats who eventually switched to the GOP. His family was staunchly Democrat, Jewish, and working class, but also religious and reactionary conservatives. He saw Republicanism as an ideology which better represented his views. He has views and positions on issues which make him as Republican as McCain or Reagan. He supports marriage equality, universal(socialized) medical care and he’s pro-union but on every possible other issue he is as conservative as they get. He voted for John McCain, because he voted for McCain in the GOP primary in 2000. His husband however, is some dude from California who lived in Palm Springs and San Diego before moving to Tennessee. He is a Californian Liberal Republican type, someone who voted for Schwarzenegger, he voted for the GOP Mayor of San Diego who supports marriage equality. He voted in Tennessee in 2008, for Obama, despite serious misgivings. He is fiscally conservative and socially moderate, he is pro-marriage equality, middle of the road on abortion, pro-marijuana decriminalization and wants to make healthcare more accessible and affordable but isn’t for universal care like his husband. He kind of was disapointed to have voted in Tennessee this time, instead of California, he wanted to vote against Prop 8, so badly and he was pissed about it. Except on these issues, he is 100% Republican, he even sounds like Pat Buchannan when it comes to issues like open borders, cheap labor and English as the only language. He voted for Obama, even though he wanted him to support marriage equality and had misgivings on the War in Iraq, which he supports. Why should he and his lover stop being Republicans, just because they disagree on a few issues? The one thing they both staunchly disagree with the GOP on is the issue of marriage equality. Yet, even the guy who voted for McCain said, “if Obama came out in favor of marriage equality and didn’t play both sides, I would vote for him in a heart beat, but until that happens, I agree more with McCain so I am voting McCain”.
I didn’t vote for Obama either, I voted for Cynthia McKinney. I voted for what I believe in, because I agree more with McKinney more then I ever will with Obama and McKinney supported marriage equality. There are plenty of gay people who voted for McCain, McCain isn’t the average bigoted homophobe, he was one of only two Republicans to vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment, even when a handful of Democrats voted for it, without so much as a peep from gay Democratic organizations.
Our movement needs to become a post-partisan, grassroots movement. We need to not create entangling alliances, which don’t serve our goals as a group. We need to avoid non-gay issues and focus more on gay issues directly. The HRC or NGLTF, for example, should focus on gay issues, not the war in Iraq, not affirmative action, gun control, not immigration reform(except when it comes to gay married couples), environmental issues, or endorse parties or even candidates. Our orgs, like HRC and NGLTF, should endorse an ideology over another. These orgs should have cordial and cooperative relationships with Log Cabin Republicans, as well as Stonewall Democrats, even with Lavender Greens and Outright Libertarians. We need to build bridges with gay religious groups, such as Integrity(Episcopalians), Dignity(Catholics), Affirmation(Mormons), Al Fatiha(Muslims), etc but also be open to gays who don’t have a religion per se. We shouldn’t exclude religious gays, or freethinking or atheistic gays. We need BOTH sides for our common cause to succeed. We don’t need to be pro-religious or anti-religious, but we need gays and lesbians from within those faith communities as allies. Just as gay religious folks are diverse, so too are political ideologies, so we need to stop putting the Democratic Party’s agenda, which alienates gays in other parties or independents, before the gay agenda, which is our common cause.