George Bush and the Gay Republicans

Dateline: April 12, 2000

RELATED •Bush waffle timeline • The Dirty Dozen: Those with whom Bush met • Log Cabin letter on this issue •Candidate Profile: George W. Bush • Full Election 2000 Coverage

Do you have any idea how silly it feels to type the word "gay" and "republican" as compatible phrases?

Certainly, if I was speaking of Barry Goldwater type Republicans that might make sense. But that was then, and this is now, and the religious wrong seems to have a stranglehold on the gonads of the republican party. At least with regards to their public representations.

But George W. Bush has turned his ability to pander into an art form, rather resembling tap dance, and seems unable to settle on what message he is going to send who about what.

Actually, the "what" is easily resolved. The "what" is gay republicans and their place and presence in the Republican party.

You see, there is actually a group of gay Republicans called "Log Cabin Republicans" (so named in honor of Abraham Lincoln, the first, and probably finest, Republican president of all time) that has wanted to meet with Bush for some time.

[They have also, in the past, wanted to set up booths at Republican conventions, which privilege has been denied.]

But Bush isn't going to meet with the Log Cabin Republicans. Instead he is going to meet with a hand-picked group of Republicans who happen to be gay. (Which strikes me as similar to meeting with a group of Supreme Court justices who happen to be black in order to discuss race relations and civil rights in this country.)

Even the Log Cabiners who can generally put a positive spin on even the most anti-gay message from their chosen party are having a problem swallowing this one. Rich Tafel, the president of the Log Cabin club even states in a letter to the membership, "The inability of Bush to meet with the leadership of gays in the GOP who have spent this decade and beyond supporting Republican candidates in the toughest situations, sends a troubling message to a party that wants to hold its majorities in Congress."

In pride,
Deborah

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