Gay Republicans fight perceived oxymoron

"People think it's an oxymoron," said the Minnesota state senator, Paul Koering. "How can you be gay and be in the Republican Party?" (LSB: Excellent question! More below.)

Never more than a tiny fraction of GOP politicians, openly gay Republicans are about to disappear from Congress with the retirement of Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, and Koering is the lone openly gay GOP state legislator — out of 7,382 seats nationwide. The Democrats, by contrast, have 56 openly gay legislators and embrace an array of gay-rights causes.

According to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which supports gay candidates, there are about 350 openly gay elected officials nationwide — up from about 50 in 1990. Of those elected on party tickets, 140 are Democrats and 11 are Republicans, the fund said.

Victory Fund president Chuck Wolfe said the ranks of openly gay GOP candidates have dwindled in recent years as religious conservatives have expanded their influence and made opposition to same-sex marriage a high-profile issue in the 2004 election.

Instead of an all-welcoming "big tent," the GOP "is more of a revival tent," Wolfe said. "It has chased out more and more gay Republicans."

LSB: I’ve heard the argument that many gay people give for their support of the Republican Party, including the principles of the Republican Party:

• I BELIEVE the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person’s dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored. (Except if you’re gay.)
• I BELIEVE in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability. (Except if you’re gay.)
• I BELIEVE free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity. (Especially if you’re white.)
• I BELIEVE government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn. (Especially if you’re rich; if you’re poor, you won’t miss the money anyway.)
• I BELIEVE the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations, and that the best government is that which governs least. (Except in the case of abortion or gay sex; then we need to legislate morality.)
• I BELIEVE the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people. (Except when it is necessary to give the President unlimited powers to overrule Constitutional protections.)
• I BELIEVE Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times. (Like overruling the Constitution when it doesn’t suit our purposes.)
• I BELIEVE Americans value and should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world. (It goes without saying, of course, as the world’s only remaining super power it’s our way or the highway; if we have to go it alone, we will.)
• FINALLY, I believe the Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government. (The “best” vehicle? I don’t think so!)

Sure, these basic principles are not bad, but in the hands of the current party leadership these principles are as tired as whores at a prison rodeo.

Democrats have lost support among fundamentalists on both the gay and abortion issues, but are there fundamentalists that can see beyond theses issues to the other Democratic Party principles? You cannot tell me that torture is a family-value; that taking from the poor and giving to the rich is a Christian value; or that eliminating programs that support the least among us is what Jesus had in mind.

Bottom line: political parties should be much more than single issues, but gay rights are fundamental rights, and it makes no sense for gay people to support an organization that will take their money, openly ridicule us, and take away our rights.