Reuters just discovered the Log Cabin Republicans:
Doug Warner seems like a stereotypical Republican: Southern, white, male, he served in the military, drives an SUV and likes hunting and fishing.
He is also openly gay.
Warner's sexual orientation makes for an awkward fit in a party with a powerful evangelical Christian wing that regards homosexuality as a sin and same-sex marriage as a threat to the traditional family.
"I believe that the approach of the social extremists eliminates our party's ability to grow in the future," he told Reuters by phone from his home in Charleston, South Carolina.
That's news!
But what's actually news to me is the journalist's assertion that Giuliani is actually pro-gay. He isn't, and they need to stop that narrative because it's getting lame to hear them try to spin it. But here they go:
While the organization is not endorsing a presidential candidate for 2008, Giuliani is clearly their favorite.
GIULIANI ALONE
This is hardly surprising as he is pointedly alone in the Republican field in his support for gay rights. And it suggests the party may be more diverse than its image suggests.
Except that he thinks that civil unions go too far, doesn't support the repeal of Don't Ask, is silent on universal health care and non-discrimination legislation, promises he'll nominate judges like gay-hating Antonin Scalia, and doesn't dispute claims that he privately supports the Federal Marriage Amendment.
But they don't need to report facts! No, they found a delusion LCR to say it, so screw the facts:
"I think it is refreshing to see a prominent Republican who is supportive of our issues doing so well," said Noel Freeman, who is head of Log Cabin's Houston chapter.
They need something to cling to, don't they, the LCR's?
Like the "social conservatives aren't real Republicans, we are" narrative:
"Somewhere along the way our party was hijacked by the social extremists who say that government needs to regulate things that were once considered private," said Warner's partner Truman Smith, who works as a private consultant and is the president of Log Cabin's South Carolina chapter.
"If we believe in lower taxes and less government, what are we going to do? Become Democrats?," he asked.
Actually, yeah. Deficit spending's way up under Bush, and that money's going to have to come from somewhere. Did they think the Iraq War would be self-financing, as we were promised by this administration before it started? Did anyone actually believe that?
And the party wasn't "hijacked"; Christian righteousness, once directed at business for child labor practices, plantations for slavery, and used for other progressive positions, was co-opted by their so-called leaders' insistence that gays and abortion were the number one issues of our time (and a CBS studyand anecdotal evidence show that evangelicals are giving up on those out-of-touch Religious Right leaders). They wanted them for votes, those opposed to social justice and economic equality, and now they're stuck with the worst of them.
Cross-posted from The Bilerico Project by Alex Blaze. Go there for more queer commentary!