The Log Cabin Republicans finally declined to endorse Donald Trump, saying "rhetoric alone regarding LGBT issues does not equate to doctrine." From their statement:
As Mr. Trump spoke positively about the LGBT community in the United States, he concurrently surrounded himself with senior advisors with a record of opposing LGBT equality and committed himself to supporting legislation such as the so-called ‘First Amendment Defense Act’ that Log Cabin Republicans opposes.”
This is a glass half empty/full moment since Log Cabin actually broke with tradition after endorsing both Mitt Romney in 2012 and John McCain in 2008. At the very least, the group finally pulled support from a GOP nominee who enlisted one of the most prominent anti-LGBTQ lawmakers in the nation as his VP and repeatedly promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn marriage equality. But as LGBTQ blogger and radio host Michelangelo Signorile points out, LCR waited far too long to suddenly provide a clear-eyed assessment of Trump after the group spent the majority of the campaign season lavishing praise on him.
But by telegraphing that LCR was likely backing Trump, saying over and over for more than a year that he was so “pro-LGBT” — including in an interview with me at the RNC — only to decline to officially endorse him two weeks before the election, Log Cabin’s leader, Gregory T. Angelo, still helped Trump throughout the election. The non-endorsement at this point in time has minimal negative impact on the sinking Trump.
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It comes when Trump looks like he’ll lose the election, so it’s a cowardly action — far from standing up to a bigot who has a strong shot to win and declaring the group will do what it can to stop him from becoming president.
The LGBTQ movement needs a conservative group that manages to woo some Republicans on important pieces of legislation (it takes more than just Democrats). But if there's one thing progressive LGBTQ activists learned early in Obama's presidency, it’s that sometimes you have to hold your own accountable early and often. Log Cabin failed that test by a long shot this election.
