"We Failed" (... yuh THINK???)

[Montauk6]

Gay Republicans who fought for acceptance in Texas GOP see little progress

In June 1998, a group of gay and lesbian conservatives, pushing for greater representation at the Texas Republican Party convention in Fort Worth, found themselves in a frightening clash with members of their own party.

Members of the Log Cabin Republicans were protesting at the gathering of party faithful after a state GOP official made offensive comments comparing the group to the Ku Klux Klan and pedophiles. The group was also protesting the rejection of their request to host a booth at the convention — the second time in a row they’d been denied — where they hoped to share information about their organization.

Counterprotesters surrounded the Log Cabin members, wielding signs with homophobic slurs and phrases like “The Gay Life = AIDS Then Hell.” They pushed and spat and shoved their fingers in the faces of the gay Republicans.

Richard Tafel, the former executive director of the national Log Cabin Republicans which bills itself as the “nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies,” attended the Texas convention that year and recalls thinking he was in serious danger as they advocated for respect from members of their own party.

https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2022/07/24/we-failed-gay-republicans-who-fought-for-acceptance-in-texas-gop-see-little-progress/

Very sad but hey......

[Walleye]

1. Well you knew damn well they were a nest of vipers before you joined it

[DURHAM D]

2. I have never understood how you can be gay and a Republican.

Self-hate is the only explanation.

[rurallib]

5. There are a lot of groups I can't understand being Republican

Gays being perhaps the most glaring.

Real christians? Women? Blacks? Latino?

[thomski64]

12. Stupid evil Christo-fascist male..

..being their core group

[JuJuChen]

28. every race has the ability to be brainwashed.

[MagickMuffin]

8. I saw an interview with one and he said he compartmentalize it

Then he didn't have to"THINK" about it.

I thought how weird to shove down the hatred of the party you so desperately belong to. I'd find another party that is accepting of me, not one that wants to kill me.

[rurallib]

13. JC Watts' (black Republican from Oklahoma) father once supposedly said

Last edited Sun Jul 24, 2022, 12:57 PM - Edit history (1)

"Black folk being Republican is like chickens cheering for Colonel Sanders." That is how I look at Gay Republicans.

[Montauk6]

14. WATTS SAID THAT????

Did he leave the party? Seriously, I thought he was an eternal cheerleader for the bunch.

[rurallib]

21. it was supposedly his father - I screwed up and left 'father' out

[MagickMuffin]

16. I remember JC Watts, another head scratcher

I've never understood how blacks or gays could belong to a party that hates them. I guess having a small crack in the door allows them some access.

[rurallib]

22. see above. - it was his father - I left 'father out by mistake

Sorry.

[mopinko]

17. tim miller says the same.

former bushie.

[NCDem47]

19. Gay here.

And I've run into A LOT of racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, monied snob gay men in my lifetime.

Only thing we share is sexual preference and it pretty much ends there.

[SoCalDavidS]

15. Or Female. nt

[msfiddlestix]

18. It's ALL about Tax Cuts, it's ALL about $$$$$

When the Log Cabin Republican branch of the Republican party came on my radar back in the 90's I certainly shared your expressed opinion here... And the fact that I have lived in Nor Cal for over half a century, it was alays clear the "Gay" community was visably "well to do".. enough to "buy up" a "resort" along the Russian River Guerneville. When it was happening back in the 70's it was just interesting, and sort of made sense given the location north of San Francisco.

It wasn't until the first Clinton campaign when I was little involved in the campaign when I discovered a large swath of that community in Guernville were Republicans. Reaganites. I frankly was shocked. Turns out,it was just about the tax cuts, and investment gains. They gave eff all about social issues, inequality (i kid you not) or about the economic disparities and descrimination.

Aids was a thing in the 90's. You'd think that would be a wakeup call. Nope. At least not to any significant extent. Not enough to cut ties with the Republican Party, vis a vis their Log Cabin Republican PAC.

It was always about the money, not a care in the world about anything else.

[stopdiggin]

24. people are capable of the most amazing mental gymnastics

Basically people want to do what they want to do - and we will find a way to justify ...

And it doesn't always have to do with finances or money - although the old saying about a beliefs and pocketbooks is a fairly sound one. I've come to think it comes down to a real base principle - in which a lot people of simple do not give a crap about anyone outside of a very small immediate circle. Altruism, in any meaningful sense, is not part of the basic building blocks ... Or, as pointed out above - we will always be able to find a way to rationalize ...

But I too have been absolutely floored to find out the sheer number of gays - that care f** all about any sort of social issue. Period. Immigration, racism, abortion, schools, mental health ... They were, and are, more than capable of out rednecking the rednecks. Pure Archie Bunker kind of sh*t! It was a real eye opener (for a naive country boy). And quite the 'life lesson' - on who and what people really are.

[msfiddlestix]

27. Yeppers..don't care eff all about ANY social issue, even when it impacts their own community

Being initially 'smacked in the face' with this reveal back in the 90's was sort of the beginning of my eventual rejection of "identity" politics although at that time, I still believed if "only Women ruled the world" (despite examples like Thatcher) socio-economics and geopolitics would be a sort of 'night and day' scenario that would change everything for the better.

Well.. I was idealistic and naive then. I don't see things in that light any longer and the past twenty some odd years have proven over and over again identity politics in governance comes back to bite us in the ass across the spectrum of political or administrative positions, and laws. Where it matters.

It appears however, that lesson hasn't been understood as widely as it will need to be in order to really make progress. imo.

ymmv.

[Laffy Kat]

20. IMO, that goes for women, too.

[Takket]

3. even if i agreed with a party on economic issues and foreign affairs...

i cannot fathom setting that aside to be a part of a party that thinks i am a diseased pervert who should not exist. that kinda outweighs all the other stuff........

[Solly Mack]

4. Like tying weights to your body and believing you will float once in the water.

[RKP5637]

6. Bunch of sick puppies, loathing themselves. n/t

[TreasonousBastard]

7. This is a fundamental problem of the US having only 2 significant parties.

[RKP5637]

11. It's like watching a perpetual domestic dispute ... definitely need more than 2 parties. n/t

[Cuthbert Allgood]

26. At the national level, you need to get rid of the electoral college

for there to be more than 2 viable parties.

On the local level, you could have 3rd parties be successful.

[Autumn]

9. They didn't fail. If you are a republican and think republicans will do the decent thing

you are a fucking idiot. They got what they supported.

[hatrack]

10. And 32 years later, the Clue Bus finally pulled in . . .

Well played, Texas Log Closet Republicans! Swift, perceptive, decisive action!

[Best_man23]

23. Got news for Log Cabin Republicans

They were NEVER welcome by the mainstream Republicant party in the first place.

In today's neofascist version of the Republicant party, Log Cabin Repubs are unwelcome at best, and in potential physical danger at worst.

Perhaps they should consider moving to another political party where they might be more welcome?

[onecaliberal]

25. They hate gay people. They've always hated gay people.

If you’re not straight white male they hate you. Unless you’re self loathing, join team democracy and ditch the traitor party.

[Happy Hoosier]

29. WTF did they think was going to happen?

The GOP is built upon Christian Dominionism now. People who just wanna screw working class people with "supply-side" economics and predatory capitalism are passe in the modern GOP.