Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Anything and everything about gay life anywhere in the world, especially Asia, other than Thailand.
BeginnersMind

Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by BeginnersMind »

Because if I am a republican, who would ever guess that I am gay because us Republican hate the gays so much!

Seriously though, there's an interesting West Wing episode featuring a gay republican explaining his reasons -
http://www.westwingepguide.com/S2/Episodes/29_TPT.html

(If memory serves, he isn't defined solely by his sexuality and agrees with the general 'small government' platform)
RichLB
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Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by RichLB »

Well, I'm a dyed in the wool liberal and a registered Democrat. But, I have not always been so. At one time, the political landscape was quite different. It was the Democrats (then called Dixiecrats) who were opposed to civil rights and the Republicans who were fighting for individual rights. Many were also influenced by Barry Goldwater who championed the individual and the right to live whatever life they wished while staying within the law. I think that there are still some people who cling to what the Republican Party used to be. It seems to me, they hold the position that the two parties are Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and, in spite of the rhetoric, they don't see much difference between the two. One could argue that the Federal Government, whether controlled by Democrats or Republicans, does little of substance to advance the rights of gays and often takes positions which lead to our repression. Republicans, supposedly eschewing big government, are more likely to free the individual from intolerant Federal policies. Of course, it doesn't work that way, but you asked how groups such as the Log Cabin Club justify being Republican and gay. I think I've presented some of their logic - as flawed as it is.
BeginnersMind

Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by BeginnersMind »

Mmmm. I guess it is easy to confuse the Republican part with the Religious Right nowadays.
Undaunted

Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by Undaunted »

Only if he was a millionaire as well as being gay!
Jomtienbob

Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by Jomtienbob »

RichLB wrote:Well, I'm a dyed in the wool liberal and a registered Democrat. But, I have not always been so. At one time, the political landscape was quite different. It was the Democrats (then called Dixiecrats) who were opposed to civil rights and the Republicans who were fighting for individual rights. .
I remember that period a little differently. While I agree that the Dixiecrats were opposed to civil rights, it was their allies, the Republicans who gave them the 41 votes needed to block any Senate action. LBJ knew that when he was passing the 1964 Civil Rights legislation, he was turning the Solid South from solidly Democratic to solidly Republican for the next generation.

In my mind the Republican Party has consistently been on the wrong side of every important issue, be it Civil Rights, Minimum Wages, Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Worker and Food Safety, let alone the personal issue of Gay Rights.
RichLB
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Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by RichLB »

Jomtienbob wrote: I remember that period a little differently. While I agree that the Dixiecrats were opposed to civil rights, it was their allies, the Republicans who gave them the 41 votes needed to block any Senate action.
You're undoubtedly quite correct. That was almost 50 years ago and as uninformed as I am about politics today, I was even more so back then. History, aside, I also have trouble understanding how any gay person can be Republican. Actually, I have trouble understanding how anyone can be.
bbillybb

Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by bbillybb »

I don't know why a gay would be a Republican. I consider myself a Libertarian as opposed to a Democrat ot Liberal. I like the hands off approach. I dont get turned off by a lot of things that other would think as despicable. To be sure..wrong is wrong.. so I dont advocate outright idiocy..
Well enough for now...oh ya if you are a Republican Gay I hope you are OUT..or are there any?
jaafar

Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by jaafar »

Well, I suppose it depends on how much you buy into Identity Politics. "I am Black, therefore I must be a Democrat." "I am Gay, therefore I must be a Democrat."

Look at all the postings, not one of which even suggests that a gay man has any freedom of choice. If he's gay, he's got to support Barney Frank and the entire housing meltdown, or else he is JUST. PLAIN. SELFISH.

I hate Identity Politics. We all have freedom of choice.

And (ahem) my mail-in ballot is sitting right in front of me.

And my motto, for the moment, comes from Calvin Coolidge: "Normal people can take care of themselves."

Anyway, that Obama clown has been SUCH a winner for gay rights, hasn't he???
Jomtienbob

Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by Jomtienbob »

jaafar wrote:
Anyway, that Obama clown has been SUCH a winner for gay rights, hasn't he???
Below is a list of the Obama administration's accomplishments in the face of the party of no (Republicans) It is from eequalitygiving, a LGBT advocacy organization.

I'm sure a more reasonable opposition party could have allowed the list to have been bigger. Who is it that is opposing Don't Ask repeal?

http://www.equalitygiving.org/Accomplis ... T-Equality

Accomplishments by the Administration and Congress on LGBT Equality

No one should rest until we have full LGBT equality. But after eight years of Republican disrespect, progress is being made. In its first 20 months, the Obama Administration has...




By Andrew Tobias | Contact



DNC treasurer Andrew Tobias is the author of several books, including The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need and The Best Little Boy in the World.



Reversed an inexcusable US position by signing the UN Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees in 2009 and, further, in 2010
Endorsed the Baldwin-Lieberman bill, The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, to provide FULL partnership benefits to federal employees
Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
Lifted the HIV Entry Ban effective January 2010
Released the first Presidential PRIDE proclamations since 2000
Hosted the first LGBT Pride Month Celebration in White House history
Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King, joining past recipients such as Rosa Parks
Appointed the first ever transgender DNC member
Issued diplomatic passports, and provided other benefits, to the partners of same-sex foreign service employees
Committed to ensuring that HUD’s core housing programs are open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity
Conceived a National Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders -- the nation's first ever -- funded by a three-year HHS grant to SAGE
Testified in favor of ENDA, the first time any official of any administration has testified in the Senate on ENDA
Signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded existing United States federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability -- the first positive federal LGBT legislation in the nation's history
Hired and appointed a record number of qualified LGBT Americans (like these), including more than 20 Senate-confirmed appointments
Sworn in Ambassador David Huebner
Changed the culture of government everywhere from – among others – HUD and HHS to the Export-Import Bank, the State Department, and the Department of Education
Appointed Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, instead of conservatives who would have tilted the Court even further to the right and virtually doomed our rights for a generation. To wit (quoting McCain): "I've said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I've said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I've said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible]."

Named open transgender appointees (the first President ever to do so)

Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation's largest employer)

Emphasized LGBT inclusion in everything from the President’s historic NAACP address (“The pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a different gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their God. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.”) . . . to the first paragraph of his Family Day proclamation (“Whether children are raised by two parents, a single parent, grandparents, a same-sex couple, or a guardian, families encourage us to do our best and enable us to accomplish great things”) and his Mothers Day proclamation ("Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by two parents, a single mother, two mothers, a step-mom, a grandmother, or a guardian. Mother's Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate these extraordinary caretakers") . . . to creating the chance for an adorable 10-year-old at the White House Easter Egg roll to tell ABC World News how cool it is to have two mommies . . . to including the chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce along with the Secretary of the Treasury and the President of Goldman Sachs in the small audience for the President’s economic address at the New York Stock Exchange . . . to welcoming four gay couples to its first State Dinner
Recommitted, in a televised address, to passing ENDA . . . repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell . . . repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act
Spoken out against discrimination at the National Prayer Breakfast ("We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are -- whether it's here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.")
Dispatched the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to call on the Senate to repeal Don't Ask / Don't Tell, in the meantime dialing back on discharges
Launched a website to gather public comment on first-ever federal LGBT housing discrimination study
Appointed long-time equality champion Chai Feldblum one of the four Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Eliminated the discriminatory Census Bureau policy that kept our relationships from being counted, encouraging couples who consider themselves married to file that way, even if their state of residence does not yet permit legal marriage
Produced U.S. Census Bureau PSAs featuring gay, lesbian, and transgender spokespersons.
Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.
Appointed Retired Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer, an early public champion of open service in the military, to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services
Required all grant applicants seeking HUD funding to comply with state and local anti-discrimination laws that protect LGBT individuals.
Adopted transgender recommendations on the issuance of gender-appropriate passports that will ease barriers to safe travel and that will provide government-issued ID that avoids involuntary "outing" in situations requiring ID, like hiring, where a gender-appropriate driver's license or birth certificate is not available
Extended domestic violence protections to LGBT victims
Publicly invited shunned MIssissippi high school prom student to the White House
Extended the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover employees taking unpaid leave to care for the children of same-sex partners
Issued guidance specifically to assist LGBT tenants denied housing on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity
Issued a National HIV/AIDS Strategy praised as "long-overdue" by the Task Force, Lambda and others
Successfully fought for UN accreditation of IGLHRC (the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission) -- against Republican attempts to block it
Convened the first-ever anti-bullying summit to craft a national strategy to reduce bullying in schools.
Awarded $13.3 million to the LA Gay & Lesbian Center to create a model program for LGBTQ youth in the foster care system.
The Administration will continue to make steady progress on our issues whether we help strengthen its hand or not. But the stronger it is, the faster that progress will come.
jaafar

Re: Why would a Gay American be a Republican?

Post by jaafar »

Dick Cheney supports gay marriage and Barack Obama does not.

(See how the truth fits in one small sentence??)
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