Wayne Besen: No more gay Republicans

[Duncan Grant]

Until now, I have always thought there was a place for the Log Cabin Republicans within the GLBT movement.

There was a need for a group that could advocate from inside the belly of the beast and do the dirty work that few intellectually honest people wanted to do. The logic behind this organization was that it made more sense to fight for the soul of the Republican Party than run away and support the Democrats — which members of this organization have traditionally disagreed with on fiscal and national security matters.

However, the rationale for this organization has significantly eroded, as the GOP has shown itself to be corrupt, inept and incapable of good governance. It has become the party of cronyism, debt and diabolical deceit, while securing its power by enthusiastically pandering to its anti-gay base.

With the stock market plummeting, the real estate bubble bursting, the deficit exploding and gas prices breaking new records — largely thanks to Republican deregulation of markets and failure to explore alternative energy sources - the myth of Republican economic responsibility has been fatally punctured.

More...

Full body slam. Worth the read. :thumbsup:

[Tyo]

1. Not worth worrying about

Good article, but really...The LCRs are no different from any other group of kool aid chugging Republicans. Nothing we can do about that. In their role as an advocacy group they have -0- influence with anyone in their party anyway. That has been made clear over and over again. They are just a bunch of individual idiots voting against their best interests and they'll never change. Why even concern ourselves with them?

[sui generis]

2. they are amazingly lame

The "republican" principles they believe in, smaller government, free market economics, less oversight, states rights uber alles, are not actually practiced in ANY form by republicans.

We have giant government, trillion dollar wars in Iraq to punish the dead airplane bombers, a 1000 percent growth in al qaeda, and a federal government that feels compelled to overturn medical marijuana, right-to-death, and deny recognition of our families, and towering above all, a truly abysmal failure of "free market" economics in this country, where "trickle down" means taking your wealth-class tax breaks and investing in Ducati and FOREX and foreign workers to produce your luxury goods, earning a dollar a day for 12 or more hours of work.

They are fundamentally flawed humans, and the only satisfaction I get is that most of them believe themselves to be associating with "wealth" and success, when in fact they're really starting to hurt now financially because they lead the charge into REITS and other high risk real estate and mortgage derivatives.

I wouldn't give them a moth eaten blanket to sleep in on the street - or any forgiveness for their weakly justified positions.

[offog]

4. I think you're on to something, sui generis.

"... most of them believe themselves to be associating with "wealth" and success..."
For the last few years I've suspected that this is the reason people will vote conservative against their own best interests.

Conservatives in both America and Canada tend to write off segments of the population and treat them like crap: the poor, non-white people, immigrants, GLBT people, etc. But some people in those groups will stubbornly vote conservative anyhow, and I think it's because they want to make a statement of "Hey, I'm not one of THOSE losers." I suppose they like to think of themselves as special, able to "beat the odds", or whatever, even if they haven't achieved the success they've dreamed of.

For as far back as I can remember, conservatives have billed themselves as "winners" - the best of the best, while labeling minority and marginalized people as "losers" - the ones who can't keep up in a competitive world. At the same time, conservatives have been sending out the message that compassion is for wimps. (Compassionate conservatism is when they make the streets safer before they throw you out into them.)

Even with the blatant incompetence and corruption of the Bush administration, so many people still believe that liberalism is for the weak and the losers. (I'm just thinking of a joke about Canadian Conservatives: The Conservative Party is like cream - rich, thick and full of clots.

Some people just like to see themselves on the side of the "winners", kind of the way some people will vote for whoever is winning in the opinion polls.

[Toasterlad]

3. I Disagree

I have a cousin who's a die-hard Republican. The wife of one of my best friends is also a right-wing fanatic. I love these two very much, and, while it continues to mystify me as to how someone who claims to care about me can support ideologies that want me erased from the planet, I believe they love me. I think they're both cripplingly retarded politically, as they no doubt feel about me. However, I have ties to them, both familial and sentimental, and I would never kick them out of my life because of their politics (although I'll admit I've been tempted in the past).

I honestly consider gay people, in general, to be family, in a very real sense. Does that mean I like all of them? Do you like all YOUR family members? I come from a large family, and I have BROTHERS AND SISTERS that I don't like, let alone cousins, aunts and uncles. However, I'm still bonded to these people, and I can't deny them their place in my life, even if I seldom see or speak to them. It's the same with gay people. I don't like them all, or approve of everything they do, but I have a connection to them.

I don't think Log Cabin Republicans hurt anyone but themselves. As Tyo pointed out above, no one pays any attention to them. Gay people openly despise them, their Republican masters patronize them while not quite openly despising them, and everyone else finds them ridiculous. No one takes anything they say or do seriously. Frankly, they're the only thing that EVERYONE agrees on.

In any case, while they're position in the "GLBT movement" is questionable, we can't exactly kick them out. They'll still be gay, no matter how hard we might wish otherwise. Our only option is to treat them like the slow cousin who often says embarrassing things at family gatherings: ignore them when they say something stupid, and praise them when - if - they say something worthwhile.

"We Are Family" - Not just a great song.

[One_Life_To_Give]

5. Respectfully Disagree

In a little over a month the Repugs are going to start their final meltdown. Having lost not only congress but the Whitehouse as well. What the Repugs reinvent themselves as will depend upon who is and is not involved in the process. So the defeat of current repug ideals is what will give the LCR's their opportunity to change their party.

A repub party guided by LCR and Rockefeller Repubs wouldn't be a bad thing for GLBT rights IMHO.

[Athelwulf]

6. I dunno...

I don't think the odds are very good that, through defeat, the Republican Party could be reformed by its less crazy caucuses. They're certainly welcome to try though, and I hope they prove me wrong.