The Gay GOP: Here, Queer, You Know the Rest

If you're a gay Republican or conservative, chances are that you have grown a thick skin against epithets like "Uncle Tom" or "traitor."  They are made by left-leaning echo-chamber types who are blinded by the brilliance of their own rightness, or who are just too lazy to try to understand legitimate differences between human beings.  That attitude is usually evinced by the gay press, as well, despite the duty of journalists to be dispassionate, seek truth and challenge conventional wisdom.

But sometimes the gay press can surprise, covering gay Republicans and conservatives like they don't have a third eye growing from their foreheads.

Kudos to the Gay & Lesbian Times for making quick work of the canard that such gays are "oxymorons."

If we could figure out a way to convert the hostility of the gay left against the Republicans in their midst into electricity, we could keep ANWR the barren wasteland that it is.  The fact is, it is hard for a gay Republican to get into an argument with a Democrat and not feel better about ourselves.  When you are interested in dialog and common ground, but the opposition is reduced to little more than invective and marginalization, you can't help but think that there must be at least a little validity to your positions.

I always preface discussions about my party of registration (and there are many such discussions) by saying that I am disillusioned with Republicans for many reasons lately, and that the term "libertarian" describes me more neatly than any party label probably ever could.  But let's face it, the two-party system is the only real game in town, and the values of the Republican Party have always more accurately represented what is most important to me.

As far back as I can remember, I have agreed with most of what Republicans are supposed to stand for: American exceptionalism, strong defense, personal liberty, limited government, lower taxes, and equality of opportunity but not of outcomes.  It was not until much later in life that I began to realize that I might be gay, and to come to terms with my sexuality.

It would be disingenuous to say that along the way, I haven't felt tension between my sexual orientation and my political beliefs.  But my values and beliefs significantly predate my sexual identity.  So it makes about as much sense to expect me to reject those beliefs and as it would to disparage heterosexuals who merely choose to be Democrats.  That is, Republicans should no more be the party of straight Americans than Democrats are the party of gays.  And I can never be conviced that the Republican Party is, in itself, antithetical to gay Americans.

The trouble these days is that too many of the values that I hold have been ignored or perverted within the GOP.  I believe in my heart that the Republican Party stands for individual liberty and rights, but undue influence is being exerted by those who would extend those rights selectively, or whose view of government is as facile as whose ox is getting gored.  My views are not unlike those of religious reformers throughout history who believe they are restoring their movement to a "truer path."

My choice is either to leave, or to stand and fight; I have chosen, for now, to stand – to try to take back my party.  Or perhaps to make my voice heard mightily as the ship disappears under the water completely.  Until and unless the Democratic Party makes a major course correction that includes renouncing the craven political chess game they play in which gays are pawns – they will never be a viable choice for me.

And until gay leftists accept the legitimacy of gay Republicans and conservatives, they will waste valuable time and energy dividing the GLBT community and forestalling progress and acceptance for gays within the larger society.

But back to the Gay & Lesbian Times article: As they say in the blogosphere, read the whole thing.

Comments

[PatC]

Yep, pretty much the way I think.

[North Dallas Thirty]

Bravo!

[AGR]

Excellent!