By the Log Cabin Republicans & Human Rights Campaign

Former US Sen. Barry Goldwater

We at Log Cabin Republicans celebrate the life of Barry Goldwater and we mourn his passing. Goldwater was our kind of Republican. He was a man ahead of his time. His views on individual rights and responsibilities, free markets and limited government, though considered radical thirty years are ago, are the standard for governing today. 

Goldwater, in his early years, hired African American sales clerks for his department store when that was considered controversial. In recent years, he demonstrated the timelessness of his principles by applying them to the gay rights debate and concluding that as a moral nation, we should guarantee individual liberty and equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans. In 1993, he testified before the Senate in support of gays serving openly in the military, saying, 'You don't have to be straight to shoot straight.' Goldwater addressed the LCR National Convention via video tape in 1993, when he received the Spirit of Lincoln Award from our organization. 

While Goldwater remained steadfast in his Republican principles, many in the Republican Party have not. It is a sad reflection of the state of our Party today, that some Republicans questioned the credentials of the godfather of modern conservatism because he supported fair treatment for gays. We can only hope that our Party can return to the conscience of a conservative -- Barry Goldwater -- whose ideals can lead us back to our basic principles and away from pandering to the religious right." 
 

The Human Rights Campaign:

The Human Rights Campaign mourned the death today of former U.S. senator and Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, a staunch defender of individual liberty and equality for gay Americans. 

"Barry Goldwater envisioned an America where equal rights and liberty extend to all people. He exemplified honorable conservative principles such as respecting individual rights. Many of today's right-wing politicians, who mistakenly call themselves conservatives, can learn a lot about true conservatism by studying Barry Goldwater," said HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. 

In 1993, Barry Goldwater came out in support of allowing openly gay people to serve in the military. He believed all Americans who wanted to serve their country honorably should have that right. 

Goldwater, whose grandson is gay, continued his support for equal rights by publishing a July 1994 Washington Post op-ed, asking Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would protect gay Americans from job discrimination. 

"It's time America realized that there was no gay exemption in the right to `life, liberty and the pursuit to happiness' in the Declaration of Independence. Job discrimination against gays -- or anybody else – is contrary to each of these founding principles," Goldwater wrote in his op-ed.