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The Log Cabin Republicans |
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By BuckcuB
The Log Cabin Republicans have chosen the latter course. BuckcuB asks that we all remember that it was not so very long ago when Log Cabin campaign contributions were refused or returned by numbers of Republican candidates for office. It's hard to imagine a more definite rejection--who ever heard of a politician turning down money? But now that the Texas Twit has taken illegal possession of the presidency, the Log Cabinites find themselves being wooed by those who were spitting on them in public mere months ago. Like the withered spinster of a bad melodrama, struck giddy and girlish by the sudden and unexpected attentions of a disreputable suitor, these self-styled gay Republicans are so enchanted that they overlook the obvious. The right-wing leadership wants to use the Log Cabinites, briefly, to put a fake stamp of gay approval on its murderous agenda. And the Log Cabin is so thrilled to have someone--anyone! -- finally paying attention to them, that they will go along with the unholy alliance. Never mind that the right wing's rare compliments for the group are, at their core, downright insulting. At a hastily-arranged "Republican Unity Breakfast" earlier this year, former GOP Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming addressed the group. Simpson is a close personal friend of both the Bush and Cheney families. The ex-Senator told gays in attendance how Mary Cheney, lesbian daughter of the vice- president is respected and loved.
Now, is BuckcuB the only person for whom such language conjures up an image of Timmy from South Park, drooling and head-lolling in his wheelchair? Simpson's backhanded compliments are the kinds of remarks usually reserved for those very special, special children who are severely retarded or horribly disfigured. If Mary Cheney was conspicuous because of her absence so were other high-level Bush administration or campaign officials. Congressman Jim Kolbe of Arizona, the only openly gay Republican in Congress (emphasis on "openly," please), showed up but merely smiled and waved. Surely you remember Kolbe, dear reader -- he was the guy who addressed last year's Republican National Convention while the Texas delegation bowed their heads and prayed in protest against a gay man speaking to the convention.
The false welcome being extended to Log Cabin by the GOP leadership is bad enough as exploitive hypocrisy. The gleeful, fawning embrace of that malicious welcome by the Log Cabinites is infinitely worse, because it requires them to intentionally ignore the Republican right-wing leadership's clear agenda: the demonization of all gays and lesbians, and the defense and support of laws which make gays at best second-class citizens and at worst criminals. After so many years as a wilting wallflower at the dance of politics, Log Cabin's recent prominence for waltzing with the Nazis of the GOP may be news to some readers. Unfortunately, these self-defeating gays have a long history of cozying up to the homophobic right, to gain a few crumbs of tokenism which are snatched away the instant Log Cabinites have outlived their momentary usefulness. Take, for example, Log Cabin's oft-repeated proud characterization of aforementioned Congressman Jim Kolbe as the nation's only openly- gay Republican member of Congress. What they fail to mention is the fact that Kolbe was intentionally and firmly in the closet, until he was "outed" by The Advocate in 1996. Jim Kolbe is only an openly-gay Republican because he was dragged, kicking and screaming, out of his self-loathing closet by exposure in the national media. And his outed status changed nothing of Kolbe's kowtowing to the GOP right-wing. In remarks to the Log Cabin, the Arizona congressman spoke of "...the guilt and shame associated with our sexuality," and noted that "When we...act like majority Republicans, we will win." Anti-bias and antidiscrimination protections for gays and lesbians? We won't be getting them courtesy of Log Cabin darling Kolbe. "It is equally right for Republicans to oppose special privileges for any group -- quotas or special legal protection," he told the gay Republican group. The Log Cabinites seem to believe that the majority of politically- active gays dislike them solely because of their partisan affiliation, and like gay members of the now-discredited Green Party, they whine that they're attacked simply for not being Democrats.
In fact, the photo was taken in 1989 when Phelps Jr. was affiliated with the treasury of the Kansas Democratic Party, one of those keepsake "here-I-am-with-a-famous-person" pictures sought by many minor functionaries in both parties. Nevertheless, the Log Cabinites attempted to use the photo to connect Gore with the infamous Fred Phelps Sr. So much for hate tactics. Now let's move on to willful stupidity. Rich Tafel, national director of the Log Cabin Republicans, wrote as recently as November of last year that "I've always argued that the religious right would undo themselves with how they could not mask their hatred of gay people, and I've been proven right in recent years. It has marginalized them in the political arena." Oh really? BuckcuB notes that the religious right's hatred has just "marginalized them" directly into the Attorney General of the United States' office. Zealous far-right Pentacostalist John Ashcroft, the religious fanatic who blocked gay ambassador James Hormel's nomination solely because of Hormel's sexuality, was confirmed only days ago as Attorney General, the nation's chief law-enforcement officer. How "marginalized" is that? Bible-thumping, cross-waving Ashcroft is now in charge of the administration of justice in America. Any other brilliant observations you'd care to toss our way, Mr. Tafel? The Log Cabin's willful stupidity extends even to the "spin" posted on numerous LCR websites, smugly commenting that up to one-fourth of gay voters told exit polls that they voted Republican. Do the Log Cabinites really think we won't notice the obvious corollary--that at least three-fourths of gay voters do NOT vote Republican? The gay Republican group's attempt at self-justification like this is both pathetic and laughable for its naivete. The real issue here--and the clear intent of both the Log Cabin and the GOP right wing--is fostering the false perception in the minds of middle-class America that the LCR is a significant voice in politics for gays and lesbians. A mere eleven thousand members weak, Log Cabin really speaks for no one except their tiny but vocal minority. And Republican mainstream opportunists are gleefully using LCR's desperate desire for legitimacy, deliberately mischaracterizing the group's meaningless endorsements as the voice of Gay America. The Log Cabin has yet to realize that the new GOP courtship is nothing but the two-faced cunning of a contemptuous gold-digger. When the right wing has drained dry the puddle of fake legitimacy LCR can afford them, Log Cabin will find itself out in the cold again. Out in the cold, but charred nonetheless--for as BuckcuB's Grammy was fond of noting, "If you play with fire long enough, you're bound to get burned." And as everyone knows, folks who live in a Log Cabin shouldn't play with fire. |
When a thief in the night comes to cut your throat, what do you do? Do
you fight and struggle and call out for help? Or do you delightedly offer
the evildoer a knife, and politely bare your neck for the blade?
M.G. Stauffer is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans 
Log Cabin's Kevin Ivers
alerted the media to this photo 
© 1997-2002 BEI