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Endorsement of Bush Criticized |
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Compiled by GayToday
"As a nonpartisan organization, HRC endorses candidates from both major parties with the clear understanding that they support our issues," said HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. "The Log Cabin endorsement is perplexing because the group is throwing its support behind a candidate who opposes gay and lesbian equality and continues to succumb to the far right. For gay and lesbian Americans, there is no clear rationale or coherent reason to support Bush's candidacy." In 39 states, it is still legal to fire people because of their sexual orientation. There is a bill in Congress to stop this injustice. But Bush has not indicated his support and referred to nondiscrimination laws as "special treatment of people." The grisly murder of James Byrd Jr. in Bush's home state of Texas, shocked the nation. Despite pleas by the Byrd family, Bush helped defeat a hate crime bill in Texas, primarily because it provided coverage based on sexual orientation, and has not expressed his support of the hate crime bill that passed the Senate earlier this summer.
"The Log Cabin Republicans must have had to look extraordinarily hard to see a silver lining in what is unquestionably a dark cloud of a record," said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg. "It is admirable that they tried and continue to try to make sincere inroads into the Bush campaign, but those efforts have not resulted in a single affirmative policy position in support of gay and lesbian Americans." While his actions have been decidedly anti-gay, his inaction has been equally disturbing. While an earlier draft of the GOP platform deleted some of the anti-gay language, all of it was restored. Indeed, Bush did nothing to publicly call for the removal of the anti-gay rhetoric and policy statements from the GOP platform. "While Bush won in every single other policy fight involving the platform, curiously, he lost on this one," said Stachelberg. Bush is to be commended for including openly gay Jim Kolbe, the senior Congressman from Arizona as a speaker on trade issues at the GOP convention. But he has yet to speak out against treatment of Kolbe by some members of the Texas delegation who took off their cowboy hats and bowed their heads when Kolbe came up to the podium. Another threat from a Bush White House would be almost certain new appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. He says Justice Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are the justices he most admires. This is a solid indication that any Justice that Bush appoints to the Supreme Court would be hostile to gay and lesbian equality. If Bush is elected, it could further tip the balance of the court and set back decades of civil rights advances, including a woman's right to choose, according to HRC. "The verdict is in. A Bush/Cheney administration has the potential to be very harmful for gays and lesbians," said Stachelberg. "There is not a single reason why a gay and lesbian person should vote for Bush." The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political organization, with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community. |
Activist Bob Kunst protests the Log Cabin endorsement of George W. Bush at the GOP's convention in Philadelphia 