The Partisan's Quandary. IGF contributor Dale
Carpenter has written an ever-so-timely column titled What's a Gay
Republican To Do? Rejecting both simplistic rah-rah
partisanship and single (gay) issue myopia, he observes
that:
As politically progressive gays tirelessly remind us, "gay" issues are not the only issues that matter. Good citizens must be concerned about other things too, like national defense and the economy. A candidate may be terrific on gay issues but terrible on just about everything else important to a responsible voter. Voting is a matter of balancing candidates" overall pluses against their overall minuses".
But there are circumstances in which the candidates" stands on gay issues should weigh more heavily, and perhaps be decisive, for a gay Republican. First, there are some public policy positions that strike so fundamentally at the core of gays" full citizenship that no politician advocating them should get our votes.
This, I concur, is a sensible approach. Oppose candidates of
whichever party if they seek to deny us our fundamental liberties
as citizens. On the other hand, don't fall into the zealot's trap
of giving primacy to feel-good rhetoric over everything else of
critical importance to our well-being as Americans.
--Stephen H. Miller