Here's the Christian right's view of the 2004 presidential
election, via their worldnetdaily
website, which laments:
The 2004 election mantra for politicos may well be "It's homosexuality, stupid," as Democratic candidates openly court the "gay" vote, and Republicans make quiet incursions into the traditionally Democratic territory -- all to the distress of conservative, pro-family groups.
One suspects their distress will only grow more acute over time,
as a new
Gallup poll suggests that supporting gay equality is no longer
a losing issue. Among the findings:
"almost 9 out of 10 Americans agree that homosexuals should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities, although opinions on allowing homosexual couples to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples, are evenly divided."
Taking the 'Culture War' Home.
Tammy Bruce, an openly lesbian critic of politically correct feminism, has a column on the conservative (but NOT religious right) frontpagemagazine.com site explaining why supporters of limited government should oppose sodomy laws.
Making this argument to mainstream conservatives on their own
terms is far more productive than the usual gay protests, which too
often seem to consists of little more than chanting "bigot, bigot
go away" in the gay left's echo chamber. A similar point is made by
Carl Schmid, a former head of DC's Log Cabin chapter, who writes in
the Washington
Blade:
America is still being educated about gays, and the battle over our equal rights and responsibilities is basically being fought in the Republican Party. This makes sense since the more conservative voters are in the Republican Party.
Given where the remaining minds that need to be convinced are, isn't it incumbent upon all gay and lesbian advocacy organizations, both at the national and local level, to focus more of their attention on conservative-leaning voters and their elected officials?
Since the White House and Congress are controlled by Republicans, and likely will be in at least the near future, there is even more of a reason for the gay rights movement to change its course of action and focus more on Republican voters and officials.
That means our advocacy groups need more Republican voices, both gay and straight; they need more Republican leaders within their ranks; they need to make Republicans feel welcome into their organizations; they need to speak the language and style of Republicans; they need to spend less time in the offices of their friends and more with Republican elected officials, Republican voters in swing districts and conservative media outlets; and they need to learn to criticize in a constructive manner and praise when appropriate.
Well said! The Blade, by the way, also deserves credit this week
for covering the attacks by religious rightists on the Bush
administration over its outreach to gays -- an invisible story in
most of the media. The report is titled Racicot's
HRC meeting outrages "pro-family" groups.
--Stephen H. Miller