Richard Grennell’s Wall Street Journal op-ed, Marriage, Gay Republicans and the Election, is behind a subscriber firewall. But it’s worth noting a few of his points:
Anti-gay extremists not only dismiss a plethora of serious issues confronting America and the world, but they fail to recognize the consistency of living by the conservative ideal of limiting government involvement in our lives.
The claim that gays should be barred from conservative activism is not only bigoted but is a bipartisan view. The intolerant assault comes from the far right, who object to Republicans who are gay, and the far left, who object to gays being Republicans. When the extremists on both sides are the only ones speaking up, the majority suffers. …
Thousands of Republicans privately voiced support for my appointment and were disappointed by the events that led to my resignation earlier this month. Some did so while admitting they disagreed with my support for gay marriage. But they too are passionate about a strong America, personal responsibility and independent religious institutions—issues that should be at the forefront of this year’s presidential election. …
While there are many reasons not to vote to re-elect President Obama, gay marriage is not one of those issues. …
The point is not to convince gay Democrats to vote for Romney—that’s not going to happen, obviously. Left-liberals won’t buy the argument that it’s a bad thing that “Mr. Obama … has demonstrated a willingness to abandon the entrepreneurial spirit that made America great while embracing a new era of government-centered decisions,” and they may even applaud Obama for doing so.
Rather, the point is to reach out to conservative Republicans with the message that being gay, and supporting full legal equality for gay people, isn’t inconsistent with conservative principles. That’s a fight that is vital to make, and gay Democrats shouldn’t put party first by sniping at gay Republicans for making it.
10 Comments for “The Fight Within”
posted by Houndentenor on
Here we go again. In what way does the opinion of those on the “far left” about gays in the GOP have any influence on the GOP? Complaints about Republican policy towards gay Americans needs to be addressed to the GOP leadership and the various factions of the party. Blaming the left is ridiculous. Do Democrats take advantage of anti-gay statements from Republicans? Of course they do. They’d be stupid not to.
Stop blaming the anti-gay policies of the GOP on the left. You make it sound like both the left and the right are equally to blame for the Republicans problem appealing to gay people. It’s rather obvious that the GOP has spent 30 years making sure gay people knew they were not welcome. Oh, yes, the country club Republicans inside liberal areas will tell you the opposite to your face. Do they stand up for you with the red-state social Republicans? Hardly ever. At least not in my experience.
posted by AG on
It’s entirely rational for gay Republicans to emphasize the attacks they receive from the gay left. Both gay Republicans and conservatives in general dislike the left a lot. This is something they have in common. It’s “the enemy of my enemy” thing. It would be stupid for gay Republicans not to portrait themselves as a sympathetic victim when they can credibly do so. Being perceived as a victim in the modern US society is a valuable asset, you don’t waste it. And of course conservatives are not immune to the culture of victimhood.
posted by North Dallas Thirty on
Here we go again. In what way does the opinion of those on the “far left” about gays in the GOP have any influence on the GOP?
Simple, Houndentenor.
You and your friends like Obama Party staffer Tom Scharbach have made it clear that all gays are antireligious bigots, all gays are welfare addicts, all gays are class-warfare maniacs who want to tax the wealthy at 100%, all gays demand unlimited Federal funding, all gays demand (insert Obama Party platform here), and that those who don’t are mentally-ill, Stockholm-syndrome-suffering quislings, Uncle Toms, race traitors, wannabe Nazis, and so forth who want to abolish the New Deal and push old ladies in wheelchairs off cliffs.
Do you expect Republicans to not take you at your word?
posted by Tom Scharbach on
You and your friends like Obama Party staffer Tom Scharbach have made it clear that all gays are antireligious bigots, all gays are welfare addicts, all gays are class-warfare maniacs who want to tax the wealthy at 100%, all gays demand unlimited Federal funding, all gays demand (insert Obama Party platform here), and that those who don’t are mentally-ill, Stockholm-syndrome-suffering quislings, Uncle Toms, race traitors, wannabe Nazis, and so forth who want to abolish the New Deal and push old ladies in wheelchairs off cliffs.
Gosh, Dan, even for you this is over the top.
It is a classic, though, right up there with “… you’re a promiscuous, irresponsible, socialist bigot who wishes all Republicans were dead …”
posted by Parick on
hahahahahahahaha…i needed a good laugh. Whata bufoon.
posted by Mark F. on
Much of gay left formerly considered marriage an evil institution. I still see some op-eds arguing against marriage and saying it would not be needed in their socialist paradise where everyone got “free” government services, etc.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Much of gay left formerly considered marriage an evil institution. I still see some op-eds arguing against marriage and saying it would not be needed in their socialist paradise where everyone got “free” government services, etc.
That argument is long over, Mark, despite the occasional noise from the radicals.
A “gay mainstream” has formed in the years since IGF began in the mid-1990’s, and it is a conservative mainstream.
The goals articulated by Jon Rauch, Andrew Sullivan, Bruce Bawer and many other early contributors to IGF — marriage equality, family, personal responsibility, military service and employment, and so on — have been the goals of the “LGBT movement” for at decade now. The older, radical voices of the “movement” — Tony Kushner, for example — become largely irrelevant.
As Stephen put it in 1994, “Spare us, Lord, from artists and academics who dream of utopia. I’ll opt for equality before the law any day, and take responsibility for making my own garden grow.“.
The conservative position became the mainstream because most gays and lesbians are no different from most straights — we believe in marriage, family, personal responsibility, military service and career. The radical left voices have always been a sideshow.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
The point is not to convince gay Democrats to vote for Romney—that’s not going to happen, obviously.
You are correct in that, Stephen. We didn’t spend thirty-plus years working to bring the Democratic Party around to “equal means equal” in order to switch parties and support a candidate who is pledged to support the FMA, pledged to support DOMA, pledged to support “original intent” judges and justices (code for reversing Lawrence) , opposes marriage equality and equivalent civil unions, opposes equal pay and benefits for gay and lesbian military personnel, and all the ugly rest of it.
Left-liberals won’t buy the argument that it’s a bad thing that “Mr. Obama … has demonstrated a willingness to abandon the entrepreneurial spirit that made America great while embracing a new era of government-centered decisions,” and they may even applaud Obama for doing so.
Say what? Oh, yeah, I forgot. We need to undo the New Deal and get back to the days of Herbert Hoover. Well, most of us don’t agree with that, either.
Rather, the point is to reach out to conservative Republicans with the message that being gay, and supporting full legal equality for gay people, isn’t inconsistent with conservative principles.
I’ve made that argument, loud and clear, since I started commenting on this forum in 2004. So have other so-called “left/liberals”. But as Houndentenor points out, “left/liberals” can point out the obvious until the sun no longer rises in the East, and it won’t make any difference — pro-equality conservatives have to start making the argument in clear, consistent and forceful terms within the Republican Party.
That’s a fight that is vital to make, and gay Democrats shouldn’t put party first by sniping at gay Republicans for making it.
What gay Democrats “snipe” at gay Republicans about is this: Almost without exception, gay Republicans “talk the talk” of equality, but when it comes time to vote, gay Republicans vote anti-equality.
Keeping that up has contributed to the slide of the Republican Party into anti-equality extremism in the last decade, and is not going to bring the Republican Party around to “equal means equal”, ever. You’ve got to change what you are doing if you want to change the Republican Party.
posted by North Dallas Thirty on
Actually, Obama Party staffer Tom Scharbach, what gay and straight Republicans know and have known for years is that your definition of “anti-equality” is based solely on party affiliation and has nothing to do with how people feel/act about gays. It’s merely an excuse you use to paper over your true motivations about using the government to carry out your revenge fantasies against churches and taking money from people who work so you don’t have to.
posted by TomJeffersonIII on
I am sorry, but I get kinda ticked off when the Log Cabin folk complain about being excluded and mistreated and always seen eager to paint anyone who does any against their politics or party as being part of some far out, left-wing socialist agenda.
Case in point; President Obama has not “abandoned the entrepreneurial spirit.” Capitalism and free markets are alive an well in America.
What some folks on the right seem to favor is anarchy or survival of the fittest. They have a right to these views, but that is not something to be called capitalism.