Breaking Ranks

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D.C.’s MetroWeekly interviews Anthony “Rek” LeCounte, a young, black, gay Republican. Excerpt:

“There’s a saying in politics that ‘personnel is policy,’” he says. “A lot of these nonpartisan [LGBT rights] groups are staffed by aggressively left-wing progressive folks who, even if their organization say, ‘We believe X, Y, and Z,’ have their own biases which then affect their decisions. If an LGBT candidate is pro-life, or supports gun rights, or holds a bunch of other conservative positions that run deeply counter to what the progressive movement is doing, a lot of these groups don’t want to be associated with those kind of candidates. So they’ll either endorse against or they’ll just pretend the candidate doesn’t exist.”

True.

8 Comments for “Breaking Ranks”

  1. posted by Tom Scharbach on

    Life is hard. Log Cabin Republicans do love to carry on about it, or so it would seem from IGF. Isn’t this the second or third post you’ve run in the last year featuring a gay Republican who finds life almost unbearably difficult living in Washington, a city with the highest percentage of gays and lesbians in the country and full non-discrimination protection?

    If gay Republicans find life so hard in the blue enclaves, maybe they should move to red country. If nothing else, they wouldn’t have to endure slings and arrows from “the Left” anymore.

  2. posted by Jorge on

    D.C.’s MetroWeekly interviews Anthony “Rek” LeCounte, a… black, gay Republican.

    There are two of them???

  3. posted by JohnInCA on

    Seriously, LCR claims it has members all over the country. Is it really that hard to find and interview a member that doesn’t live in a place with non-discrimination protections for LGBT folk?

  4. posted by Tom Scharbach on

    Seriously, LCR claims it has members all over the country. Is it really that hard to find and interview a member that doesn’t live in a place with non-discrimination protections for LGBT folk?

    It might be harder than you’d think at first blush.

    LCR doesn’t even have chapters in 25 of the states, and in the states where LCR does have chapters, the chapters seem to cluster in urban blue enclaves.

  5. posted by Lori Heine on

    Non-leftist gays in areas where actual oppression exists tend to be libertarian rather than Republican. Or they are merely conservative without a GOP affiliation. They have too much experience with Republicans to think that Tweedledum is that much different than Tweedledee.

    The cities are heavily favored. Which is what all this abolish-the-Electoral-College B.S. is really about. They want to run the lives of everybody in the country. If Clinton had won in the Electoral College, it would be the Repubs who’d be screaming to get rid of it. Being comfortable, thinking of themselves as better than everyone else and drinking whichever of the two flavors of Kool-Aid they like best is part and parcel of big-city life.

    I’m already not supposed to mention ending the War on Drugs, asset forfeiture or imminent domain. I’m supposed to worship the holy pole quilt, rah-rah against all brown people and simply obey a different master.

    Facebook is full of pictures of Trump dolled up like Julius Caesar, with Hulk Hogan arms, leading the troops into glorious battle. This is all very silly. It’s fun to laugh at, but if the pattern holds it won’t be fun for much longer.

    I do like that he’s keeping some of his promises to undo past presidents’ big government fiascoes. That alone breaks a mold.

    • posted by TJ on

      I know plenty of gay Republicans and Democrats who view the otherside harshly. Heck, we have several regular authors at the IGF who are quick to view Democrats harshly.

      Thinks have certainly gotten more mean, politically speaking. Much of it comes from far right groups and talk radio in the 1970s and 1980s. Then came Fox News.

  6. posted by Jorge on

    “but if I make a mistake and I’m walking down the street in D.C. with any kind of Republican paraphernalia there will be comments.”
    …
    “That’s part of why I generally don’t go around with Republican paraphernalia that’s visible anymore. Nowadays, you just don’t know.”

    Is that so?

    Well. Tomorrow I’m going to post at work a picture of [a big crashed and burning plane–KABLAM!]

    Alongside an iconic picture of Lady Capulet, Julet and their Nurse from the 1968 film adaptation. I can’t communicate the association right.

  7. posted by TJ on

    Some people view drug prohibition or gun laws as a “gay issue “. Different people and groups have different opinions on the matter.

    Gay Republicans get upset when abortion or affordable health care is treated as a gay issue, but tend to want things like gun rights and tax cuts treated as gay issues.

    Gay libertarians and greens tend to want drug prohibition or election law reform added to the gay issues list.

    I dont object to a civil debate or discussion, but when gay Republicans complain about people making cracks about their politics, they generally don’t mind making some cracks of their own.

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