News release from Log Cabin Republicans:
(Washington, DC) – As the Republican National Convention approaches, Log Cabin Republicans agree strongly with Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) that the GOP “need[s] to be a party of inclusion, not exclusion.” In an interview with Buzzfeed, the congressman urged tolerance and acceptance of a diversity of opinion on issues including the freedom to marry.“The Log Cabin Republicans motto is ‘inclusion wins,’ and it is encouraging to see conservative leaders like Majority Leader Cantor promoting that message as key to victory in 2012,” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director. “From the Republican Party’s staunch support for candidates like Log Cabin member Richard Tisei to the leadership of conservative champions like Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), there is increasing support for LGBT equality within the GOP. The march to victory in 2012 and beyond will require a big tent, respecting diversity of opinion while uniting around the core issues that unite us as Republicans. We are grateful to Majority Leader Cantor for leading the way.”
Eric Cantor says the GOP "need[s] to be a party of inclusion, not exclusion."
Really? This from the guy who voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, voted not to protect gay employees from being fired just for being gay, voted against extending hate crimes protections to include LGBT victims and supports adding an amendment to the constitution banning same-sex marriage.
Yeah, a real picture of inclusion that Eric Cantor is.
Posted by: Inis Magrath | July 20, 2012 at 04:37 PM
This shows how quickly the Republicans are cracking under the rapid demographic decline of the religious right in this country.
If you look at the British Conservatives, they went from a profoundly anti-gay party to supporting civil partnerships for same-sex couples, to government, to outspoken supporters of equal marriage rights in about 10 years.
In the USA, the issue is moving faster than in British society. The Republicans who want a political career (e.g. the younger ones like Cantor) know that continuing to kowtow to the religious right (which is rapidly aging and dying off) will result in permanent political exile. So they're starting to back away from that constituency.
I'm not a Republican (nor a Democrat), but it's clear that the traditional gay-bait, gay-hate position of old-line conservatism is extinct. And the GOP leadership isn't stupid. If the GOP loses the election in November, they're going to be forced into some serious "analysis," and I expect that one of the calculations they'll make is to become a more modern and inclusive party, much as their neighbors across the pond did.
The alternative will be collapse to regional rump-party status with a dying base of hard-right supporters concentrated in the southeast.
Posted by: Brian | July 22, 2012 at 12:52 AM
While I can understand efforts to maintain a dialogue with the Republican Party on behalf of LGBT civil rights, I can neither condone or understand how a person or organization identifying with LGBT rights could support and vote for Mitt Romney who signed the NOM pledge (though he knew that was not necessary to win the nomination) which commits signatories to fight for "a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage, to appoint federal judges who don’t see a Constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and to back the Defense of Marriage Act" should they be elected to the office of the presidency.
NOM’s pledge also requires signatories to put the existing marriage rights of gay and lesbian families in Washington, D.C., up to a popular vote, in other words, vote to overturn the laws already made in the few states that allow same-sex marriage.
Posted by: stufalk | August 08, 2012 at 05:29 PM