How the GOP feels about lesbians and gays
| October 19th, 2004Stephen Miller, of the conservative Independent Gay Forum, collects some recent quotes from Republican leaders:
- Rep. Tom Coburn (the GOP Senate candidate in Oklahoma): “[L]esbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom. Now think about it. Think about that issue. How is it that that’s happened to us?”
- Rep. Jim DeMint (the GOP Senate candidate in South Carolina): “If a person wants to be publicly gay, they should not be teaching in the public schools.”
- Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas): “Marriage is a privilege the State should protect, but it is not a right for same-sex partners, multiple partners, or any configuration of people and animals that express love for one another.”
- Mel Martinez (the GOP Senate candidate in Florida): Blasted his primary opponent as “anti-family” and “the new darling of the homosexual extremists” because he supported a hate crimes bill that included gays.
Of course, as Stephen has frequently pointed out, the Democrats - while not as openly full of hatred - have certainly been underwhelming in their support for lesbian and gay rights.
Via Stephen, Chris Crain in the Washington Blade praises the Log Cabin Republicans for their political courage in criticizing Bush; and takes their Democratic counterparts the Stonewall Democrats, to task for their nonstop toadying to Kerry. He’s got a damn good point.
October 19th, 2004 at 1:37 pm
I think I somewhat disagree with Stephen when it comes to this statement: “the Democrats have certainly been underwhelming in their support for lesbian and gay rights”
Taken as a whole (as a party instead of individual Democrats), it has been THE party that has pushed ENDA, a change in military policy, hate crimes laws, domestic partnership (and civil union) laws, and in Massachussets was the overwhelming majority of those who voted against the anti-family amendment in that state. They haven’t been stellar in every vote (DOMA is one of those, but hey, Kerry voted against it), but when it comes to gay rights, the Democrats have been overwhelming supportive.
They don’t win everything, but then of course you don’t when you are fighting a majority party that has pretty much made it known that they hate you (see Republican platform).
This comment was written by trey.Report this comment to the moderators
October 19th, 2004 at 1:42 pm
“[...] on some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma [...] they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom”
I wonder which one?
This comment was written by q_pheevr.Report this comment to the moderators
October 19th, 2004 at 3:45 pm
“They don’t win everything, but then of course you don’t when you are fighting a majority party that has pretty much made it known that they hate you (see Republican platform).”
How would it sound to have Democrats saying that they support some aspects of desegregation? Equality for all means all, plain and simple.
But I think Chris’s point is that we should be putting rights before Party — HRC, Stonewall, etc., haven’t done that. Martin Luther King walked away from Kennedy when he didn’t see the kind of support he expected.
Until Gay Americans do that, we will have to continue to be satisfied with the ‘yeah, but Democrats are better than Republicans’ line, and very little progress.
This comment was written by GA - Keith.Report this comment to the moderators
October 20th, 2004 at 6:38 am
Trey - to be fully accurate, I guess I should have said that “the democrats (and in particular Kerry) have been underwhelming in their support for lesbian and gay rights in the 2004 elections.”
This comment was written by Ampersand.Report this comment to the moderators
October 20th, 2004 at 8:48 am
False Dichotomoy in the Fight for gay Rights
This comment was written by This Space For Rent.Alas, A Blog is one of the more thoughtful and insightful Blogs, particularly when it comes to issues related to Gay rights. However, with all due respect I have an issue with the conclusion to this post: Of course, as…
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November 2nd, 2004 at 1:16 am
How would it sound to have Democrats saying that they support some aspects of desegregation? Equality for all means all, plain and simple.
hair brush
This comment was written by Kiaopap.Report this comment to the moderators