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"Where is the ground work
being done to help the G.O.P
move forward on LGBTQ inclusion?"
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With
four GOP debates now aired where all the presidential hopefuls are
clearly either conservative or ultra-conservative on social issues, one
has to wonder - where are the Log Cabin Republicans in pushing forth
LGBTQ concerns this campaign season?
While I am not a Republican, and I don’t expect from Log Cabin
Republicans (LCR) the sort of public protesting as that of the
“Black Lives Matter” movement, I am hoping, however, to see LGBTQ
Republicans publicly bring to the fore how being anti-LGBTQ in 2015 is
a huge political liability for any Republican candidate, especially one
seeking the highest office in the land.
On the Log Cabin website it states “We believe equality for LGBT
Americans is in the finest tradition of the Republican Party. We
educate our Party about why inclusion wins. Opposing gay and lesbian
equality is inconsistent with the GOP’s core principles of smaller
government and personal freedom.”
With that said where is the ground work being done to help the G.O.P move forward on LGBTQ inclusion?
While I’m not a prognosticator I do know a Republican will not win the 2016 presidential bid.
However, my hope is when one does she or he won’t repeal LGBTQ gains won.
For example, although the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of marriage
equality Republican presidential hopefuls still think marriage
should be between one woman and one man. And their opposition to the
June SCOTUS decision isn’t as hatefully demonstrative and obstructively
cynical as that of Kim Davis - the now infamous Kentucky County clerk
who not only refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couple but
she also forbade her co-workers to do so, too.
As a born again Christian, Davis cited that her First Amendment rights
protected her actions. And with a movement afoot with bills called “
Religious Freedom Restoration Acts’ (RFRA) looking to codify LGBTQ
discrimination I was hoping Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) would step up
their game against their Republican brethren.
The two Republican presidential front runners - Donald Trump and Ben
Carson - tout heterosexual marriage, but their response toward Obergefell v. Hodges are diametrically different.
While the twice-divorced Trump
touts traditional marriage, he spoke against Davis’ obstructionist
actions. But Ben Carson, on the other hand, did not. And if he were to
become president, as a Christian conservative, it would be his
God-given calling and moral imperative to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges.
And one of the reasons is because Carson doesn’t see LGBTQ love on a
spectrum of human expression. Carson has compared same-sex marriage to
bestiality:
“Well,
my thoughts are that marriage is between a man and a woman. It’s a
well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they
gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it
doesn’t matter what they are, they don’t get to change the definition."
Although LCR have always been proponents of marriage equality their
actions, on the other hand, have neither been consistent, strategic nor
logical.
In 1996 LCR did not endorse President George H. W. Bush’s bid for the
White House because of his public anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. And they
followed suit in their actions with George W. Bush because of his
robust support of the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004.
However, in 2012 LCR endorsed Mitt Romney in spite of his support to a
constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality, his objection to
repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and his opposition to
Employment Non-Discrimination. But in a public statement LRC announced
their reason for rallying around Romney: “due to the gravity of
the economic and national security issues currently at stake.”
LCR’s endorsement of Romney forced former Democratic congressmen Barney
Frank to call them out. In his September 11, 2012 public statement
Frank penned a no-holds-barred jeremiad.
"I am not surprised that members of the Log Cabin Republicans are offended by my comparing them to Uncle Tom…
But my use of ‘Uncle Tom’ was
based not simply on this awful fact that they have chosen to be
actively on the wrong side of an election that will have an enormous
impact on our right to equality, both in fact and in the public
perception of the popularity of that cause.
The damaging aspect of the Log
Cabin argument, to repeat the most important point, is that they may
mislead people who do not share their view that tax cuts for the
wealthy are more important than LGBT rights into thinking that they are
somehow helping the latter by supporting Mitt Romney and his Rick
Santorum platform.”
Like Barney Frank I’m calling you out. But not to shame you. Rather it
is to encourage you to see that not only is the work for LGBTQ
inclusion not done, it’s most needed in the GOP And the
ball is in your court.
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BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, The Rev. Irene Monroe, is a religion columnist, theologian, and public speaker. She is the Coordinator of the African-American Roundtable of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS) at the Pacific School of Religion. A
native of Brooklyn, Rev. Monroe is a graduate from Wellesley College
and Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University, and served as a
pastor at an African-American church before coming to Harvard Divinity
School for her doctorate as a Ford Fellow. She was recently named to
MSNBC’s list of 10 Black Women You Should Know. Reverend Monroe is the author of Let Your Light Shine Like a Rainbow Always: Meditations on Bible Prayers for Not’So’Everyday Moments. As an African-American feminist theologian, she speaks for a sector of society that is frequently invisible. Her website is irenemonroe.com. Contact the Rev. Monroe and BC.
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 is published every Thursday |
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD |
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA |
Publisher:
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