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R. Clarke Cooper of the Log Cabin Republicans
This gay Republican group sat out endorsing Bush, but here they give an endorsement to Mittens, who would send things right back into the crapper. To see Ted Olson, who with David Boies is litigating Prop 8 to the Supreme Court in support of marriage equality, give a nod to a man who wants to roll LGBT rights backward is sad. The press release:
With Endorsement, Log Cabin Republicans Declare “We Are Americans First”
(Washington, DC) – After careful consideration and consultation with our members and chapters, as well as communication with Mitt Romney and his campaign team, the National Board of Directors of the Log Cabin Republicans has elected to endorse Governor Romney for president.
“The decision to endorse is the right one for our members, our community, and for the nation as a whole,” said Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director, R. Clarke Cooper. “Despite our disagreement with Governor Romney on the issue of marriage, on balance it is clear that in today’s economic climate, concern for the future of our country must be the highest priority. We are Republicans, and we agree with Governor Romney’s vision for America in which success is a virtue, equal opportunity is ensured, and leaders recognize that it is the American people, not government, that build our nation and fuel its prosperity. On issues of particular concern to the LGBT community, we believe Governor Romney will move the ball forward compared to past Republican presidents. No matter who is in the White House, it is crucial our community always has a credible voice speaking out on behalf of LGBT Americans. Log Cabin Republicans will be that voice to President Mitt Romney.”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the first Republican to co-sponsor legislation to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, stated, “Our country is at a crossroad in its history, and the election of our next President will determine what course it will take. Our nation needs common sense solutions to fixing our economy and creating private sector jobs and Governor Romney will provide us with the strong leadership we need at this critical time. Governor Romney understands that businesses need less government regulation and lower taxes. Romney is the right man for our time. I am pleased that Log Cabin Republicans is endorsing Governor Romney. I know that all of us together will fight for equality for all Americans, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.”
Former George W. Bush administration Solicitor General and Romney campaign advisor Theodore Olson supports the endorsement, saying, “Like the Log Cabin Republicans, I am proud to support Governor Romney for president, and I am proud to be an advocate for the freedom to marry. This endorsement speaks to Log Cabin’s principled belief in equality for all Americans, and the pragmatic recognition that our nation is in need of new leadership. Getting our fiscal house in order is more than an economic imperative – it’s a moral imperative. Gay or straight, Americans deserve a president who will secure a future for our children that doesn’t leave them buried in debt.”
To read the complete endorsement issued by Log Cabin Republicans, visit our website at www.logcabin.org.
Log Cabin Republicans is the only Republican organization dedicated to representing the interests of gay and lesbian Americans and their allies. The 30-year old organization has state and local chapters nationwide, a full-time office in Washington, DC, a federal political action committee and state political action committees.
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And for a group purportedly in support of a secure economic future, why would they approve of a candidate who cannot even articulate support for the right of equal pay for equal work, and in the past specifically did not support the Lilly Ledbetter Act; this is weak. Lesbians are women who happen to be gay, LCR. They deserve the economic stability of the ability to enforce the right to be paid the same as a man for doing the same job. Oh wait, we’re invisible.
UPDATE: via Mitt Gets Worse, Rep. Barney Frank reacts to the endorsement.
Mitt Gets Worse: Today’s endorsement shows that Log Cabin Republicans are a right-wing conservative organization that happens to have gay staff, rather than an organization dedicated to LGBT equality that supports conservative principles. When one reviews the horribly anti-equality record of Gov. Romney, it pales in comparison to the record of President George W. Bush, whom the Log Cabin Republicans wisely declined to endorse for re-election. Clearly the Log Cabin Republicans were put back in their place by the Republican establishment after that episode, or they never would have seen fit to endorse a candidate who opposes nearly every single item on the agenda for full LGBT equality over a President who is arguably the most pro-equality President in our history. Mitt Gets Worse will not hesitate to point this out over the last two weeks of the campaign.
12 Comments
The Log Cabin is first and foremost Republican. Any of them that has stayed with the GOP even now is all the evidence needed.
As for explaining the apparent schizo phenomenon of being different here than with Bush, there is the fact that Bush was walking evil, but with a brain (an internal rational integrity). Romney is even more evil, but no brain (no integrity of any kind). It becomes a matter controlability.
Bush may have been Cheney’s puppet but Romney is potentially a puppet for the whole far right. That makes him valuable to even the Log Cabin.
I was struck with a point made by Rachel Maddow after the debate, to the effect that Bush did produce what everyone recognized as “The Bush Doctrine” relative to foreign policy. But Romney is so void of integrity that no one can see any sense or possibility of something that might become “The Romney Doctrine”. He’s all over the map on just about everything. He will be the perfect total puppet for the far right.
Once again proving that gay is okay, but you also gotta have a brain.
In some ways I am lucky, having lived in San Francisco, Jamaica, and the DR. I long ago got used to the fact that both gay people and black people will ALSO be glad to sell out people of color and the working poor.
In related news, a Republican African-American group said, “thumbs up to the KKK.” “Down with socialism, and up with free white sheets for everyone,” the president of the organization said.
IMHO, empathy is not common among males. We are “rich” Americans first. Too bad about you, Jack.
Obama defended both DADT and DOMA for three years until he started his re election campaign. You can bet if he gets re elected, he will go back to bashing gays.
Vote for any of the 3 candidates who support full equality for all gay people in every state: Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, or Rocky Anderson.
Disclaimer: I’m happen to not be gay.
I’ve never understood Log Cabin Republicans. Don’t get it.
Not that I think there’ll be much difference between RMoney & DMoney.
If Obama has a chance to sell out on LGTB rights, then he will. Guaranteed.
Mitt Romney: The Supreme Court of Massachusetts held that denying members of the gay community the right to marry violated the state’s constitution.
Mitt Romney tried everything he could to avoid enforcing that decision, even reaching back to an early twentieth century racist statute that was still on the books, even though it had not been relevant since Loving v. Virginia.
He also turned himself inside out making sure Catholic orphanages in Massachusetts could deny gays equal treatment in adopting orphans.
I am hetero, but, like the Log Cabin Republicans, I am an American first, just as they claim to be.
Being an American first, nothing is more important to me than humanity. Fuck everyone who is okay with denying equal rights to anyone, including the Log Cabin Republicans.
By the way, if you are born gay, what does being an American “first” mean anyway? At most, you were both gay and American the instant your head emerged from the womb..
Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud have no credibility with regard to LGBT people’s issues. In fact, I will accuse Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud of working against the LGBT community. They don’t have to generally support the Democratic Party; but for Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud to be boasting support for Republicans—making excuses such as their own pocketbooks—is to do so with spite and a willingness to betray the LGBT community, a sector of American society they have claimed to support. Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud have no credibility because they cannot be trusted.
With Endorsement, Log Cabin Republicans Declare “We Are Privileged White Men First”
Money first, then sado-masochism.
How dare gay repubs support Romney?! That would be like gay dems supporting the president who signed DADT and DOMA or the president who defended them for 3 years before starting his re election campaign, oh wait…..
Observing how anti-women the GOP is, one can only conclude that the LCR’s are anti-woman and anti-Lesbians since they are willing to give the Right a pass on overtly oppressive measures and proposals towards women. This is not going to improve unity between the L and the G.