As the Democrats were holding their love fest yesterday, the Republican are releasing their party platform.

Though the Grand Oldies are trying to trim down their agenda, it seems they're still committed to coming out against the queers. You know, it wouldn't be a Republican party without a bit of divisive action.

And - surprise! - gay party members seem ready to roll over and take it, because no one enjoys getting fucked more than a gay Republican.

CONTINUED »

Ten New York Republican Senators made some serious gay headway when they introduced a queer inclusive anti-bullying bill last week. The move surprised many, especially considering that Senatorial Republicans have for six years dismissed a similar bill, the Dignity Bill. It's not that oppositional Senators support bullying, but many objected to the bills' explicit inclusion of gender identity and expression, ananathema for right-leaning lawmakers.

Entitled the "Safe Schools for All Children Bill," this latest measure looks a lot like the Dignity Bill, including trans protections, but there are subtle differences. Perhaps most importantly, "Safe Schools" leaves no room for litigation. That is, students and parents aren't granted the right to sue, a subject the Dignity Bill didn't address. Safe Schools also includes the pragmatic cyber-bullying stipulation, another piece left out of Dignity.

Legislative differences aside, an examination of Safe Schools' success over the oft-dismissed Dignity Bill provides some lessons in political persistence, timing and a bit of post-9/11 geography.

CONTINUED »

California's Log Cabin Republicans are flexing their muscle. The gay group's joined forces with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to smack down Proposition 8:

Today, Log Cabin sent a message out to its California membership announcing the creation of Republicans Against 8, a coalition of concerned Republicans who believe in limited government and individual liberty. Our goal is to reach out to that 5-6 percent of persuadable Republican voters and convince them that, regardless of how they feel about marriage, protecting fundamental freedoms for all Californians is more important.

In 1978, when the Briggs Initiative threatened to take away the fundamental freedom for all Californians to teach in Public Schools, Governor Ronald Reagan stood up and opposed it. Today, another Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is fighting for the rights of all Californians once again.

This here image is a mock-up of the ad. We think they should feature Arnold in his not safe for work body building days.

President Bush did good yesterday when he signed a revised AIDS Relief initiative.

The plan, which allocated $48 billion over five years to fight HIV/AIDS, also lifts a travel ban on infected persons looking to enter the US.

Gay group Log Cabin Republicans applauded the President's action, of course, with HIV/AIDS policy consultant David Reznick saying,

President Bush has done tremendous work to combat this disease globally and that deserves to be an important part of his legacy. This legislation will continue the dramatic improvements in the lives of millions of people living with this disease.

Recent reports indicate that HIV-infected people are living considerably longer than they did before new brands of life-sustaining drugs.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has previously insisted he supports California's Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

Then, last week, conservative group Protect Marriage said that McCain backed their unholy mission: passing an amendment again restricting nuptials to one man, one woman. McCain's camp didn't reply to those allegations, but the homo-politicos over at Log Cabin Republicans dug into the candidate and confirmed the flip-flop.

Let the political expediency begin!

CONTINUED »

The general election officially began this week, so we imagined that the Log Cabin Republicans would make good on their post-primary word and endorse John McCain. They have not.

President Patrick Sammon did tell us this morning, however, that he and his peers will likely back the Arizona Senator at some point over the next month have not yet backed McCain, but will make a decision within the next month.

In the meantime, the political group has turned its sights on Human Rights Campaign, which this week released a scathing report on McCain's gay record.

And, as part of a larger effort to set things straight, Cabin member Scott Tucker took to the blogosphere to school us on McCain's virtues.

CONTINUED »

What will we do with John McCain?

It seems the Senator will say anything to woo conservatives, many of whom worry you're too - gasp! - liberal for the presidency. Today the Republican vowed to take on the dreaded "activist judge." You know, the ones who rule in favor of the flamers…

CONTINUED »

The Log Cabin Republicans made it their mission to highlight Mitt Romney's repeated political flip-flops, so it should come as no surprise that they take pleasure in Romney's back-out.

We are a bit surprised, however, by the levels of self-congratulation in their reactionary press release, which you can read after the jump:

CONTINUED »

Designivist Kenneth Cole may love his puns, but copyranter ain't having it:

This amfAR bus poster is, of course, supposed to read "WE'RE FORGETTING AIDS" with a secondary read of "WE'RE GETTING AIDS" to remind everybody that HIV is still spreading. Buuut, can't it also read "WE'RE FOR GETTING AIDS" as in amfAR supports the spread of disease? This is what happens when you allow hack punster Kenneth Cole, who promotionally owns AIDS, to do your ads.

Meanwhile, in other Cole advertising news, Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon recently posed for Cole's "Non-Uniform Thinking" ad campaign. A gay Republican against uniformity - maybe when compared to other gays, but not when considering America's political and social future.

Oh well, anything that sells uninspired clothes and grabs headlines, huh?!

Some gay folk have very short political memories - or lack common sense!

Three days after John McCain used dirty tricks to scare up some homophobic votes, The New York Sun reports that a number of Giuliani's former gays are turning to John McCain. Said New York's former Log Cabin leader Scott Musch, "A lot of people are getting behind McCain, especially with the endorsement and Giuliani going behind McCain as well." We suppose the news shouldn't surprise us. The Log Cabin Republicans did recently defend McCain's gay-baiting, writing: "The attacks on Sen. John McCain by the gay Left are completely out-of-bounds and don’t reflect the facts." The facts? You want to talk about facts? Here's a fact: McCain's just as much of an opportunist as Mitt Romney. Or just as malleable, at least.

McCain once spoke out against a federal ban on gay marriage, but later aired ads advocating a discriminatory measure in Arizona, his home state. A ban may not be good for the nation, but it's good for his home state. If McCain thinks that, then what must he think for the rest of the country? Nothing good, we're sure. That said, we can't help but chuckle at another Musch comment: "Romney isn't going to get Log Cabin support at all, considering his about-face on most of the things he stood for in the Massachusetts government… He's turned 180 degrees around."

The Log Cabin Republicans are throwing quite a tissy over John McCain's gay-baiting. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Republican presidential candidate came under fire after allegedly organizing a robo-call denouncing Mitt Romney's gay friendly ways.

The right wing bent boys (and girls) posted a hypocritical rant on their website in which they blast the "left wing" bloggers for attacking McCain. They write:

The attacks on Sen. John McCain by the gay Left are completely out-of-bounds and don’t reflect the facts.

Let’s look at those facts:

Had anyone bothered to reach out to the McCain Campaign, they would have realized Sen. McCain immediately stopped the calls. The campaign told us Sen. McCain never saw the script and never approved it, which is why he stopped the calls ASAP.

Of course, those facts won’t satisfy the left-wing who pounces on these kinds of things. But where were these same left-wingers when Democrat Barack Obama, who has never introduced a single piece of pro-gay legislation in his Senate career, paraded around on stage with an anti-gay religious leader who believes in so-called “conversion therapy”?

Actually, loads of "left-wing" bloggers - including ourselves - came out against Obama after the McClurkin scandal.

The Log Cabin Republicans are missing the point of the McCain episode. The fact that his campaign - with or without his knowledge - ran such a tasteless ad not only taints the political pool, but speaks volumes about how the Republicans consider queer citizens. The fact that the Log Cabin Republicans can't see that makes us wonder whether they understand liberal democracy - period. Unless, of course, they're more concerned with self-interest and would rather ignore their party's institutional homophobia.

The Republican presidential candidates best start kissing some gay ass, because their queer constituents don't seem too keen on any of 'em - particularly the social conservatives:

Gay Republicans view the next few weeks as directing their party down one of two fateful roads. As one predicted off the record, picking Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney, who are intensely wooing religious conservatives, would be "the Thelma and Louise moment" that would send the Republican Party off a cliff.

Or as Jim McFarland, an Austin 12-er who is vice president of the gay Log Cabin's Wisconsin chapter and a Giuliani backer, puts it, "The future of the Republican Party depends on who the nominee is. We could see the demise of the Republican Party. If it continues down the road of focusing on motivating fundamentalist Christian voters, that will fail."

We've been saying that for months.

Meanwhile, don't forget the gays have been throwing their green to Giuliani, which is really the only logical place to throw it in the GOP. The supreme Republican queens over at Log Cabin Republican will not endorse a candidate during primary season.