The Log Cabin Republicans may find themselves moving into an actual log cabin now that news that they’re over $100,000 in debt has reached the streets.
Now, we here at Queerty think it’s not a contradiction in terms to be both Republican and gay– fiscal responsibility and small government have nothing to do with sexuality and in theory the GOP’s libertarian tendencies believe the government has no place in the bedroom, but obviously that doesn’t change the fact that in practice the current incarnation of the Republican party is a walking contradiction in terms looking to impose their closed-minded morality based on misrepresentations of the Bible on the majority of Americans. So, in theory, we feel bad for the LCR’s slide to the poor house, but in practice?
Meh.
“The Log Cabin Republicans, hampered by lackluster 2008 fundraising, is facing financial difficulties and ended the year at least $100,000 in debt, according to Patrick Sammon, the organization’s president, who spoke to the Blade Friday.
Sammon said he expects the organization to have around $100,000 in debt or “maybe a little more,” adding that the figure is made up of consolidated debt.
“It’s not like we’re not paying the rent or not paying the phone bill or anything like that,” he said. “We’re current on the bills that we owe, but we do have some debt that’s consolidated.”
Sammon said the organization expected donations would be higher last year because of the presidential election.
“Really what we anticipated was that 2008 would be a better year fundraising-wise based on what we’ve seen in other presidential election years,” he said. “We just didn’t see the fundraising materialize the way that we expected.”
Sammon said the economic downturn in the past year “certainly has affected” Log Cabin’s ability to raise as much as had been forecast for the year. He added that other gay organizations and non-profits are facing similar challenges in the current economy. “
We don’t anticipate the LCR going away anytime soon– and honestly, we don’t want it to. Want to reach out to potential allies in the conservative world? As we’ve said before, to win get full equality, the gay community has to be able to win over some, if not all of, of the people who currently oppose our efforts. Gay Republicans speak their language and perhaps it’s time we set aside political differences and work with, not against, our Brooks Brothers wearing, Fox News-watching conservative cousins.
Nick
Considering where those libertarian tendencies have gotten the economy, enabling the social conservatives seems even less forgivable
Rigso
Hey, Republicans in my book are lower than hemroids. But I still think having this org. out there trying to push the repugs left on Gay issues can only be helpful… 27% of gays voted for McCain, so it’s not like they’re non-existent, if we can get even SLIGHTLY more gay-friendly repub candidates (like McCain) its still better than someone like W.
fuzzygruf
So $100,000 in debt translates to fiscally conservative? Brilliant!
Eric
Please stop propagating the myth that McCain was more gay-friendly. He wasn’t. He only opposed the FMA, but supported Prop 107 (the 2006 AZ Marriage Amendment). Everything else he has done is party line on gay issues.
Markl
In theory, a political party’s platform wouldn’t shit on people. In practice, the 2008 CA GOP platform does:
“A strong and healthy family unit is the heart of the
home – a safe surrounding where family decisions are
made, children are raised, and morality is taught. The
family is a foundation upon which American society has
grown and prospered for over 200 years. We support
the two-parent family as the best environment for raising
children, and therefore believe it is important to define
marriage as being between one man and one
woman. We believe public policy and education should
not be exploited to present or teach homosexuality as an
acceptable “alternative†lifestyle. We oppose same-sex
partner benefits, child custody, and adoption.”
Gay Republican. Black Grand Wizard. 6 of one…
Brian Miller
Ummm…. ‘scuse me. The GOP has no libertarian tendencies.
See: Iraq War, bank bailout, huge deficits, soaring federal spending and employment, Patriot Act, warrantless wiretapping, FISA, and on and on and on.
John Smith
There aren’t any Republicans left (at least the ones I used to call Republican) except maybe the 2 Maine Senators. What’s left are Dixiecrats, Southern Baptists, and the like. There’s no way to win elections if that’s the core of the party.
ChristopherJ
Aren’t gay republicans supposed to be fiscally responsible? Conservative with their spending? How did this happen??
Darrien
Openly gay Republicans are a good thing – even if one disagrees with their politics. While there are people who identify themselves as both Republican and gay, it ensures the Republican Party will always have to confront difference within its own ranks. Even if the voice is quiet, there will still be some sound putting an alternative argument to the fundamentalist/religious view. If you look to other Western democracies where there is a far greater level of gay and lesbian equality, the arguments for equality have come from a variety of political opinions rather than just one party (for example, look at Alan Duncan, a Conservative MP in the UK’s House of Commons, who mounted a sterling – and successful -defence of Civil Partnerships in a government committee). If you want equality for yourself, you have to want equality for others as well, even if you don’t like their party politics. No matter how difficult it is, now’s the time to build bridges rather than let them burn.
Karl
@Rigso: Gotta agree with you! How any gay man can be a Republican is beyond me?!
pickles
Come on Queerty, are you swallowing the P.R. the Repugs shell out? They are ANYTHING but fiscally conservative. This myth has been the defense of conservative queers justifying their confused votes for the Right Wing for eons. They are NOT FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE. Debt where there was surplus is the OPPOSITE of conservative. It’s wasteful, hopeless with money and dumb. Liberals are far better with money.
David Ezell
A very guilty confession.
I used to have a group that met after the LCR Manhattan group would meet. I hated their whole premise but I must admit. They were really, seriously HOT! What is it about suppression that makes some men so steamy?
stevenelliot
log cabin republicans= queens who just cant get over the fact that the 1980’s are over, even though it was the “most fab decade!” Get a life! The Pharr Library in Atlanta closed a LOOOOONG time ago!
Dale G
Looks like the clowns are out laughing – while the Democrat politicians are acting like Charles Durning in “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” singing “Side-Steppin'”.
An increasing number of Democrats are trying to remember just who gay people are and where they ever heard of them. Repeal of DADT may not happen until 2010, if at all; and the Democrat controlled New York Senate might not allow a vote on gay marriage either; just for a few examples. And the silence on Prop 8 by Democrats is like ‘kiss me once then forget it’.
Democrats have to run for re-election also. It’s fallacy to think all of them are for everything gay. We shouldn’t worry though. Gay Democrats sat on their butt for the 8 years Clinton was president considering him the most gay-friendly president ever – even after he gave us DADT and DOMA. The gay community should not except any better in the next four years.
Brian Miller
I have to agree with Dale to an extent.
Even though I find the GOP to be loathsome, all the snarky condescension from queer Democrats is completely unwarranted. After all, the guy they just insisted was the best possible president ever for gay people has:
1) Backtracked from his commitment to repeal DADT in year one of his presidency;
2) Invited one of the nation’s most notorious homophobes to be the top-billed speaker at his inauguration;
3) Did nothing meaningful in the midst of a vicious anti-gay constitutional amendment campaign in California.
Their own performance thus doesn’t justify the level of snarkitude they direct at their Republican rivals — when you look at the actual policy results of Democrat and Republican administrations, the outcomes are equally anti-gay and equally identical.
Chuck S
If you want to remove politics from the discussion, then talk about conservative .vs. liberal, not republican .vs. democrat. Starting with the Declaration of Independence, all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with the rights of life / liberty / pursuit of happiness. Now which group comes closest to that? Conservatives support our founding documents, whereas liberals come up with over 1000 rights (?) that we don’t have that only legislators (not our creator) can give us.
Equality, as with other rights, is something we get from our creator – it is not an entitlement that is given by legislators. If you don’t believe in those American values, then perhaps you can find a socialist European country that steals (taxes) enough from others to give you, and move there.
Stop spouting political cliches; talk about American values.