I am hard pressed to understand the Log Cabin Republicans’ endorsement of Trump for President in 2020. Of course, to be honest, I am hard pressed to understand the Log Cabin Republicans at all. That any group of LGBTQ people who supports a party with platforms as blatantly homophobic and transphobic as the Republican Party is mind-boggling.
Based on conversations I have had with Log Cabin Republicans — and, granted, it’s been awhile since I have spoken with any of them — they live in a bubble of cognitive dissonance, where they boast they can “change the party from within.”
That might be believable if they were actually welcomed into the party. But they are consistently and vehemently excluded from exhibiting at GOP conventions, and their suggestions to soften party anti-LGBTQ rhetoric are ignored.
I have tried to get into the mind of a gay Republican, but I am afraid it will take someone with professional credentials to fathom that degree of disconnect from reality. At best, they are pushing for a lost cause, and at worst, they are delusional.
Then again, perhaps they believe if they can pass as Republicans, they will have more opportunity in business and more chance for financial success?
That is the cynical view, I know. But it’s the only one I’m left with.
Now, following the organization’s endorsement of Trump, a lot of the leadership in that organization has come to the same conclusion I have, and they are bailing out of the sinking LCR ship. Robert Turner, former head of the DC Log Cabin Republican chapter, has left along, with Jordan Evans, an openly-transgender official in the Republican Party.
Meanwhile the executive director of the group defends Trump, callings his broad pattern of anti-LGBTQ policies mere “hiccups.”
This is a group with big problems, and one wonders at the sanity of anyone who would remain a member.
Perhaps the LCRs have been acquired by the party, like the brief-but-vocal GOProud group. That alleged grass-roots organization embraced homophobic personalities like Ann Coulter and flirted with the mainstream GOP without success. Most of the board resigned, and it folded several years ago under the weight of its own irony.
I suspect the LCR will end much the same way. Their members will tire of throwing good money after bad and realize that the GOP is hopelessly in the claws of Trump and his band of neo-fascists.
Perhaps they will realize that American politics is not divided into two camps: Conservative and Liberal. We are instead a country with no hard-left wing, just hard-right, center-right and center-left wings. The GOP has chosen the hard-right, which leaves the LCR out in the rain.
To my friends who might identify with the Log Cabin Republicans: I encourage you to wake up and smell the futility. You have a much better chance of getting equality with the Democrats, and even though you won’t believe it, the Democrats are not the radical party you should fear. The party you should fear includes those who wear MAGA hats and chant “Send them back” at rallies. The party you should fear embraces racism and homophobia as basic tenants in their platform, even if they disguise it in more gentle terms.
I encourage you to let the Log Cabin Republicans and the entire Republican Party crash and burn under its own hatred. You are welcome to join the rest of America in working to rebuild our country from the rubble being left by Trump and the GOP.
Hardy Haberman is a longtime local LGBT activist and a board member of the Woodhull Freedom Alliance. His blog is at DungeonDiary.blogspot.com
I suggest Ms. Haberman does some research on Trump and his support of the gay community before blindly bashing him and his supporters. There is plenty of information out there if she would bother to look. The Log Cabin Republicans listed some of it in their endorsement, but she either didn’t read it, or decided her feelings and hate were more important than facts. Sorry Ms. Haberman – facts don’t care about your feelings, and your blind hatred only makes you look bad.
Here’s your research: The Log Cabin Republicans are a group of mentally ill self-hating white supremacists who typically embrace the confederate flag and don’t stand up for the rights of LGBT persons, immigrants, and women and their reproductive health.
Thank you Hardy Haberman, this needed to be said. Trump is no ally to the LGBT community and with Pence whispering in his ear, I only see them throwing up more roadblocks. We have this administration trying its best to appease a rabid-right mind set and the LCR just have nowhere to be. They’re just tokens at this point, someone that can be pointed to by Trump and his ilk so they can go, “See, we have gay friends!” Barring our community from serving in the military, looking at allowing an employer to fire someone because of their LGBT status, and so many other little things, it is becoming tiring to keep track of all the ways Trump and the GOP are just trying to kick us back down the ladder. This administration has been tiring and embarrassing not just for us, but for pretty much everyone who isn’ta neo-fascist.
There is no Center Left, just a hard Left . I left the Rainbow plantation when I started to think on my own , I’m not ashamed of the color of my skin ( I’m White ) I never had “ Gay White Privilage “ , others had the right to come out as many did so why am I automatically guilty of keeping people of color in the closet because the color of my skin ? The LBGTQ community in whole is a diverse community with different colors , ages and sizes and ideas but somehow we ( not I ) lost the idea of being ourselves instead of being a “ group” , Religious Conservative’s have a litmus test in being one of them , the LBGTQ. does too.
That is not research Tom, that is just more feelings. And unfortunately it is a typical response from people who don’t care about the truth – they just throw insults instead of debating an issue with facts.
BTW Mr. Haberman sorry for calling you Ms/she/her – the Facebook post has a picture of a woman on this article.
James – ALL LGBTQ people who support Trump are GD TRAGIC fools. You guys have zero credibility with the TURD in Chief Trump. What a group of loses.