One former Log Cabin official described Mitt Romney as someone who has ‘double-talked, flip-flopped and backstabbed.’ (Photo by LM Otero/AP)
Gays seek black allies in work toward equality
Retired gay service members testify in heated discussion
Log Cabin still undecided on backing McCain
Experts question South Carolina reaction to ‘so gay’ ads
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Friday, January 18, 2008
The Log Cabin Republicans said that the party’s presidential nomination remains “anyone’s to win” after Mitt Romney this week won the Michigan primary.
Patrick Sammon, president of the gay partisan group, said Romney’s win scrambles an already unpredictable race.
“It’s clear this race is going to go on, I think, for a while,” he said. “It’s a wide open race and I think it’s anyone’s to win.”
Log Cabin has targeted Romney in campaign ads during the primary season. Frank Ricchiazzi, who helped found the organization three decades ago, told the Blade in October that Romney is an opportunist who has shifted his position on many issues. “There’s one candidate who has double-talked, flip-flopped and backstabbed,” he said. “And we feel that should be exposed.”
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, won the Jan. 15 primary after taking 39 percent of the Republican vote. Sen. John McCain of Arizona took 30 percent of the vote, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had 16 percent of the vote.
Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3, while McCain won the New Hampshire primary Jan. 8.
“This is exciting, but nerve racking because the stakes are incredibly high,” Sammon said. “The direction of the party is going to be much different based on who wins this nomination process. So the stakes are high.”
Republican presidential contender Ron Paul has taken “moral responsibility” for not better monitoring a newsletter that bore his name and repeatedly attacked gays.
The attacks, which were published almost 18 years ago and came to light through an article this month in The New Republic, included a lament that gays were becoming increasingly open about their sexual orientation.
“I miss the closet,” says an unsigned article printed in the June 1990 issue of the Ron Paul Political Report. “Homosexuals, not to speak for the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities.”
Another article in the January 1994 edition says “gays in San Francisco do not obey the dictates of good sense.”
“These men don’t really see a reason to live past their fifties,” the article says. “They are not married, they have no children, and their lives are centered on new sexual partners.”
The same issue also includes a passage that says gays “enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick.”
In a statement, Paul said the newsletter’s content was not written by him and does not “represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts.”
Paul said the newsletter, while published under his name, did not receive his review or approval.
Scott Tucker, spokesperson for Log Cabin Republicans, questioned Paul’s explanation.
“We’re pleased that Congress-man Paul has disavowed the remarks that appeared in a newsletter bearing his name, but his explanation that he had never read them just doesn’t add up.”
But Jesse Benton, a campaign spokesperson, said Paul remains “the staunchest advocate of individual rights and personal freedom in Washington.”
“He has been endorsed by Andrew Sullivan and a strong Gays for Ron Paul coalition provides him tremendous support,” he said. “Ron has for over a decade taken moral responsibility for these appalling comments made under his name, but these ugly words stand anathema to what he believes and has fought for for 35 years.”
With their work in Iowa and New Hampshire behind them, Human Rights Campaign staffers have become active in other presidential primary states.
Efforts are underway in Florida, Minnesota and Nevada to educate and mobilize voters.
Nevada holds its presidential caucuses Jan. 19, while Florida voters go to the polls Jan. 29, and the Minnesota caucuses occur Feb. 5.
HRC President Joe Solmonese said the efforts in Minnesota, which include workshops across the state teaching voters more about the caucus process, are representative of the organization’s efforts “to elect fair-minded candidates” across the nation.
“It is imperative that the GLBT community and its allies represent themselves effectively during the caucuses to advance the cause of equality,” he said. “By attending the trainings and engaging in the process, our community can harness its political power.”
A spokesperson for Rep. Ron Paul says the Texas lawmaker takes ‘moral responsibility’ for not better monitoring a newsletter that bore his name and attacked gays. (Photo by M. Spencer Green/AP) |
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The workshops, coordinated by an HRC staffer and done in conjunction with OutFront Minnesota, consist of mock caucuses wherein participants practice discussing gay issues and offering related resolutions.
Meanwhile, an HRC staffer in Nevada is planning a rally for the eve of the Jan. 19 caucuses.
Organizers said the rally, set for 5 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Clark County Government Center in Las Vegas, is intended to “mobilize and engage the community” and give gay issues prominence.
And in Florida, Solmonese this week attended two training sessions designed to prepare volunteers who will speak with primary voters about an expected upcoming vote to ban same-sex marriage in the constitution.
That effort, coordinated by Florida Red & Blue, seeks to derail an amendment that would affirm the state’s existing ban on same-sex marriage and also eliminate all domestic partnerships. An amendment vote is set for November, though proponents were dealt a setback this week when the state informed them they were 22,000 votes short of the total needed to force a vote. They have until Feb. 1 to close the gap.
HRC had three staffers in Florida this week and planned to add more as the Jan. 29 primary vote approaches.
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