Arizona Sen. John McCain is not winning a lot of support among the 12
prominent gay Republicans who met with George Bush in 2000. (Photo by
Gerald Herbert/AP)
|
CHRIS JOHNSON
Friday, July 04, 2008
Members
of
the
“Austin
12,”
the
group
of
prominent
gay
Republicans
who
famously
met
with
George
W.
Bush
in
2000,
are
not
exactly
rallying
around
John
McCain.
Several
members
of
the
group
told
the
Blade
this
week
that
they
are
considering
voting
for
Barack
Obama
in
November,
while
others
announced
tepid
support
for
the
presumptive
GOP
presidential
nominee.
In
all,
three
said
they
either
would
vote
for
Obama
or
are
seriously
considering
it;
three
are
undecided
between
McCain
and
Obama;
three
are
backing
McCain
and
three
others
declined
to
comment.
The
“Austin
12”
gained
notoriety
after
meeting
with
Bush
in
Austin
in
April
2000,
when
Bush
was
still
governor
of
Texas
and
a
candidate
for
president.
During
the
meeting,
the
“Austin
12”
urged
Bush
to
appoint
open
gays
to
federal
offices,
include
an
openly
gay
speaker
at
the
2000
Republican
National
Convention
and
maintain
President
Clinton’s
executive
order
banning
discrimination
against
gays
in
the
federal
workforce.
Bush
complied
with
each
of
those
requests
during
his
presidency.
But
Bush’s
record,
most
notably
his
endorsement
of
the
Federal
Marriage
Amendment,
has
soured
some
members
of
the
“Austin
12”
so
much
that
they
refuse
to
support
the
Republican
Party’s
presidential
choice,
even
though
McCain
voted
against
the
FMA
in
the
U.S.
Senate.
David
Greer,
who
was
appointed
to
Bush’s
AIDS
advisory
board
in
2003,
left
the
Republican
Party
that
same
year
and
has
been
a
registered
Democrat
since
then.
He
said
gay
Republicans
would
never
be
a
strong
enough
voice
to
influence
the
GOP
and
that
the
party
is
more
interested
in
exploiting
gay
Republicans
for
political
gain.
“As
long
as
there’s
a
far
right
in
the
party,
gay
Republicans
are
way
too
small
in
numbers
…
to
have
any
effect
on
the
party,”
he
said.
“We
actually
end
up
doing
greater
and
lasting
harm
to
the
whole
GLBT
community.”
Greer
resigned
his
position
on
Bush’s
AIDS
council
after
the
president
endorsed
the
marriage
amendment.
He
now
works
as
a
speechwriter
for
the
National
Association
of
Realtors.
The
former
Bush
adviser
said
supporting
the
Democratic
Party
is
the
best
way
to
achieve
gay
equality,
but
he
added
that
Democrats
are
“mediocre
on
our
issues
at
best.”
Greer
said
he
would
have
voted
for
Sen.
Hillary
Clinton
had
she
won
the
Democratic
presidential
primary,
but
he
is
not
quite
ready
to
embrace
Sen.
Barack
Obama
as
a
candidate.
Greer
argued
that
McCain
“doesn’t
care
a
lot”
about
gay
issues,
and
since
the
GOP
candidate
is
having
trouble
mustering
support
from
its
conservative
religious
base,
McCain
will
probably
let
the
“far
right”
control
his
positions
on
those
issues.
David
Catania,
an
at-large
City
Council
member
for
the
District
of
Columbia,
was
similarly
skeptical
that
McCain
would
change
GOP
policy
on
gay
issues.
“I
wouldn’t
give
supporting
him
a
second
thought,”
he
said.
“The
cards
are
on
the
table.
I
think
gays
are
kind
of
kidding
themselves
if
they
think
John
McCain
is
going
to
be
any
better
for
the
gay
community
than
George
Bush.”
Like
Greer,
Catania
left
the
Republican
Party
in
2004
after
Bush
announced
his
support
for
the
marriage
amendment.
He
now
identifies
as
an
independent.
Catania
said
he
will
vote
for
Obama
in
the
general
election.
Brian
Bennett,
head
of
the
ABC
Advocacy
Group,
a
public
affairs
consultant
company
in
California,
argued
that
McCain
is
more
hostile
toward
gays
than
Bush
was
in
2000.
He
compared
Bush’s
efforts
at
reaching
out
to
the
“Austin
12”
in
2000
to
McCain’s
recent
endorsement
of
a
California
ballot
initiative
that
would
ban
same-sex
marriage
in
the
state.
Protectmarriage.com,
the
organization
leading
the
campaign
for
the
amendment,
announced
on
June
25
that
McCain
sent
an
e-mail
to
the
organization
expressing
support
for
the
measure.
By
endorsing
the
initiative,
McCain
is
“alienating
himself
from
the
gay
and
lesbian
population
that
he
had
a
fairly
decent
reputation
with,”
Bennett
said.
“I
think
he
needlessly
injected
himself
into
this
race
to
pander
to
the
[James]
Dobsons
and
others
on
the
right,”
Bennett
said.
“Is
he
going
to
take
a
position
on
the
rest
of
our
ballot
initiatives?
I
don’t
think
so.”
Bennett
is
one
of
the
plaintiffs
in
the
case
recently
brought
to
the
California
Supreme
Court
known
as
Bennett
v.
Bowen,
in
which
petitioners
are
arguing
for
the
removal
of
the
amendment
from
the
November
ballot.
The
high
court
is
expected
to
make
a
decision
on
that
case
before
Aug.
8.
Bennett
still
considers
himself
a
Republican
and
voted
for
Bush
in
2000
and
2004,
even
though
he
disagrees
with
Bush’s
support
for
the
marriage
amendment.
But
Bennett
is
undecided
on
how
he
will
vote
in
the
general
election
this
year.
He
recommended
that
the
Log
Cabin
Republicans
not
endorse
McCain.
Daniel
Stewart,
head
of
the
New
York
State
Commission
of
Corrections,
said
the
entire
Republican
Party
has
turned
him
off
in
the
last
few
years.
Stewart
was
elected
to
the
City
Council
in
Plattsburgh,
N.Y.,
as
a
Democrat,
but
former
New
York
Gov.
George
Pataki
convinced
him
to
switch
to
the
Republican
Party
to
run
against
the
city’s
mayor
in
2000.
Stewart
won
the
election.
But
now
Stewart
is
planning
on
leaving
the
Republican
Party
because
the
party
is
not
moving
where
he’d
like
on
issues
that
affect
him
personally,
such
as
same-sex
marriage.
He
noted
his
resentment
over
having
to
travel
to
Canada
in
2004
to
marry
his
partner.
“Just
as
I
felt
abandoned
by
my
party
for
the
longest
time,
I’m
probably
going
to
leave
the
Republican
Party
—
I
just
have
to
figure
out
if
I’m
going
to
become
a
Democrat
or
an
independent,”
he
said.
Stewart
was
disappointed
that
the
inroads
the
“Austin
12”
made
...
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