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It’s always interesting when people find it hard to say thank you and then ask for more at the same time. Politicians don’t have that problem. How many times do you get a request for more money either with the thank-you for your last donation or even before you got thanked? It may be a little annoying but that is the way the game is played.

Advocates need to remember we have to play the game the same way. We can thank someone for all they have done for us, make a contribution and give support, while at the same time demand that they do the things they promised but haven’t yet done. It is kind of like walking and chewing gum at the same time.

Many of us have fought for equal rights and advocated for policies that we believe would make people’s lives better. Chances are as activists that the older we are the more issues we have fought for. Whether it was funding for AIDS education and care, affordable housing, women’s rights, the civil rights movement, new schools; and I even remember demonstrating alongside my mom when she was the president of the local PTA demanding that the city plant more trees around our school.

Today when we look at where we have come in the fight for civil and human rights for the LGBT community we must agree that we have made some big strides during the time that President Obama has been in office. Not all the strides have been due to him but some of the change in how people look at the LGBT community has come because he is willing to talk to and about us in a way that many previous presidents didn’t. We passed marriage equality in D.C., New York and Maryland and yes the change in national climate over this issue has made a difference. During his term an openly gay federal judge has been confirmed, more openly gay federal workers have been hired by his administration than ever before, top-ranking officials at OPM are members of the LGBT community and they have moved to make things better for our federal workers. We have seen the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the signing of the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act after years of working for it. So yes we do need to thank President Obama and he has earned our support for a second term.

That said, there is no reason not to continue to push him on the issues that still are outstanding and that are crucial to the LGBT community and their families. There has been no legitimate reason given for the president not to sign an executive order outlawing discrimination by federal contractors. This is something that candidate Obama promised to do when he asked for our support in 2008. The time to do it is now. A friend recently asked why we didn’t chain someone else to the White House gate for this. I responded that we shouldn’t need to and the mainstream media are picking up this issue with a Washington Post editorial among others demanding the president act. Contrary to the spin coming from the White House, this isn’t comparable to hate crimes or repeal of DADT. Those issues required congressional action; this just needs the president to pick up a pen.

Some question whether we should push him to fully “evolve” on marriage equality. Many of our allies are now doing just that, including members of Congress, mayors and even members of Obama’s campaign urging that marriage equality be put into the Democratic platform. It is time and there is no reason not to push him on this issue as well.

Some activists say if you pledge your support to him then he has no incentive to act on the issues you want. I disagree. In today’s world with news cycles and social media as it is, there are still many reasons to act even when you have already pledged support. Not signing the executive order led to eight minutes of a news conference on this one topic and that will only be the beginning. The president and his surrogates will get questioned about this across the country and they should. Eventually he will see that signing it is the smart political thing to do. We will win and he will win.

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D.C. police chose not to list as a hate crime an April 21 incident in which one U.S. Marine allegedly stabbed another Marine to death after reportedly calling him an anti-gay slur on a D.C. street, according to a police incident report.

The commander of the D.C. Police Homicide Branch, Lt. Robert Alder, said the department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit and the police hate crimes coordinator were reviewing information about the case and a hate crime designation could be added to the report sometime later.

Police said the incident took place about 2:30 a.m. on the sidewalk along the 700 block of 8th Street, S.E., across the street from the historic Marine Corps Barracks where the man charged in the killing is stationed.

Michael Joseph Poth, 20, has been charged with second-degree murder while armed for the stabbing death of Marine Lance Cpl. Philip Bushong, 23, police said in a statement released on Saturday.

“Information uncovered during the course of the preliminary investigation indicates that there was a verbal exchange, and during the exchange a homophobic slur was heard from the suspect prior to the stabbing,” the police statement says.

Alder told the Blade on Monday that a Marine guard stationed across the street outside the Marine Barracks witnessed the incident. Police said one or more of the guards apprehended Poth before D.C. police and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel arrived on the scene.

According to Alder, police investigators are looking for more witnesses who may have heard what Poth and Bushong were arguing about just prior ot the stabbing. He said evidence so far indicates the two did not know each other and likely met for the first time when they crossed paths on the sidewalk on 8th Street minutes before a verbal altercation turned violent.

“From what we know, the argument was not over sexual orientation,” Alder told the Blade. “And I would say at this time the information that we have appears to show that it was an insult in the heat of their argument and did not have anything to do with any perceived sexual orientation,” he said.

The police report says Bushong was taken to the Med Star unit at Washington Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

The police report, known as the 251 Incident Based Event Report, says the stabbing took place on the sidewalk in front of 727 8th St., S.E., a sporting goods store located two doors away from the Ugly Mug restaurant and bar.

The Washington Post reports that friends of Bushong said Bushong visited the Ugly Mug earlier that night and was a regular customer and former employee of the bar.

The location where Bushong was stabbed is three doors away from the Dignity Center, a building owned by the gay Catholic group Dignity Washington. The site of the stabbing is also located less than a block from the residence of Gen. James F. Amos, the Marine Corps commandant.

“He was a very lighthearted, good young man,” the Post quoted the Ugly Mug’s general manager, Brent McCaslin, as saying of Bushong. “He was an outstanding employee. I never saw him angry. He was always happy,” the Post quoted McCaslin as saying.

Some additional information about the case was expected to emerge at a D.C. Superior Court presentment hearing for Poth scheduled for Monday afternoon.

“Bushong’s friends said Bushong was not gay, nor was he homophobic,” the Post reported.

“You could have called him gay and he wouldn’t have cared,” the Post quoted Nishith Pandya, one of Bushong’s friends, as saying. “He would have laughed,” the paper quoted her as saying.

Assistant D.C. Police Chief Diane Groomes told the Blade in an email that the police report stating the incident was not a hate crime may have been prepared before witnesses were interviewed and additional information became known.

“When things first happen, not all facts are sorted out immediately on the scene,” Groomes said.

Even if the police listed the incident as a hate crime, the final decision on whether to charge Poth with a hate crime is made by the United States Attorney’s office, which prosecutes most cases in the city involving a violent crime.

The city’s hate crimes law calls for charging a person with committing a hate crime if he or she commits a violent act against another person based on the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or several other factors such as race, religion, or ethnicity.

William Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office, said the office doesn’t comment on pending cases.

Miller declined to say in general whether prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office would charge someone with a hate crime if he or she hurled an anti-gay slur with the intent of insulting a victim whose sexual orientation was unknown or believed to be straight.

“We have veteran prosecutors who review cases to determine if they meet the criteria for hate-crime enhancements,” Miller told the Blade in an email. “We decline to address your specific questions. We can say that we weigh the evidence very carefully in making the charging decisions.”

Zeke Stokes, a spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a national LGBT organization that represents gay members of the military, said the group is not aware of an increase in anti-LGBT violence in the military as a result of the recent repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which cleared the way for gays to serve openly in the military.

“All reports from the field are that implementation of DADT repeal is going very well across all services,” Stokes said.

Concerning the murder of Marine Corps member Bushong outside the Marine Barracks in D.C., Stokes said, “We understand that an investigation is underway by the appropriate authorities and it would be premature for SLDN to comment on this homicide until more of the facts are known.”

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The President's reelection campaign released this timeline of LGBT accomplishments by the administration, which is missing several high level appointments. What do you think? (Courtesy Obama for America)

Was the stabbing death of Marine Philip Bushong this Saturday in S.E. Washington D.C. a hate crime? Witnesses told police that homophobic slurs were used before fellow-marine Michael Joseph Poth — who was due to be discharged in just a few days — stabbed Bushong outside a sporting goods store near Barracks Row. Here are five more stories to watch today:

• Remember the Kony 2012 people, Invisible Children, and their connections to anti-gay groups. Guess who funded them? Some of the same people who funded the anti-gay Prop 8 and continue to fund the National Organization for Marriage, says the blog ‘Talk to Action.’
• The Vital Voice tells us that Missouri may be getting its own “don’t say gay” bill, despite the public outcry over Tennessee’s bill.
• The Human Rights Campaign passed on the sad news that legendary Texas LGBT activist Bettie Naylor passed away this weekend.
• The Vatican is reprimanding and punishing a group of nuns who have defied the church over its teaching on homosexuality and the church’s stance against health care reform, keeping silent on abortion, and according to the New York Times, “for focusing its work too much on poverty and economic injustice.”
• More has come to life about the disgraced former executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, as the Daily Caller has published details of the gay sexual harassment claims against him.

Finally, watch Cher present a GLAAD Award to her son, Chaz Bono:

Come back tomorrow for even more LGBT news links!

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Anthony Loverde will be reinstated in the Air Force after settling with the government following the repeal of DADT. (Photo courtesy SLDN)

LAPD to house trans detainees separately

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Police Department has adopted a policy of housing transgender detainees separately from other prisoners, according to Frontiers LA.

The changes, which dictate that transgender detainees be transported to the new women’s module of the downtown Detention Center, rather than to local jails, come as part of a major overhaul of policies regarding LAPD interaction with trans individuals.

“You know, there is no down side for the police department,” said LA Police Chief Charlie Beck. “All this does is build trust. All this does is ensure that we do what we say which is: … treat people equally, apply the law equally.”

The new policies also include guidelines for using appropriate gender pronouns, for using a detainee’s preferred name, giving detainees access to clothing of their preferred gender and barring officers from frisking a detainee for the sole purpose of determining gender.

Discharged service member to be reinstated

SACRAMENTO — Staff Sgt. Anthony Loverde, discharged in 2008 under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” will be reinstated to the U.S. Air Force and will return to active duty, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which represented him in his lawsuit against the armed forces.

“I am honored and humbled to return to the service of my country and the job I love,” said Loverde, who will take the oath in Sacramento in May and be assigned to 19th Operations Squadron at Little Rock AFB in Arkansas. “I am grateful to my legal team and all of those in the armed forces who helped to facilitate this reinstatement. I am eager to take the oath and get to work.”

Loverde was one of three plaintiffs represented by SLDN in the case Almy v. U.S. He is only the second member of the armed forces discharged under DADT since its repeal, the first being his co-plaintiff, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jase Daniels, who was reinstated as a Navy linguist in December. The third plaintiff, Air Force Major Mike Almy, expects a resolution soon.

Illinois marriage bill dead for the year

CHICAGO — Gay Illinois Assembly member, Greg Harris, tells LGBT website Chicago Phoenix the votes “aren’t there,” for a bill he authored that would extend marriage rights to same-sex couples in that state.

“They call it a struggle for equality for a reason,” The Phoenix quoted Harris, whose civil unions bill passed in 2010. “I look at the roll call for the civil union bill and the people that voted at that time. Nearly a quarter of the people in the senate and a third of house are gone. We have a whole new group of legislators that have to be educated to get back to that original level of support.”

Civil unions offering many of the same benefits as marriage have been available to same-sex couples in Illinois since June 2011, but across the western state line, same-sex couples in Iowa have been able to marry legally since 2009.

Psychologist renounces his 2001 ‘ex-gay’ study

NEW YORK — In an interview with American Prospect magazine, influential clinical psychologist, Dr. Robert Spitzer, renounced a 2001 study he conducted that supporters of “ex-gay” reparative therapy have used to justify their tactics for more than a decade.

Spitzer was the driving force behind removing “homosexuality” as a mental illness from the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnosis manual, but later upset the psychology world with his study of patients who claimed success of “ex-gay” therapy methods.

“In retrospect, I have to admit I think the critiques [of my study] are largely correct,” Dr. Spitzer told the American Prospect. “The findings can be considered evidence for what those who have undergone ex-gay therapy say about it, but nothing more.”

Spitzer says he made several attempts to convince the editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior to print a retraction, but this was denied.

Spitzer asked the American Prospect to print a retraction for him, “So I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

‘Equality’ riders arrested in Colorado

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Five members of Soulforce’s “Equality Ride” and a member of the Denver community were arrested Tuesday at Colorado Christian University as they attempted to engage the campus community in a discussion of LGBT tolerance.

The riders were arrested for attempting to engage in a Bible study after the university declined to meet with the riders over concerns that LGBT students on campus faced a difficult climate. Other members of the ride distributed “affirming” materials at the campus entrance. The riders were expected to be released by Tuesday evening.

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By MAJOR SHANNON McLAUGHLIN

For seven years, I have run a tax center for the National Guard.  This year we will produce more than 1800 federal and state returns for service members and veterans in our community. I am very proud of this work, and I love working with the clients who walk through the door.  But to be honest, every time a same-sex married couple walks in, I cringe.

Filing taxes is a dreadful enough prospect for most Americans, but for Americans who happen to be in a same-sex marriage, it’s a nightmare. While most married couples gather their receipts, W2s, mortgage interest documents, and medical and daycare expenses, same-sex married couples have to hunker down for the added prospect of producing multiple returns and “dummy” returns.

Let me explain.

I am in a same-sex marriage. My wife Casey and I live in Massachusetts, and under state law, we are required to file either “married filing jointly” (most common and usually most advantageous) or “married filing separately” for our state taxes. Those are our only options. For the purposes of federal taxes, however, because of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), my wife and I are legal strangers.

So what does this mean as April 17, 2012 rolls around? My wife and I have to go through the following process:

First, we put together and file two separate federal tax returns, each filing as single people. Then, because the state requires us to file as a married couple and all state returns are derived from the federal return, we must create a “dummy” federal return in order to draw the numbers to create our state return. So, instead of one federal return and one state return like our straight counterparts, our family produces three federal returns and one state return.

Now I know all of this sounds like a lot of busy work, and some may look at it like it is only an irritation.  Unfortunately, though, there are real, bottom-line financial impacts for our family and the families like ours that come to my tax center as a result of being forced by DOMA to file these separate returns. For example, if we were allowed to file jointly, since my wife stays at home with our two children, we would be able to include her as a dependent on our family’s federal income tax return. But because I am forced to file with a “single” status known as “Head of Household,” we lose thousands in deductions and exemptions. In our case, that equals well over a thousand dollars in our refund.

Then, as an extra special gift from DOMA, since my wife cannot be on my health insurance, we paid nearly $700 a month for a separate health insurance plan for her. Yet, we cannot even deduct that expense from our taxes.

So as we wrestle with our shoebox of receipts and the ticker tape from the calculator that streams down the side of the desk, Casey and I are reminded once again why this fight for equality matters. It’s time to honor all love and commitment – and all American families – on Tax Day and every day.

MAJ Shannon McLaughlin is a United States Army Major in the Massachusetts National Guard and serves as a Judge Advocate General (JAG). Her current military assignment is Chief of Legal Assistance for the Massachusetts Army National Guard. She has served for 13 years and is married in the State of Massachusetts to Casey McLaughlin. They are the proud parents of sixteen-month old twins, Grace and Grant. They are lead plaintiffs in SLDN’s landmark litigation challenging DOMA and other federal statutes on behalf of service members and veterans. 

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Dan Choi, who was arrested in 2010 at a White House protest, may represent himself at trial.

Gay former Army Lt. Dan Choi earlier this year informed a federal judge in D.C. that he has dismissed the attorneys representing him in a trial for his November 2010 arrest for chaining himself to the White House fence to protest “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Choi told the Blade this week he’s leaning toward representing himself in a practice referred to in the court system as pro se representation.

“Frank Kameny has been a major inspiration in that way,” said Choi, referring to the late gay rights leader from D.C. Kameny represented himself before the U.S. Supreme Court in the late 1960s in an unsuccessful challenge to his firing from a federal government job because he was gay.

The petition that Kameny wrote asking the high court to take his case has been hailed as a precedent-setting manifesto for the gay rights movement.

“I think for activists, especially for people who protest at the public square, there’s no more powerful thing and there’s no greater empowering moment than to stand before the judge and let them hear your own voice,” Choi said.

He said he’s weighing whether to appeal his own case to the Supreme Court to challenge a procedural ruling preventing him from arguing at trial that he was targeted for “vindictive” or “selective” prosecution.

If the Supreme Court were to refuse to take his case or if he forgoes that appeal, his trial, which began in August 2011, would resume in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Prosecutors used a harsher than usual federal law to charge Choi with a misdemeanor count of disobeying a lawful order by police to move away from the White House fence after he and nearly a dozen others handcuffed themselves to the fence. All of the other protesters agreed to a government offer to plead guilty to forgo a trial and to have the charge dropped if they refrained from getting arrested again at the White House for four months.

Choi refused that offer, saying his aim is to win an acquittal at trial on grounds that his action handcuffing himself to the White House fence is protected by his First Amendment right to free speech and should not be considered an illegal act.

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Remember those guys arrested in Dominica? Queerty dug up a very incriminating photo of what appears to be the two men obviously having sex on a ship balcony. The American gay community tossed a collective “Thanks a lot” in their direction. Here’s the rest of the news:

• Salon goes cottaging when they explore rest-stop sex.
• gay and lesbian groups pop up at US military academies, according to CNN.
• The Chicago Tribune covers the uproar among several groups after the revelation that NOM strategiezed to pit straight African Americans and latinos against gays and lesbians.
• Meanwhile, the Post says Mitt Romney is coming under fire after it was discovered he used a state PAC to funnel money to NOM.
• Finally, the NAACP comes out strong against NOM’s tactics, and in support of marriage equality, saying “they are our community.”

Look at this ridiculous video from the people fighting Anchorage Alaska’s proposed non-discrimination ordinance:

Nuff said.

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Towleroad tips us off to this preview of Vanity Fair's profile of Ricky Martin, his baby twins and his baby daddy, Carlos. Adorbs. (Vanity Fair)

UPDATE: According to sources at national Log Cabin Republicans, the vote split by party in New Hampshire was 119 Republicans voting not to repeal, while 92 Democrats voted against repeal, meaning 13 Democrats were naughty.

Karen Ocamb over at Frontiers L.A. has an eyeopening piece about the Obama Department of Justice continued defense of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in Federal Court, a year and a half after the law was repealed in a historic act of Congress. Read it. Now here’s the rest of the news:

Madonna has found herself again. After what seemed like an eternity of appearing to forget who her fan base is, Madonna is getting radical, saying she intends to defy the new St. Petersburg, Russia, law barring public discourse about homosexuality when her tour takes her there this year, says Bloomberg Business Week. Reminds me of this.

Make it a ‘venti.’ JoeMyGod says Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz smacked down a NOM activist at the company’s stockholder meeting yesterday, prompting NOM to whip up a boycott of the coffee-house, and prompting LGBT allies everywhere to upgrade to the taller size this morning to thank the company for standing by their LGBT customers and employees in supporting same-sex marriage in Washington state.

Two men were arrested for having sex on a gay cruise in the Caribbean, on the island nation of Dominica — which outlaws sodomy — according to the Associated Press. The Atlantis cruise left them behind and went on to its next destination. Sort of like what you do when your friend gets kicked out of the bar, but you’re not ready to leave yet.

Reuters says of those that opposed ending marriage equality in New Hampshire yesterday, over 100 were Republicans. In fact, if my math is correct, a majority would have had to have been Republicans for the measure to have failed in a legislature with only 105 Democrats, where the vote went down with 211 voting to oppose the bill, as we reported yesterday.

In a landmark ruling, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that Chile must pay $62,000 to a judge who was denied custody of her three daughters by the Supreme Court in 2004 because she is a lesbian, according to the New York Times.

Finally, if you’re a homophobe… you’re probably gay. The music video.

(h/t Towleroad)

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A monumental Military Times poll that shows troops' acceptance of DADT repeal has been rapid and pervasive. (Source: Military Times)

Last week we told you that safe-schools advocates are pushing the MPAA to reassess the “R” rating given to the movie ‘Bully,’ about bullying and harassment in schools. Now lawmakers, celebrities, and others are joining the effort to get the rating lowered in ‘Bully,’ according to Change.org. And here’s the new news:

• The St. Petersburg, Russia anti-gay “gag” law that punishes openness, assembly, speech and expression by LGBT people and their allies goes into effect today, according to AMERICAblog, but activists aren’t staying silent, and one of the most outspoken Russian gay activists, Nikolai Alekseev, is suing the law’s author for defamation in an effort to discredit and shame him, according to Gay Star News.
• Towleroad tells us Four suspects have been arrested in the brutal attack on Chilean gay man Daniel Zamudio, in which he was beaten and branded with a swastika.
• Ohio’s conservative Attorney General, Mike DeWine, has rejected an effort by citizens to pose a ballot initiative overturning Ohio’s anti-gay Constitutional amendment barring same-sex relationship recognition, says ThinkProgress. He says there were too many errors in the application.
• Towleroad tells us Harry Reid is getting tough on some 17 Judicial nominees being obstructed by Republicans, including one gay man, Michael Fitzgerald.
• Gay adults are more likely to smoke, but less likely to quit smoking, according to a study just published and being publicized by ThinkProgress. Just say no, folks!

Finally, Kirk Cameron really needs to change his Grindr profile to reflect his new relationship with Randy Rainbow (h/t Towleroad).

Aww, this one may be the one.

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In a recent interview with CNN, Cindy McCain was asked for her opinion on her party’s attitude toward gays. McCain had generated a great deal of attention in 2010 due to her participation in the NOH8 campaign for marriage equality, and has come to be seen as a supporter of LGBT rights, despite the fact that she later said she stood by her husband and his position against repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” during his Senate re-election campaign that year.

But when asked about her party’s opposition to gay rights, McCain dismissed it, saying, “I disagree with that. I think the media portrays that. I think being a Republican, being part of the party for — as many years as I have and knowing the Republicans the way I do that is not the case and that’s not the bulk of Republicans that believe in that, at all.”

McCain insisted that most Republicans in her state actually support equality for gays and are opposed to negative campaigning on social issues, and that nationally it is a vocal minority that rails against gays. Whether or not most Republicans she knows aren’t opposed to LGBT rights, what she doesn’t seem to acknowledge is that these “vocal ones” are the Republican politicians who control the levers of power and the voters who participate in elections.

Perhaps CNN’s Erin Burnett could have pressed McCain to explain the role that the “vocal ones” and their animosity toward gays have played in her party’s presidential nomination process. In this primary season, we’ve seen a Republican audience boo at an active duty American soldier when he revealed that he is gay via YouTube. We’ve seen Texas Gov. Rick Perry campaign explicitly against the fact that gays and lesbians are now allowed to serve openly in the military. We’ve seen a run for the nomination by Rep. Michele Bachmann, a candidate who co-owns, with her husband, a family-counseling clinic that uses reparative therapy techniques and promotes the “ex-gay” cause. And we’ve seen a race where most of the leading candidates have signed the National Organization for Marriage’s anti-gay marriage pledge, which included a promise to investigate “harassment” of traditional marriage supporters.

Outside of the presidential race, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie last month vetoed a bill that would have allowed for marriage equality in his state, amid speculation that he is aiming for a chance at the vice presidential slot on a Republican ticket. These are just a few examples from the past year of anti-gay politicians acting as the face of the party’s mainstream.

It is wishful thinking on the part of Republicans like Cindy McCain to say that social issues, including anti-gay sentiment, are not driving the agenda of their party. By blaming the media, McCain is participating in the same cynical strategies undertaken by her party’s presidential candidates, and by Tea Party figures like Sarah Palin. At this point, campaigning against the media has become almost as institutional to the Republican Party platform as the anti-gay positions that she claims are insignificant. The media cannot be blamed for discussing what these politicians believe, and similarly, McCain’s statement that the Republican Party’s anti-gay policies are media hype has no basis in reality.

It is one thing to participate in a flashy photo campaign, but in politics, words and actions matter. If Cindy McCain truly believes in fighting for equality for LGBT people, she shouldn’t be dismissive of homophobia in her party and treat it as a media exaggeration.

She should be willing to call out members of her own party who campaign on denying gay people their rights. Support for an issue doesn’t count if it’s the kind of support that happens off the record among friends, as criticism aimed at the media instead of politicians, or voiced only when there isn’t an election happening.

It is true that there are people in the Republican Party who have come to support LGBT rights, particularly young people. But the unpopularity of the issue among the party’s base makes it especially crucial that these young Republicans have role models to demonstrate that it is OK for them to press for what they believe in. Homophobia in the Republican Party is real, and simply blaming the media isn’t going to make it go away.

Sean Cotter is a New York-based freelance writer. Reach him at sean.robert.cotter@gmail.com.