The Utter Failure of the Log Cabin Republicans

So this happened last week:

Republicans moved on Tuesday toward adopting a staunchly conservative platform that takes a strict, traditionalist view of the family... [it] amounts to a rightward lurch even from the party’s hard-line platform in 2012—especially as it addresses gay men, lesbians and transgender people.... Nearly every provision that expressed disapproval of homosexuality, same-sex marriage or transgender rights passed. Sponsored Protectly.co has USA Made N95 masks in stock! Plus NIOSH respirators, surgical masks, gloves, goggles, 3M half-face respirators and more. www.protectly.co

The proposed 2016 GOP platform condemns same-sex marriage and calls for the appointment of judges who will overturn Obergefell, the 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states; it endorses "pray away the gay" conversion "therapies" that have been proven to be just as ineffective as they are dangerous; it backs bans on transgender Americans using appropriate public restrooms, i.e. the ones that align with their gender identities.

The Log Cabin Republicans, the most ineffectual political advocacy org this side of NAMBLA, condemned the proposed 2016 platform and tried to raise money off it too:

The country's largest organization representing LGBT conservatives has slammed the GOP for its draft platform, which remains opposed to same-sex marriage and bathroom choice for transgender people. "There’s no way to sugarcoat this: I’m mad as hell — and I know you are too," Gregory T. Angelo, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans, wrote in a fundraising email sent Tuesday evening. "Moments ago, the Republican Party passed the most anti-LGBT platform in the party’s 162-year history."

The Log Cabin Republicans begged people to send them "$500, $250, $100, or whatever you can give," money they would use to "take back the platform" and "take back the party." They were going to be on the floor of the RNC! They weren't going to "go quietly into the night!" They were going to fight!

And how was that fight? It was pretty fucking quiet:

The @GOP has now, as a body, approved their radical anti-LGBTQ platform with almost no opposition. #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/GrBTdo84pS

— James P Sheffield (@JayShef) July 18, 2016

What I wrote back in February still applies:

Gay Republicans are praised for trying to "change their party from within" and then... Nothing changes. Their party never changes. All the GOP candidates for president take the same old bigoted positions. It never gets any better. But no one who writes up the efforts of Log Cabin Republicans to change their party ever thinks to examine the results. There's never an accountability moment for the cocksucking wing of the "party of personal responsibility." The Log Cabin Republicans were founded in 1977. They were gonna "build a stronger, more inclusive Republican Party [and] transform the GOP from the inside." They've been at this transform-from-the-inside shit for nearly forty fucking years and what do they have nothing to show it? Nothing. Fuck all. Squat. For years they've been waiting on—and promising us—a breakthrough that never, ever comes. The GOP is as bad on LGBT issues now as it has ever been and their 2016 candidates run the gamut from completely awful asshole to completely asshole awful. It's time to pack it in, boys. It's over. You failed. Fuck off and shut up. (As for what motivates gay Republicans... I have a theory.)

Actually, I'd like to amend what I wrote about the Log Cabin Republicans back in February.

Log Cabin Republicans have been working to "transform the GOP from the inside" for forty years and not only hasn't it gotten better, it has gotten worse. The 2016 Republican Platform, adopted today without a peep of protest from Log Cabin Republicans, is worse on LGBT issues than any Republican Party Platform in history. Worse than the GOP platform in 1980, when the religious right was ascendent; worse than the GOP platform in 1984, when AIDS hysteria was at its peak; worse than the GOP platform in 1992, when delegates to the RNC were waving "Family Values Forever! Gay Rights Never!" signs on the floor of the convention in Houston. Worst. Platform. Ever. Log Cabin Republicans spent months wriggling their tongues up Donald Trump's ass and this is the thanks they get.

Whatever the Log Cabin Republicans think they're doing "inside" the Republican Party, it isn't working, it has never worked, and they need to stop pretending it'll ever work. Today's Republican Party, as Andy Towle pointed out, is an anti-LGBT hate group. Period. And the sanity and/or motives of any queer person who belongs to today's GOP are suspect—same goes for yesterday's GOP and most likely tomorrow's GOP.

"Robert Siegel interviews Gregory Angelo, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that advocates for equal rights for LBGT people," says NPR.

No.

You can back the GOP or you can advocate for equal rights for LGBT people. You can't do both at once—and anyone who claims to be doing both is lying.

UPDATE: This was in the emailbag this morning...

This was my response to your attack on Log Cabin Republicans, which I posted to Facebook: "Bullshit. Gregory T. Angelo immediately decried the party platform as a step back for Gay Republicans. I think Dan Savage is doing more harm than good by cultivating this asinine sentiment that we all must fall in line and prescribe to the same beliefs and principals to be included in the LGBTQ family. The damage he is doing should not be lauded. But, that's the kind of sycophant expression of beliefs you get from a fearful people who are not willing to contribute to change, but to tear down and dismantle the hard earned strides that have been made within the GOP. Gregory has fearlessly put a face to the Republican gay. It takes way more effort to be a lone wolf crying out for justice, than a pack of sheep bleating the same message. I think it is cowardly to throw barbs from the sidelines. Dan's cynical message overlooks very real progress and change. The GOP is suffering, definitely. Because of the very real bigotry within the rank and file. But to attack a member of our community who is working to fulfill an agreement towards full inclusion; that is the epitome of intolerance." My partner and I are one of the plaintiff couples who fought for Marriage Equality in Oregon. My spouse is a lifelong member of the GOP and is building a political career within the party to put a face to gay Republicans. Your comments delegitimize the very real work being done on a grass roots level to bring a moderate tone to the platform of the GOP. There is more I could write to, but I doubt a response will be forthcoming. Your words do more damage than good. Sincerely, Paul R. Support The Stranger More than ever, we depend on your support to help fund our coverage. Support local, independent media with a one-time or recurring donation. Thank you!

Dear Paul,

Gregory T. Angelo's efforts to reform the Republican Party from within—like the efforts of Rich Tafel before him and all the other useful idiots who've headed up LCR—have been for naught. The same goes for your partner’s efforts in Oregon, I'm sorry to say. Let's take a quick peek at the platform of the Republican Party of Oregon:

The Oregon Repiblican Party believes that the traditional family is ordained by God our Creator and is the foundation of our society. A traditional family is formed through the marriage of one man and one woman. This environment is optimal for raising children into responsible self-sufficient, productive citizens.... We believe that government intervention into matters regarding the family must be kept to an absolute minimum. Marriage is between one man and women woman.

The government shouldn't intervene into matters regarding the family—unless the government is intervening to stop same-sex couples from marrying or starting families of their own. Because fuck those perverts. Still. In 2016.

To clarify: I know that Gregory and the rest of the LCR boys had a wee public sad when the Republican Platform Committee adopted the most anti-LGBT platform in the party's history. They promised a floor fight over the platform — and raised money on that promise — but didn't deliver. The missing floor fight is what I was referring to when I slammed LCR for allowing the adoption of the Republican platform hateform "without a peep of protest."

Gregory shouldn’t be mad at me for calling bullshit on the entirely futile efforts of LCR, Paul, and you shouldn't be mad at me for pointing out the futility of their efforts — or the futility of your partner's efforts, for that matter, to "put a face on gay Republicans." You should be mad at Republican leaders — leaders who have fucked your community over at every turn — and mad at the very real bigots "within the rank and file" of the GOP.

As for the rank and file of the LGBT community, Paul, we're mad at LCR and our anger is not misplaced.

This is the worst GOP platform ever. That’s all LCR has to show for nearly forty years of what exactly? Forty years of trying to change the GOP from within? No. Forty years of lying to the LGBT community about the Republican Party and forty years of complicity in Republican attacks on the LGBT community.

I'm not just talking about LCR's long and ignominious history of endorsing anti-LGBT politicians. It's worse than that. LCR isn't just guilty of endorsing shitty anti-gay bigots — George W. Bush over Al Gore 2000; John McCain (and Sarah Palin!) over Barack Obama in 2008; Mitt Romney over Barack Obama in 2012 (despite Romney's support for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, his opposition to gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, and his support for discrimination against LGBT people in employment and housing) — LCR is also guilty of providing cover for anti-LGBT Republicans. While anti-LGBT bigotry still plays well with the "rank and file" of the GOP base, it doesn't play well with moderate and independent voters. Log Cabin Republicans and other gay Republicans are used — they allow themselves to be used — the same way Ben Carson and Herman Cane allow themselves to be used and Colin Powell once allowed himself to be used. ("Our policies can't be racist! We aren't the party of white grievance, deafening dog whistles, Lee Atwater, Willie Hortan, "welfare queens," Donald Trump, and the Southern Strategy. Look! Over there! It's Ben Carson!")

Here's an example:

ThinkProgress:

At their convention this week, Republicans are set to approve a particularly anti-LGBT platform. It calls for overturning marriage equality, banning same-sex parenting, restricting transgender people’s access to bathrooms, and ensuring parents can force harmful conversion therapy on their LGBT kids. Party leaders, however, deny that it’s anti-LGBT at all. On CNN Monday morning, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R), co-chair of the Republicans’ platform committee, explained that their priority with those planks was to “make American great” and to “stand for the human rights of all people, not just one segment, one class, one race, one preference, but for all people in the United States.” Besides, she said, there were gay people on the committee, insisting, “We’re an inclusive party; we’re a big tent.”

The odious Mary Fallin points to the one gay person on the platform committee — a woman who was reduced to tears by the other members of the platform committee — to argue that the GOP isn't actually anti-LGBT at all. ("Look! Over there! It's a queermo!") Fallin argues that the presence of one gay person on the platform committee proves the platform itself isn't anti-LGBT! Reince Priebus, for his part, told the AP that the party was welcoming to LGBT people — because, hey, gay billionaire Peter Thiel would be speaking at Republican National Convention this week. (“See! We’re not anti-LGBT! Look over there at our pet homos! We've got one on the platform committee, one speaking at the convention, and a couple of dozen in that log cabin over there!")

I'm not fooled, Paul, and the overwhelming majority of LGBT voters aren't fooled. But Fallin and Priebus aren't trying to fool LGBT voters. They're trying to fool — they're trying to trick — straight moderate and straight independents into thinking the GOP is not as anti-LGBT as it actually is. And LCR, Republicans like your partner, and that poor woman on the platform committee help the GOP make that argument. You're helping Trump, Fallin, Priebus, et al, cover up the GOP's record of anti-LGBT hate. You're helping them win elections and harming the "LGBTQ family" you claim to care about so much.

Allowing yourselves to be used this way — carrying water for a party that doesn’t think you should be married, have kids, use the toilet, serve in the military, be protected from workplace discrimination, or even EXIST — goes beyond standard-issue self-hatred. It's far darker and more disturbing. Get help.

Best,

Dan