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REUTERS/Courtesy of Doug Warner/Handout Doug Warner (L) and his partner Truman Smith, who works as a private consultant and is the president of Log Cabin's South Carolina chapter, pose in this undated handout photo in Charleston, South Carolina. |
He is also openly gay.
Warner's sexual orientation makes for an awkward fit in a party with a powerful
evangelical Christian wing that regards homosexuality as a sin and same-sex
marriage as a threat to the traditional family.
"I believe that the approach of the social extremists eliminates our party's
ability to grow in the future," he told Reuters by phone from his home in
Charleston, South Carolina.
For years, bashing the “homo-sexual agenda" worked well for Republicans.
In 2004, the party placed anti-gay marriage referendums on 11 state ballots.
All passed by large majorities and the tactic boosted turnout among religious
conservatives, helping President George W. Bush win re-election.
But times may be changing. The leading Republican candidate for 2008 is
former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani who supports gay rights, including "domestic
partnerships" and equal rights under the law.
Republicans were embarrassed this summer when one of their most outspoken
anti-gay spokesmen, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, pleaded guilty to lewd behavior in
an airport bathroom, having apparently made a homosexual advance to an
undercover agent. Craig has since tried and failed to rescind his guilty
plea, saying he was panicked into a confession.
All the major Democrats in the race believe workplace discrimination based on
sexual orientation should be outlawed and back full equality in civil unions.
Much of the organized gay community has long been an integral part of the
Democratic base. Meanwhile conservative gays have felt they had no place
to go.
Warner's concern about his party's direction has led him to become an active
member in a growing movement of conservative gays called the Log Cabin
Republicans. It claims to have 20,000 members nationwide with over 40
official chapters.
Interviews with several Log Cabin Republicans revealed a familiar refrain:
disappointment with a party seen betraying its commitment to fiscal prudence and
limited government.
"Somewhere along the way our party was hijacked by the social extremists who say
that government needs to regulate things that were once considered private,"
said Warner's partner Truman Smith, who works as a private consultant and is the
president of Log Cabin's South Carolina chapter.
"If we believe in lower taxes and less government, what are we going to do?
Become Democrats?," he asked.
While the organization is not endorsing a presidential candidate for 2008,
Giuliani is clearly their favorite.
GIULIANI ALONE
This is hardly surprising as he is pointedly alone in the Republican field in
his support for gay rights. And it suggests the party may be more diverse
than its image suggests.
"I think it is refreshing to see a prominent Republican who is supportive of our
issues doing so well," said Noel Freeman, who is head of Log Cabin's Houston
chapter.
Gay Republican activists say the party needs to expand its base if it wants to
remain relevant by shedding its anti-abortion and anti-gay rights platforms and
aiming for the political center on social issues.
"I'm afraid that the Republican Party is going to make itself so pure that it
will be able to meet in a phone booth," said Freeman.
Some say the party's loss of both houses of Congress in the mid-term elections
last year shows it needs to change course.
"When we make social issues our priority then the Republican party loses
independents and swing voters and loses elections," said Jimmy LaSalvia, Log
Cabin's grassroots outreach director.
Under Bush, the party took a different tack. His top political strategist
Karl Rove, who resigned earlier this year, maintained that the way to win
elections was to mobilize the country's 60 million evangelicals and get them to
the polls.
There has long been tension between the party's religious wing and those who
favor low taxes, free markets, fiscal responsibility and a government that stays
out of their personal lives.
The Log Cabin Republicans, formed in 1977, are just one vocal strand of the
party's more moderate side. It takes its name from Abraham Lincoln's
humble origins and says it aims to bring the party back to its inclusive roots.
Its influence is obviously limited by its small though growing numbers.
The South Carolina chapter for example was formed just three years ago but now
numbers in the hundreds.
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