Part of what keeps life interesting over here is the dual nature of Log Cabin’s mission - at the same time as we work within the GOP fighting for freedom and fairness for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, we also reach out to the larger GLBT community, speaking about the benefits of conservatism and Log Cabin’s unique role in “the Movement.” LCR Vice President John Sinovic joined a panel of speakers yesterday at the Center for Creating Change, speaking to what could have been a tough crowd for us - young adults. Their response may surprise you.

“Being in a position to watch the students, I could tell this panel was a major eye opener for many. One thing I noticed in particular was the changing and varying reactions to the Log Cabin Republicans. The vice president of Log Cabin Republicans John Sinovic especially had a powerful impact on students. At the beginning, the students were not very receptive to him, but as he spoke he brought a clarity to many people about who this group is and what they are fighting for. They were cheering him by the end.”

As John has said before, this is what Log Cabin Republicans do. We find the folks who disagree with us, gay, Republican or otherwise, and simply make the case for freedom and fairness - and with a little luck, leaved changed hearts and minds behind. This was a good day.

-posted by Casey Pick

Posted: July 22nd, 2008 under In the News, Log Cabin In Focus.

The AP reports that Dr. James Dobson, anti-gay crusader and leader of “Focus on the Family,” may just be changing his tune on John McCain.

“Conservative Christian leader James Dobson has softened his stance against Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, saying he could reverse his position and endorse the Arizona senator despite serious misgivings. ‘I never thought I would hear myself saying this,’ Dobson said in a radio broadcast to air Monday. ‘… While I am not endorsing Senator John McCain, the possibility is there that I might.’”

As we’ve been saying here at Log Cabin ever since Sen. McCain won the GOP nomination, there is clearly no where else for so-called “social conservative” (read: “anti-gay”) leaders to go.  With Democratic gains predicted in the U.S. House and Senate, Sen. John McCain is the only thing stopping the Democrats from taking our country dramatically to the left. 

We’ve long said that, despite Dobson’s earlier stubborn statements that he wouldn’t vote for McCain, leaders like him have nowhere else to go. 

So, of course, the media will make this into a news story.  But it’s hardly news. 

-posted by Scott Tucker

Posted: July 21st, 2008 under Democrats, Election 2008, From the Right, In the News, Log Cabin In Focus.

Some of you may have read Sen. John McCain’s remarks on gay adoption in an interview he gave to the New York Times.

Today, the campaign clarified those remarks by saying:

“McCain could have been clearer in the interview in stating that his position on gay adoption is that it is a state issue, just as he made it clear in the interview that marriage is a state issue.  He was not endorsing any federal legislation.

McCain’s expressed his personal preference for children to be raised by a mother and a father wherever possible.  However, as an adoptive father himself, McCain believes children deserve loving and caring home environments, and he recognizes that there are many abandoned children who have yet to find homes.  McCain believes that in those situations that caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative,” - Jill Hazelbaker, McCain Campaign Director of Communications

In response to this clarification, Patrick Sammon, president of Log Cabin Republicans, had this to say:

“We are pleased that Senator McCain clarified the remarks and we thank the Senator for once again re-iterating his belief that issues concerning marriage and family laws should be left up to the states – not the federal government.  The fundamental principle of federalism has made our party and our country strong – and those in our party who would seek to sacrifice this core value in order to push an extreme anti-gay agenda do damage to our party and our country.”

-posted by Scott Tucker

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Election 2008, From the Right, GOP Heroes, GOP Progress, In the News, Log Cabin In Focus.

Here at Log Cabin, we see Episcopalian Bishop V. Gene Robinson as something of a kindred spirit. We share a similar mission – speaking up for the dignity and equality of LBGT people, he in his church, and we within the Republican Party. Sometimes this means going where angels fear to tread.

Gene Robinson, the first openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop has often experienced death threats for his ministry, and even had to wear a bullet-proof vest during his ordination ceremony – but he won’t let that stop him from speaking out. Robinson was officially barred from a once-a-decade Anglican meeting, the Lambeth Conference. Despite the ban, he is still there, preaching the good news and seeking out those who vehemently oppose his ordination and the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere. He says,

”I’m not storming the pulpit to wrestle the microphone from the archbishop. My agenda is this: What does the church’s treatment of gay and lesbian people say about God? You’ve got all these people talking about gays and lesbians being an abomination before God. Does that make you want to run out and go to an Anglican church and sing God’s praises?”

Bishop Robinson is an inspiration to us all, and our thoughts and prayers are with him on this journey. Read more here.

-posted by Casey Pick

Posted: July 14th, 2008 under Uncategorized.

Law 101 - long before a case goes to trial, the party being sued will file for summary judgement, basically asking the judge to decide the case without the bother and expense of a full trial.  Summary judgment is awarded if the undisputed facts and the law make it clear that it would be impossible for one party to prevail if the matter were to proceed to trial.  If a lawsuit is groundless, it will often die at this phase.

That’s certainly what DNC Chair Howard Dean hoped would happen in the case of Donald Hitchcock, the DNC’s former head of gay outreach, who has accused the party of anti-gay discrimination and retaliation.  (Dean has certainly been “screaming” his innocence all year.)  But this week Judge Jeanette Clark ruled that there are indeed serious questions about whether Dean and others at the DNC engaged in illegal discrimination against their chief liasion to the gay community.  Hitchcock was fired shortly after his partner dared to criticize the Democrats for failing to live up to their promises to champion LGBT equality.

-posted by Casey Pick

Posted: July 7th, 2008 under Democrats, In the News.

Many Democratic gay rights activists get a lot of mileage out of anti-Republican rhetoric.  Democrats are good, and Republicans are very bad (or so we’re told.)  But there are a few holes in this theory. 

It made the rounds last week, but in cased you missed it, check out James Kirchick’s Advocate piece titled, “Golden Opportunity: How the GOP helped bring gay marriage to California.”

-posted by Scott Tucker

Posted: July 7th, 2008 under Chapter News, Democrats, Election 2008, From the Right, GOP Heroes, GOP Progress, In the News, Log Cabin In Focus.

Here at Log Cabin, we emphasize the power of telling our personal stories. We recognize that this is often a difficult thing to do. Many of us have jobs which make disclosure of our sexual orientation problematic, and many more simply find it hard to open up such a personal part of our lives to people who may not understand. Sometimes, we just can’t find the words. In the spirit of helping our members find both the courage to share their lives, and the words to do so, I offer up one example of how it can be done.

This is an open letter to the voters of California, written by a friend of mine who has given me permission to share it here. She is a young woman, a student at a seminary conservative enough that she has to post anonymously or risk censure. She has a girlfriend whom she cares for very much, and together they are confronting the cruel reality that much of their future depends on how their fellow citizens vote this November. Her story is her own, but it is also our story. I hope that you will read it, and be inspired to tell your own… but if you cannot find the words yet, please, feel free to share hers.

-posted by Casey Pick

Posted: July 2nd, 2008 under Election 2008, Uncategorized.

In a ridiculous piece for The Politico, failed presidential candidate Gary Bauer (now head of the anti-gay “American Values”) calls on the Republican Party to–hold onto your hat–use gay marriage to drum up votes!  With fresh ideas like that, it’s no wonder Mr. Bauer’s presidential ambitions fell as flat as he did when he tumbled off the campaign stage in 2000 while flipping a pancake.  Remember that?

But, I digress.  So, today, Log Cabin’s Patrick Sammon responded in-kind with an editorial in The Politico telling Mr. Bauer why he’s wrong:

Posted: July 1st, 2008 under Election 2008, From the Right, In the News, Log Cabin In Focus, On the Lighter Side.

“Pam’s House Blend”: “Always Steamin’” Because It’s Made from Toxic, Old Crap.

Things always taste sour over at Pam’s House Blend.  But lately, all Pam is serving up over there is a “blend” of ignorance and name-calling.

Pam absolutely loathes Log Cabin Republicans…and that’s fine.  We understand that.  We’re okay with that.  We’re big boys and girls.

But, like many angry Democrats who refuse to understand where Log Cabin Republicans are coming from or what we do on a daily basis, Pam resorts to the same familiar lines about Log Cabin when her steam runs out–and that’s often.

Sarcastically recounting Sen. John McCain’s previous statement that he was “unashamed, unembarrassed and proud” to meet with Log Cabin Republicans, Pam says, “Guess that and low taxes are good enough for them.”

Yes, Pam.  We’re Republicans because we like low taxes.  We’re also Jews for Hitler, Auntie Toms, and whatever other choice phrases you and your readers like to call us.

Pam, why don’t you give me a ring sometime?  Over the years, we’ve received much smarter insults than the ones you use when you’re too intellectually lazy to argue on the merits of the issue at hand.  I’d be happy to share them with you so your audience doesn’t have to suffer through the “tax cut” bit again.

Better yet, give me a call so we can go to lunch next time you’re in DC.  You obviously have no clue about the work that many of our dedicated members are trying to do each and every day to make the GOP a more tolerable place for gay and lesbian Americans.  I’d be more than happy to tell you about it.

Perhaps then, even despite our ideological and partisan differences, you might not have such disgust in your heart and mind for 25% of your fellow LGBT Americans who vote Republican.

Maybe (just maybe) you might even thank us for the work we do.

-posted by Scott Tucker

Posted: June 30th, 2008 under Democrats, Election 2008, GOP Progress, In the News, Log Cabin In Focus, On the Lighter Side.

It is always disappointing to see members of the GLBT community so blinded by the “R” after a lawmaker’s name that they can’t tell the difference between friend and foe.  In an article which freely admits that “measured by words spoken, legislation sponsored, events attended and miles traveled, there can be only one conclusion about Sen. Gordon Smith: He loves the gay community,” the Oregonian reports that “some gay-rights advocates question the Oregon senator’s commitment.” Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon answers their doubts, calling Smith

“somebody who understands our country needs to do more to treat gay and lesbian citizens the same as every other person in this country…He’s been a strong ally and a strong advocate.” Read more here.

Ironically, the Oregonian article comes only one day after Sen. Smith took to the pages of the conservative Washington Times to argue for the passage of the HIV Nondiscrimination in Travel and Immigration Act, which would end the policy forbidding people with HIV or AIDS from entering the United States. As a leading sponsor of the bill, Gordon writes,

“There is no excuse for a law that goes out of its way to stigmatize a particular disease and separate parents from children, sisters from brothers, and people of all stripes from their work, travel and dreams of a better life.” Read the whole thing here.

This measure has been included in the Senate version of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) reauthorization bill. Contact your Senators and encourage them to join Sen. Smith in ending this disgusting, embarrassing policy.

-posted by Casey Pick

Posted: June 26th, 2008 under Democrats, Election 2008, GOP Heroes, In the News, Log Cabin In Focus.