NEW YORK (ABP) — Shortly before delegates to their party's convention approved a platform that called for amending the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, the Log Cabin Republicans denounced what the group's director called a hijacking of the party by “the radical right.”
Opening the Republican National Convention Aug. 30, delegates approved a platform that not only called for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, but also urged “that legal recognition and the accompanying benefits accorded couples should be preserved for that unique and special union of one man and one woman which has historically been called marriage.”
In a press conference that morning, and at a reception the day before honoring Republican politicians who support gay rights, leaders of the pro-gay Log Cabin group denounced the platform and Bush's previously announced support for the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Many of them also declared that the time had come for the GOP to make a choice between the social policies of the religious conservatives who control much of the party's leadership structure and the pro-gay-rights leadership of the more moderate Republicans the convention is featuring as prime-time speakers.
“We can be the party of [former New York mayor Rudolph] Giuliani, [Arizona Sen. John] McCain and [California Gov. Arnold] Schwarzenegger, or we can be the party of [Southern Baptist pastor Jerry] Falwell, [Pennsylvania Sen. Rick] Santorum and [conservative social commentator Pat] Buchanan,” said Patrick Guerriero, Log Cabin Republicans' executive director, during the press conference.
“The Republican Party cannot have it both ways,” Guerriero continued. “We cannot have the voices of exclusion crafting a vicious and mean-spirited platform, while at the same time putting the voices of inclusion in prime time.”
Religious conservative groups such as the Family Research Council have also criticized the array of pro-gay-rights Republican moderates who will be featured as speakers during the high-profile prime-time slots at the convention, which runs Aug. 30-Sept. 2. Besides McCain, Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, the speakers include New York Gov. George Pataki, who will introduce Bush on Sept. 2.
However, in response to the criticism from conservatives, the convention agreed to include some prominent anti-gay-marriage leaders among the roster of featured speakers. They include Santorum and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), two of the Federal Marriage Amendment's chief Senate proponents.
Log Cabin leaders also announced a series of television advertisements that will air on stations in New York as well as other parts of the country during the convention. The spots cite the legacy of late President Ronald Reagan in a critique of the anti-gay-rights portion of the GOP platform.
The spot features Reagan delivering part of his last major public address — to delegates at the 1992 Republican Convention — in which he said, “[W]hatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears.”
Nonetheless, Guerriero and other Log Cabin leaders declined to say whether the group would consider endorsing Bush for president, as it did in 2000. Guerriero said Log Cabin leaders would make that decision within a few days after the end of the convention.
Some Log Cabin leaders, interviewed at the Aug. 29 reception, said they still planned to vote for Bush. Chris Bowman, a party delegate from California and an officer with the San Francisco chapter of the party, wore a Bush button and said he would support the president in November. “We need to work on the platform,” he said. “But I'm also very concerned about the war on terror and the war in Iraq,” he said.
Patrick Howell, president of the Orlando Log Cabin chapter, said he still hasn't decided whether to vote for Bush and described featuring moderate Republican speakers while adopting such a conservative platform was like “putting lipstick on a pig.”
However, he added, while he has experienced a “level of disappointment” with the party over the platform, “there's also a level of hope…. We're very excited that the [party] has decided to feature speakers who represent the diversity” of Republicans on gay-rights issues, he said.
Log Cabin leaders said the party's embrace of pro-gay speakers means time is on their side in the battle to make the GOP more inclusive on gay-rights issues. Guerriero repeatedly cited a CBS News/New York Times poll that says 44 percent of Republican delegates to the New York convention support either legalizing same-sex marriage or “civil unions” according similar rights and benefits as marriage. Nationwide, support among self-identified Republican voters was even higher, with 47 percent supporting either gay marriage or civil unions.
“To be the majority party in America, the GOP must embrace a hopeful message,” Guerriero said. “We are here today representing the future of the party…. This fight has just begun, and we are confident that ultimately we are going to win. History, fairness and common decency are certainly on our side.”
Prominent moderate Republicans echoed the Log Cabin leaders' criticism — though in more muted ways. “The politics of inclusion — not division — I think are just as important…today as in Lincoln's day,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the Log Cabin group on Aug. 29. “We believe in a Republican Party true to its origins.”
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