Mar 26, 2004  |  By: MUBARAK DAHI  | COMMENTS     

THE LOG CABIN Republicans — that ever-mystifying gang of GOP’ers who say they represent gay and lesbian interests in a party that is totally disinterested in representing gay men and lesbians — finally seem to have developed some political balls.

The group has a history of being little more than apologists for the Republican party and its indefensible stances on issues of concern to gays over the years. Indeed, watching some of their spokespeople in the past try to rationalize how the group continues to support a party that is clearly anti-gay has been like watching some amazing contortionists at a circus.

In the 2000 presidential election, before it was clear that George W. Bush would be the Republican candidate, the Log Cabin Republicans took the political gamble of backing Bush’s rival, John McCain.

This peeved the Texas governor, and after he had the nomination sewed up, he refused to even meet with them. Instead, his old friend Charles Francis, who is gay, assembled a group of gay Republicans who had supported Bush over McCain, and the “Austin 12” who met with Bush in the Texas state capital helped in turn to create an entirely new, and even more spineless organization, called the Republican Unity Coalition.

PETRIFIED OF FOREVER being on the outs — the worst political purgatory possible inside the Beltway — the Log Cabin Republicans have spent much of the Bush years doing just about anything they could to get back in good graces with their party’s leader, reaching a new low in the exercise of Uncle Tommery.

For those of us who are gay or lesbian, watching the political butt kissing was stomach-churning, even taking into consideration the brown-noser standards ubiquitous in the nation’s capitol.

But the suck-up strategy may have borne some fruit. Less than a year ago, the relatively new leader of the Log Cabin organization, Patrick Guerriero, boasted to one gay publication that his group’s access to the Bush White House was “unprecedented.”

And the Log Cabin leadership claims to have buried the hatchet with the Republican Unity Coalition. Guerriero made public kissy-face with Francis by inviting him to speak at the Log Cabin’s black-tie dinner last year.

All seemed honky-dory for the “we’ll-do-anything-to-get-back-in-good-graces” Log Cabin Republicans.

THEN CAME BUSH’S call for a federal marriage amendment, to change the Constitution to ban gay couples from ever getting married.

Though the Republican Unity Coalition officially opposes the federal marriage amendment, Charles Francis was still up to his old apologist games, telling the New York Times recently that good and decent people can differ on the issue of gay marriage. And, the RUC adds, they won’t support the federal marriage amendment because it takes away from “far larger and more important issues.” The emphasis belongs to the RUC, per the group’s Web site.

Just what is supposed to be so much more important to a group that purports to stand for the rights of gay men and lesbians than a constitutional amendment that threatens to forever truncate those rights?

I braced myself in readiness to witness more of the same kind of gutless behavior from the Log Cabin Republicans as I saw from the Republican Unity Coalition.

Instead, the Log Cabin group surprised me.

The Log Cabin Republicans haven’t treated us with another nauseating performance of political acrobatics. Not only have they condemned the federal marriage amendment in strong terms, they’ve put their money where their mouth is. One million dollars worth of it, to be exact.

Last week, the Log Cabin organization unveiled a TV ad campaign that took aim at the Bush administration’s support of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The gay GOP’ers are airing the ads in swing states, clearly hoping to woo moderates in their own party away from the president’s position — and maybe even away from the president himself.

The 30-second television spot features Vice President Dick Cheney (whose daughter, Mary is a lesbian) and his comments in the 2000 presidential campaign, where he stated, “I don’t think there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area.” (Cheney has since said that he would support the president’s decision.)

The ad follows up on Cheney’s remarks with two simple words in capital letters: “WE AGREE.”

Furthermore, Guerriero has hinted that his group might not endorse the president in the coming election, specifically because of the gay marriage issue.

FOR MOST OF us who are gay or lesbian, that seems like a big “duh!”, a no-brainer. But for a group that has done everything it can the past few years to cozy up to the powers-that-be, getting up the ...