Patrick Guerriero, president of Log Cabin Republicans, is leaving the gay GOP group and moving to Denver to become executive director of the Gill Action Fund, a newly formed bipartisan gay advocacy group.
In nearly three years as president of the Log Cabin Republicans, Patrick Guerriero presided over an eventful period in the gay rights movement.
• October 2003 — During his first month as Log Cabin president, Guerriero called for an end to infighting between gay and lesbian organizations.
• Fall 2003 — Shortly thereafter, Log Cabin filed its first-ever amicus brief in the historic Lawrence vs. Texas case, which ultimately struck down all remaining anti-gay sodomy laws.
• March 2004 — Log Cabin launched a television advertising campaign opposing a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and helped lobby against the measure, which President Bush supports.
• October 2004 — Log Cabin files lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.
• Fall 2004 — Log Cabin declines to endorse George W. Bush for president following Bush's support of the marriage amendment. The move angered some longtime Log Cabin members. In a story published by the Blade in October, 2004, sources "reported learning of discontent among the ranks of a small but influential corps of gay Republicans who believe Guerriero has gone beyond the board's non-endorsement mandate by harshly criticizing the president in television appearances and newspaper commentaries."
• November 2004 — Bush is re-elected, raising questions about the level of access Log Cabin will have to the administration after it failed to endorse the president.
• April 2005 — Former Log Cabin COO Dwight Lodge files a lawsuit alleging he was wrongfully terminated after accusing Guerriero of financial improprieties; the suit was recently settled but terms were not disclosed.
• April 20, 2005 — Connecticut Republican Gov. Jodi Rell signs the first-ever non-court mandated civil unions bill.
• March 2006 — Log Cabin's challenge to the military's ban on openly gay service members was dismissed on technical grounds; Guerriero vowed to re-file the case.
• May 23, 2006 — Guerriero announces resignation as Log Cabin president to take helm of Gill Action Fund.
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Patrick Guerriero, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, has resigned his position to take the helm of the Gill Action Fund, a newly formed nonpartisan political organization that advocates for gay rights.
He will leave Log Cabin in September to assume his new role.
Founded by gay philanthropist and software entrepreneur Tim Gill, the fund advocates for equality for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or political party. Guerriero will serve as the organization’s executive director and chief spokesperson.
Guerriero said his new job is a change from his GOP-focused work to a role that is nonpartisan.
His responsibilities will include strategic development, building operational structure, working with local and national gay and lesbian organizations and building bridges between Republican and Democratic political organizations.
The Gill Foundation has donated more than $81 million to gay and social justice organizations. Gill, who was the creator of the publishing software Quark, was motivated to start the Action Fund in response to the passage of Colorado’s Amendment 2. The amendment banned state and local governments from adopting policies prohibiting discrimination against gays and lesbians. The U.S. Supreme Court in the Romer vs. Evans case struck it down.
In a news release, Gill said Guerriero will bring “outstanding political skills” to the Gill Action Fund.
“Patrick Guerriero has proven himself a skilled candidate who has never lost an election, as well as a coalition builder who has worked effectively with Democrats and other gay and lesbian organizations,” Gill said in a statement. “We believe that his leadership will help us develop successful bipartisan strategies to win full equality for all Americans.”
Guerriero joined the Log Cabin Republicans in 2003, after a career in politics in Massachusetts. He served three terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and was mayor of Melrose, a Boston suburb. He also was briefly a candidate for lieutenant governor.
Bush criticism rankled some
Guerriero has come under criticism from some gay Republicans who felt he focused too much on lobbying the GOP on gay rights issues, and not enough on lobbying gays to support Republican Party candidates.
His decision not to endorse President Bush's re-election — both due to the president's support for a federal marriage amendment, angered some longtime Log Cabin supporters.
Bruce Carroll, who writes the political blog GayPatriot.net, responded to Guerriero’s resignation sarcastically.
“I’m personally curious which happened more often in the past four years of Guerriero’s reign,” asked Carroll. “President Bush saying the word ‘gay’ publicly or Patrick publicly supporting the president on any issue.”
BoiFromTroy, another popular gay Republican blogger, was more charitable.
“For the most part, I disagree with the criticism that Guerrero was more concerned about making nice with other gay groups than about advancing Republican policy objectives,” he wrote this week. “I do not believe that the two are mutually exclusive.
“The hiring of a new executive at Log Cabin gives the organization an opportunity to re-focus on why Republican values — like smaller government — are not antithetical to gay rights.”
Last year, Guerriero was accused of wrongful termination and sued by Dwight Lodge, the organization’s former chief operating officer. Lodge filed suit in D.C. Superior Court accusing Log Cabin of wrongfully firing him after he discovered what he says were unethical and perhaps illegal financial practices.
Lodge claimed that Guerriero was directly responsible for the alleged financial improprieties. He claimed that Guerriero fired him in retaliation for his decision to raise concerns about the group’s finances.
Craig Engle, an attorney representing Log Cabin, previously said the lawsuit “is without merit.” This week, Engle confirmed that the lawsuit was recently settled. He declined to discuss terms of the settlement. Guerriero this week denied his departure was related to the lawsuit.
Lodge declined to comment when reached this week.
New role reaches across party lines
When asked if his new position reaching across party lines would make the task of fighting for gay equality easier, Guerriero said there is no way to win at American politics without effective bipartisan policies.
“It’s cutting-edge work in the political and policy areas,” he said. “The work will be tough, but we’re turning a corner. When I came to the Log Cabin Republicans, we didn’t have the Lawrence decision that ended [the criminalization of] sodomy. Four years later, more Americans are on our side. The American people are moving fast to our side and American politicians need to catch up.”
Guerriero still has three months left with the Log Cabin Republicans, and it will be a busy summer. The organization will open new offices on Pennsylvania Avenue and continue its support of Republican allies who are facing voters this fall in a tough climate for GOP candidates.
The group will also work to defeat a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage that will be voted on next month by reaching out to Republican officials, senators and staff.
“We will focus our efforts on Republican senators we know are open-minded,” said Guerriero. “We will reach out to those who were formally with us in 2004 [when the Federal Marriage Amendment was defeated] and senators who expressed serious reservations about how the matter was handled by the states.”
When asked what the Log Cabin Republicans can do to attract gays to the Republican Party, Guerriero said the group will continue to strengthen chapters in conservative “red states.”
“There is a new generation of Republicans who are getting active in gay and lesbian advocacy,” he said. “That didn’t used to happen before. There is a civil war going as to where the party is headed. The conservatives are weighing in and saying the party needs to get back on course. The first lady [Laura Bush], the vice president [Dick Cheney], Mary Cheney and [former Republican Sen.] John Danforth have started to come out as conservatives against the marriage amendment.”
John Marble, communications director for the National Stonewall Democrats, said Guerriero has been a consensus builder at the Log Cabin Republicans. He said the Stonewall Democrats were happy to work with him on issues that crossed party lines.
“We worked together on the marriage amendment and made sure same-sex families were included in the government’s survivor benefits program after 9/11,” he said.
Log Cabin Chair Tim Schoeffler said the organization is “profoundly grateful” for Guerriero’s leadership.
“Patrick led the organization through unprecedented growth, including dozens of new chapters, thousands of new members and a 400 percent increase in our annual budget,” Schoeffler said in a statement. “We will miss him greatly, but we wish him the best of luck, and we look forward to working with him as executive director of Gill Action.”
From his first day on the job with the Log Cabin Republicans, Guerriero called for an end to the political infighting between gay organizations.
“Patrick has reached out extensively to Republicans and Democrats alike,” former Human Rights Campaign executive director Elizabeth Birch said this week. “He has been among the most principled leaders of our movement for equality.”
Josh Israel, president of the Virginia Partisans Gay & Lesbian Democratic Club, said that while his organization and the Log Cabin Republicans have differences of opinion over various issues, they have found opportunities to work together.
“I admire the fact that under Patrick Guerriero’s leadership they showed tremendous courage by saying they would no longer settle for so little,” said Israel. “They no longer support representatives like President Bush, who are Republican but no longer share the traditional Republican values of privacy, civil rights and inclusion that President Lincoln embodied.”
Israel said today’s Republican Party is not inclusive or welcoming and hopes the Log Cabin Republicans will continue to “demand more than just lip service from their leaders.”
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