Nov 28, 2008  |  By: CHRIS SCALISE  | COMMENTS     

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY did not have a very good November. Nationally, the Democrats increased their majorities in Congress and won back the White House. Locally, the Republican candidates for D.C. City Council lost their races, meaning that the party will have no representation on the Council for at least the next two years.

But every cloud has its silver lining and my Republican friends and I — Log Cabin and otherwise — see a bright future ahead of us because November’s elections will ultimately help the party rediscover its unifying core principles, instead of focusing on divisive social issues. 

Concepts such as “small government” and “low taxes” are certainly staples of Republican rhetoric, but I’m thinking of principles that are even more foundational. These are the principles that helped Ronald Reagan win 49 states and a huge governing coalition in 1980s, and they are the principles by which the Republican Party can again become the majority party. And it’s a good time to be a gay Republican, because these are principles that have appeal regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, economic level or any other demographic.

What core principles of the Republican Party am I writing about? Ideas like these:

• Each and every individual has inherent dignity as a human being and should have the opportunity to achieve success in life.

• The role of the government is to create the conditions for that equal opportunity — not put obstacles up along the way. As Sen. John McCain put it, government should “stand on your side, not in your way.”

• You and I are best equipped to decide what is best for us and for our families.

• The government has the responsibility to take and spend citizen’s money with the utmost prudence and discretion.

I HAVE OTHER reasons to feel good about being gay and Republican. First, look at the national picture and the progress we’ve made this year:

• 75 percent of Log Cabin’s endorsed candidates for the U.S. House and Senate won their races.

• McCain received 1.3 million votes from gay and lesbian votes (27 percent of the LGBT vote compared with 23 percent for President Bush four years ago), more than any Republican presidential candidate in history.

• McCain ran an inclusive campaign asking for gay votes and avoiding the wedge issue politics that President Bush used to win re-election four years ago.

• The Blade interviewed McCain during the campaign, the first time ever a Republican presidential nominee spoke with a gay newspaper. He expressed a willingness to support federal employment protections for gay and lesbian people.

• Top McCain campaign advisers spoke at Log Cabin events during the Republican National Convention — an event that marked the first time the RNC officially credentialed Log Cabin. 

• For the first time ever, the Republican candidate’s campaign manager addressed the Log Cabin Republicans, promising McCain would be an inclusive leader for our nation. 

• Increasing numbers of Republicans support basic fairness for gay and lesbian people: 64 percent support gays and lesbians serving openly in the military (up from 32 percent 15 years ago) and almost 80 percent of Republicans don’t think someone should be fired because of their sexual orientation.
  
WE DON’T AGREE with McCain on every issue, but compared to 2004, these snapshots represent seismic changes in how the GOP treats gay and lesbian supporters. The use of wedge issue politics popularized by Karl Rove and company is a thing of the past. 

I have even greater reason to feel optimistic being a Republican in D.C. Log Cabin’s D.C. chapter endorsed two bright, visionary, young candidates for City Council this fall — Patrick Mara and Christina Culver. The D.C. Republican Party chair, Robert Kabel, is the only openly gay Republican state party chair in the country, and he has recruited candidates who could speak to gay and straight voters alike.

I am confident the core principles that I described above appeal to even more than the 27 percent of LGBT voters who supported McCain, so I invite Blade readers who are not Republican to reconsider their affiliation and help us make the party better.  I look forward to the day when it’s not just good to be gay and Republican, but great: the day our blue city shifts to purple or even — dare I say it — turns red.