Jun 27, 2008  |  By: KEVIN NAFF  | COMMENTS     

WHATEVER YOU THINK of gay Republicans, there’s no denying they are a tough and resilient breed.

They get no respect from gay Democrats, many of whom find it unconscionable that a gay person could vote for the GOP. Like it or not, about a quarter of gay voters did just that in 2000 and again in 2004, after President Bush’s very public support of the Federal Marriage Amendment.

And they are not always welcome under their own party’s tent because they are at odds with many conservatives over marriage and other issues. But after the Log Cabin Republicans withheld its endorsement of President Bush in 2004 — a commendable move given Bush’s anti-gay record — things got really ugly.

Four years ago, sources familiar with Log Cabin told the Blade that a small but influential group of gay Republicans believed that then-president Patrick Guerriero had gone too far in criticizing Bush in TV appearances. The sources, who spoke on condition that their identities be withheld, said Guerriero and his top lieutenant, political director Christopher Barron, “aided and abetted” Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry by attacking Bush in the media.

Anonymous e-mail messages were circulated, claiming that Barron “worked” for Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards, before joining Log Cabin. Barron said he supported Edwards’ 1998 Senate campaign as a Republican when Edwards challenged an anti-gay Republican incumbent.

Then Log Cabin filed suit in federal court against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in a bid to overturn the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. That move only fueled claims that Guerriero had exceeded his mandate in criticizing the Bush administration.

“First they’re opposing the president,” one Log Cabin source told the Blade in 2004. “Now they’re suing Donald Rumsfeld. What exactly are they doing that’s pro-Republican?”

Gay Republican activist Carl Schmid said at the time that Guerriero had been “a little too strident” in attacking Bush and that “it will be tough for Patrick, especially if Bush wins.”

Bush, of course, won and despite the controversy, the Log Cabin board renewed Guerriero’s contract. He later left the organization to join the Gill Action Fund.

THAT WAS THEN and this is 2008, when the GOP is poised to nominate a senator who took to the Senate floor to publicly break with the president and oppose the FMA. The federal amendment was Log Cabin’s “line in the sand,” which Sen. John McCain did not cross, despite his support for state amendments banning gay marriage, including in his home state of Arizona. That amendment was so extreme that it remains the only such measure to be defeated.

Those who expect Log Cabin officials to repeat their non-endorsement of 2004 will likely be disappointed this year. That move upset some conservative members and didn’t exactly win them any friends in the White House.

This time around, there will be immense pressure to support a Republican candidate who opposed the FMA and whose public statements on gay issues are more moderate than Bush’s. McCain, for example, would likely not threaten to veto the entire Defense Department reauthorization bill simply because it contained an amendment expanding the federal hate crimes law to include sexual orientation, as Bush did.

Supporting McCain will appease some, while riling others. But backing McCain risks prolonging Log Cabin’s time in the political wilderness if Barack Obama wins. And judging by some recent polls, 2008 could mark a dramatic reworking of the electoral map, with Obama poised to win a convincing, if not landslide, victory in November.

Once solidly red states are looking mighty purple this year. Consider Virginia, Colorado and New Mexico, to name just three. In Virginia, a state that Bush carried by eight points in 2004, Obama leads McCain by an astounding seven points according to a May SurveyUSA poll. And the Senate race there will only help Obama. The popular former Gov. Mark Warner (D) is running against former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R), whose economic stewardship of the state was widely viewed as disastrous.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, a recent Rasmussen poll shows Obama holding a six-point lead in a state where Bush beat Kerry by five points. It’s no coincidence that the DNC picked Denver to host this year’s Democratic National Convention.

And in New Mexico, where Bush eked out a one-point margin of victory over Kerry in 2004, Obama leads McCain by ...