The LRC is the largest Gay political group on the Right, located in all 50 states. There are some 4 million gay voters, and the majority (70%) voted Democrat in 2000 (66%-1996, 72%-1992). The gay voting block in America is the same size as the Jewish voter block.

Log Cabin Barred from Texas Party Convention Friday, 14 April 2000

HOUSTON -- A day before a group of gay Republicans prepared to meet with Texas Gov. George W. Bush in Austin, Texas GOP Chairman Susan Weddington told the Houston Chronicle Wednesday that the Log Cabin Republicans would again be prevented from taking a booth at the state convention this year.

Weddington denied that the state party's stance on Log Cabin Republicans did not contradict Bush's call for inclusiveness, describing the gay advocacy group's exclusion as a "business decision" dictated by exhibit area space constraints. Curiously, however, she also said that any private group had the right to choose its partners.

"They are not going to be denied access to be part of the substantive debate," Weddington said of gay Republicans. "The expectation that we set is that the tone will be respectful."

"We are working to resolve this situation with the Republican Party of Texas right now," Steve Labinski, president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas, told the Chronicle. "No one wants to make George W. Bush look bad, so I'm confident we all can find a solution that everyone is happy with."

Labinski said his group would like to have a booth at the convention but has not formally asked for space yet. "We don't want to be excluded from the party. We want to be treated like any other organization," he said. "If there's a rule that means we can't have a booth, we'll figure out something."

Chairman Weddington said Log Cabin isn't eligible to rent a booth during the June convention because of a new policy enacted by the state GOP executive committee. The new rule bars any group that has filed a lawsuit against the party demanding access to the 1998 convention.

Weddington acknowledged that only one other lawsuit has been filed by a potential booth occupant -- a vendor involved in a payment dispute. She denied the "no lawsuit" rule was designed to bar the Log Cabin group from the exhibition hall. "If you have people who have been litigious, they're not going to be on your invitation list," she said.

"This was actually an effort to be pre-responsible for expressing the will of the Republican Party through its elected governing board ... to set some standards of what they want their convention to be. We're paying for the convention."

In June 1998, openly gay Republican delegates and alternates to the Texas Republican Convention rallied with their supporters outside the Ft. Worth convention center protesting their exclusion from the state party convention.

Protestors were met at the "Rally for Liberty" by aggressive and hostile counter-demonstrators who held anti-gay placards too obscene for television stations to broadcast. The counter-demonstrators also sought to disrupt and drown out speakers onstage who read statements of support from leading Republicans around the country.

DALLAS -- The Dallas Observer published an extensive profile of the Texas chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans this week, detailing the group's struggle to gain political allies among hostile state Republicans and often equally hostile gay and lesbian Texans.

"The party believes that the practice of sodomy, which is illegal in Texas, tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous communicable diseases."

The platform goes on to say that "homosexuality should not be presented as an acceptable 'alternative' lifestyle in our public education and policy. We are opposed to any granting of special legal entitlements, recognition or privileges, including, but not limited to, marriage between persons of the same sex, custody or adoption of children, spousal [partner] insurance, or retirement benefits."

DALLAS -- The Dallas Morning News reports 200 gay and lesbian Republicans closed a weekend conference in Dallas on Sunday determined to fight the tide of anti-gay sentiment that has swept through the national party and to prevent the GOP from becoming a "theocracy."

"This convention has been extraordinary," Log Cabin Republican board of directors member Abner Mason told the Morning News. "It's been an inspiration."

Mason told the San Francisco Chronicle, also on hand covering the event, the Republican Party had been taken over by "people who don't share traditional Republican values, who don't believe in individual rights and who don't respect the party's role of keeping government out of people's lives."

Two protesters stood outside the entrance of the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, alerting pedestrians to the gay gathering inside. The Chronicle reports one of the protesters identified himself as the "most holy, roly-poly Reverend Flip Benham," of Operation Rescue. The group recently expanded its anti-abortion mission to include protests against gay rights.

They threw me out," Benham complained, referring to the Log Cabin group. Benham told the Chronicle he attended the Log Cabin's opening reception on Saturday shouting passages from the Bible. When he attempted to enter the convention area the following day, he was removed by hotel security.

One of the meeting's high points was the debut presentation of a 14-minute video, On the Front Lines. The video depicts a demonstration staged by Log Cabin members outside the Texas GOP's annual convention last June which was beset upon by frequently violent Republican counter-demonstrators -- many of whom were party delegates.

Log Cabin members insist more is at stake than merely the fate the Republican Party. Mason told the Chronicle that while he respects the right of religious conservatives to express their concerns, "they are trying to use the Republican Party to bring about a theocracy. I see my work in the Log Cabin not only as defending the party, but defending traditional American values, because I don't think a theocracy was what this country was ever intended to be."

The list of speakers addressing convention delegates included University of California Regent Ward Connerly, conservative pundit Arianna Huffington and former New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan. All three issued blistering attacks on party members and leaders for the torrent of anti-gay invective that has been streaming from the GOP over the past several months.

DALLAS -- The San Francisco Chronicle reports the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group, has chosen Dallas for the location for this year's national convention.

Dallas was the location of the Texas GOP state convention in June. The Log Cabin Republicans, owing to their advocacy of civil rights for gay men and women, were denied a booth at the Texas GOP's state convention and set upon by an angry mob of counter-protestors, many of them party delegates.

Explaining the state leadership decision, Texas Republican Party spokesman, Robert Black, called the Log Cabin Republicans a "hate" group, labeling its views "deviant" and "anti-family." Black compared them to the Ku Klux Klan and denied the organization floor space at the state party convention. "We don't allow pedophiles, transvestites and cross-dressers, either," he was quoted as saying.

"Being a gay Republican in Texas is a little like being a black Democrat in Mississippi in the 1950s," Dale Carpenter, Texas director of the Log Cabin Republicans told the Chronicle. "You're involved in a party that doesn't really want you, where you're excluded, discriminated against, segregated."

Asked to explain their allegiance to a party dominated by people categorically opposed to their political and social agenda -- if not their very existence -- Log Cabin Executive Director Rich Tafel said he would not be "driven out" by a party he calls his own.

"We really view Texas as the frontlines of the gay movement," Tafel said. "It's important for the gay community, in general, that gay Republicans stay and fight because that's the frontlines, that's where the battles are taking place."

The Chronicle reports that for the first time, Republican National Committee chairman Jim Nicholson has agreed to meet with the Log Cabin Republicans. Political analysts say Nicholson's move reflects growing Republican unease with the tone of the conservative crusade against gay men and women.

"A tone of intolerance and exclusion plays very badly in today's America," Republican party spokesman Mike Collins told the Chronicle. "Only somebody with a political tin ear would think that you improve your position by gay bashing or anyone-else bashing," he said. "Every time you have this sort of 'we want to tell you how to run your life' behavior, it makes it harder for Republicans in the Northeast and Midwest to gain ground." The LRC is the largest Gay political group on the Right, located in all 50 states. There are some 4 million gay voters, and the majority (70%) voted Democrat in 2000 (66%-1996, 72%-1992). The gay voting block in America is the same size as the Jewish voter block.

Log Cabin Barred from Texas Party Convention Friday, 14 April 2000 HOUSTON -- A day befor

e a group of gay Republicans prepared to meet with Texas Gov. George W. Bush in Austin, Texas GOP Chairman Susan Weddington told the Houston Chronicle Wednesday that the Log Cabin Republicans would again be prevented from taking a booth at the state convention this year.

Weddington denied that the state party's stance on Log Cabin Republicans did not contradict Bush's call for inclusiveness, describing the gay advocacy group's exclusion as a "business decision" dictated by exhibit area space constraints. Curiously, however, she also said that any private group had the right to choose its partners.

"They are not going to be denied access to be part of the substantive debate," Weddington said of gay Republicans. "The expectation that we set is that the tone will be respectful."

"We are working to resolve this situation with the Republican Party of Texas right now," Steve Labinski, president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas, told the Chronicle. "No one wants to make George W. Bush look bad, so I'm confident we all can find a solution that everyone is happy with."

Labinski said his group would like to have a booth at the convention but has not formally asked for space yet. "We don't want to be excluded from the party. We want to be treated like any other organization," he said. "If there's a rule that means we can't have a booth, we'll figure out something."

Chairman Weddington said Log Cabin isn't eligible to rent a booth during the June convention because of a new policy enacted by the state GOP executive committee. The new rule bars any group that has filed a lawsuit against the party demanding access to the 1998 convention.

Weddington acknowledged that only one other lawsuit has been filed by a potential booth occupant -- a vendor involved in a payment dispute. She denied the "no lawsuit" rule was designed to bar the Log Cabin group from the exhibition hall. "If you have people who have been litigious, they're not going to be on your invitation list," she said.

"This was actually an effort to be pre-responsible for expressing the will of the Republican Party through its elected governing board ... to set some standards of what they want their convention to be. We're paying for the convention."

In June 1998, openly gay Republican delegates and alternates to the Texas Republican Convention rallied with their supporters outside the Ft. Worth convention center protesting their exclusion from the state party convention.

Protestors were met at the "Rally for Liberty" by aggressive and hostile counter-demonstrators who held anti-gay placards too obscene for television stations to broadcast. The counter-demonstrators also sought to disrupt and drown out speakers onstage who read statements of support from leading Republicans around the country.

Lonely Battle for Gay Republicans in Texas Friday, 4 September 1998

DALLAS -- The Dallas Observer published an extensive profile of the Texas chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans this week, detailing the group's struggle to gain political allies among hostile state Republicans and often equally hostile gay and lesbian Texans.

"The party believes that the practice of sodomy, which is illegal in Texas, tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous communicable diseases."

The platform goes on to say that "homosexuality should not be presented as an acceptable 'alternative' lifestyle in our public education and policy. We are opposed to any granting of special legal entitlements, recognition or privileges, including, but not limited to, marriage between persons of the same sex, custody or adoption of children, spousal [partner] insurance, or retirement benefits."

DALLAS -- The Dallas Morning News reports 200 gay and lesbian Republicans closed a weekend conference in Dallas on Sunday determined to fight the tide of anti-gay sentiment that has swept through the national party and to prevent the GOP from becoming a "theocracy."

"This convention has been extraordinary," Log Cabin Republican board of directors member Abner Mason told the Morning News. "It's been an inspiration."

Mason told the San Francisco Chronicle, also on hand covering the event, the Republican Party had been taken over by "people who don't share traditional Republican values, who don't believe in individual rights and who don't respect the party's role of keeping government out of people's lives."

Two protesters stood outside the entrance of the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, alerting pedestrians to the gay gathering inside. The Chronicle reports one of the protesters identified himself as the "most holy, roly-poly Reverend Flip Benham," of Operation Rescue. The group recently expanded its anti-abortion mission to include protests against gay rights.

They threw me out," Benham complained, referring to the Log Cabin group. Benham told the Chronicle he attended the Log Cabin's opening reception on Saturday shouting passages from the Bible. When he attempted to enter the convention area the following day, he was removed by hotel security.

One of the meeting's high points was the debut presentation of a 14-minute video, On the Front Lines. The video depicts a demonstration staged by Log Cabin members outside the Texas GOP's annual convention last June which was beset upon by frequently violent Republican counter-demonstrators -- many of whom were party delegates.

Log Cabin members insist more is at stake than merely the fate the Republican Party. Mason told the Chronicle that while he respects the right of religious conservatives to express their concerns, "they are trying to use the Republican Party to bring about a theocracy. I see my work in the Log Cabin not only as defending the party, but defending traditional American values, because I don't think a theocracy was what this country was ever intended to be."

The list of speakers addressing convention delegates included University of California Regent Ward Connerly, conservative pundit Arianna Huffington and former New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan. All three issued blistering attacks on party members and leaders for the torrent of anti-gay invective that has been streaming from the GOP over the past several months.

DALLAS -- The San Francisco Chronicle reports the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group, has chosen Dallas for the location for this year's national convention.

Dallas was the location of the Texas GOP state convention in June. The Log Cabin Republicans, owing to their advocacy of civil rights for gay men and women, were denied a booth at the Texas GOP's state convention and set upon by an angry mob of counter-protestors, many of them party delegates.

Explaining the state leadership decision, Texas Republican Party spokesman, Robert Black, called the Log Cabin Republicans a "hate" group, labeling its views "deviant" and "anti-family." Black compared them to the Ku Klux Klan and denied the organization floor space at the state party convention. "We don't allow pedophiles, transvestites and cross-dressers, either," he was quoted as saying.

"Being a gay Republican in Texas is a little like being a black Democrat in Mississippi in the 1950s," Dale Carpenter, Texas director of the Log Cabin Republicans told the Chronicle. "You're involved in a party that doesn't really want you, where you're excluded, discriminated against, segregated."

Asked to explain their allegiance to a party dominated by people categorically opposed to their political and social agenda -- if not their very existence -- Log Cabin Executive Director Rich Tafel said he would not be "driven out" by a party he calls his own.

"We really view Texas as the frontlines of the gay movement," Tafel said. "It's important for the gay community, in general, that gay Republicans stay and fight because that's the frontlines, that's where the battles are taking place."

The Chronicle reports that for the first time, Republican National Committee chairman Jim Nicholson has agreed to meet with the Log Cabin Republicans. Political analysts say Nicholson's move reflects growing Republican unease with the tone of the conservative crusade against gay men and women.

"A tone of intolerance and exclusion plays very badly in today's America," Republican party spokesman Mike Collins told the Chronicle. "Only somebody with a political tin ear would think that you improve your position by gay bashing or anyone-else bashing," he said. "Every time you have this sort of 'we want to tell you how to run your life' behavior, it makes it harder for Republicans in the Northeast and Midwest to gain ground." The LRC is the largest Gay political group on the Right, located in all 50 states. There are some 4 million gay voters, and the majority (70%) voted Democrat in 2000 (66%-1996, 72%-1992). The gay voting block in America is the same size as the Jewish voter block.

HOUSTON -- A day before a group of gay Republicans prepared to meet with Texas Gov. George W. Bush in Austin, Texas GOP Chairman Susan Weddington told the Houston Chronicle Wednesday that the Log Cabin Republicans would again be prevented from taking a booth at the state convention this year.

Weddington denied that the state party's stance on Log Cabin Republicans did not contradict Bush's call for inclusiveness, describing the gay advocacy group's exclusion as a "business decision" dictated by exhibit area space constraints. Curiously, however, she also said that any private group had the right to choose its partners.

"They are not going to be denied access to be part of the substantive debate," Weddington said of gay Republicans. "The expectation that we set is that the tone will be respectful."

"We are working to resolve this situation with the Republican Party of Texas right now," Steve Labinski, president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas, told the Chronicle. "No one wants to make George W. Bush look bad, so I'm confident we all can find a solution that everyone is happy with."

Labinski said his group would like to have a booth at the convention but has not formally asked for space yet. "We don't want to be excluded from the party. We want to be treated like any other organization," he said. "If there's a rule that means we can't have a booth, we'll figure out something."

Chairman Weddington said Log Cabin isn't eligible to rent a booth during the June convention because of a new policy enacted by the state GOP executive committee. The new rule bars any group that has filed a lawsuit against the party demanding access to the 1998 convention.

Weddington acknowledged that only one other lawsuit has been filed by a potential booth occupant -- a vendor involved in a payment dispute. She denied the "no lawsuit" rule was designed to bar the Log Cabin group from the exhibition hall. "If you have people who have been litigious, they're not going to be on your invitation list," she said.

"This was actually an effort to be pre-responsible for expressing the will of the Republican Party through its elected governing board ... to set some standards of what they want their convention to be. We're paying for the convention."

In June 1998, openly gay Republican delegates and alternates to the Texas Republican Convention rallied with their supporters outside the Ft. Worth convention center protesting their exclusion from the state party convention.

Protestors were met at the "Rally for Liberty" by aggressive and hostile counter-demonstrators who held anti-gay placards too obscene for television stations to broadcast. The counter-demonstrators also sought to disrupt and drown out speakers onstage who read statements of support from leading Republicans around the country.

Lonely Battle for Gay Republicans in Texas Friday, 4 September 1998

DALLAS -- The Dallas Observer published an extensive profile of the Texas chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans this week, detailing the group's struggle to gain political allies among hostile state Republicans and often equally hostile gay and lesbian Texans.

"The party believes that the practice of sodomy, which is illegal in Texas, tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous communicable diseases."

The platform goes on to say that "homosexuality should not be presented as an acceptable 'alternative' lifestyle in our public education and policy. We are opposed to any granting of special legal entitlements, recognition or privileges, including, but not limited to, marriage between persons of the same sex, custody or adoption of children, spousal [partner] insurance, or retirement benefits."

DALLAS -- The Dallas Morning News reports 200 gay and lesbian Republicans closed a weekend conference in Dallas on Sunday determined to fight the tide of anti-gay sentiment that has swept through the national party and to prevent the GOP from becoming a "theocracy."

"This convention has been extraordinary," Log Cabin Republican board of directors member Abner Mason told the Morning News. "It's been an inspiration."

Mason told the San Francisco Chronicle, also on hand covering the event, the Republican Party had been taken over by "people who don't share traditional Republican values, who don't believe in individual rights and who don't respect the party's role of keeping government out of people's lives."

Two protesters stood outside the entrance of the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, alerting pedestrians to the gay gathering inside. The Chronicle reports one of the protesters identified himself as the "most holy, roly-poly Reverend Flip Benham," of Operation Rescue. The group recently expanded its anti-abortion mission to include protests against gay rights.

They threw me out," Benham complained, referring to the Log Cabin group. Benham told the Chronicle he attended the Log Cabin's opening reception on Saturday shouting passages from the Bible. When he attempted to enter the convention area the following day, he was removed by hotel security.

One of the meeting's high points was the debut presentation of a 14-minute video, On the Front Lines. The video depicts a demonstration staged by Log Cabin members outside the Texas GOP's annual convention last June which was beset upon by frequently violent Republican counter-demonstrators -- many of whom were party delegates.

Log Cabin members insist more is at stake than merely the fate the Republican Party. Mason told the Chronicle that while he respects the right of religious conservatives to express their concerns, "they are trying to use the Republican Party to bring about a theocracy. I see my work in the Log Cabin not only as defending the party, but defending traditional American values, because I don't think a theocracy was what this country was ever intended to be."

The list of speakers addressing convention delegates included University of California Regent Ward Connerly, conservative pundit Arianna Huffington and former New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan. All three issued blistering attacks on party members and leaders for the torrent of anti-gay invective that has been streaming from the GOP over the past several months.

DALLAS -- The San Francisco Chronicle reports the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group, has chosen Dallas for the location for this year's national convention.

Dallas was the location of the Texas GOP state convention in June. The Log Cabin Republicans, owing to their advocacy of civil rights for gay men and women, were denied a booth at the Texas GOP's state convention and set upon by an angry mob of counter-protestors, many of them party delegates.

Explaining the state leadership decision, Texas Republican Party spokesman, Robert Black, called the Log Cabin Republicans a "hate" group, labeling its views "deviant" and "anti-family." Black compared them to the Ku Klux Klan and denied the organization floor space at the state party convention. "We don't allow pedophiles, transvestites and cross-dressers, either," he was quoted as saying.

"Being a gay Republican in Texas is a little like being a black Democrat in Mississippi in the 1950s," Dale Carpenter, Texas director of the Log Cabin Republicans told the Chronicle. "You're involved in a party that doesn't really want you, where you're excluded, discriminated against, segregated."

Asked to explain their allegiance to a party dominated by people categorically opposed to their political and social agenda -- if not their very existence -- Log Cabin Executive Director Rich Tafel said he would not be "driven out" by a party he calls his own.

"We really view Texas as the frontlines of the gay movement," Tafel said. "It's important for the gay community, in general, that gay Republicans stay and fight because that's the frontlines, that's where the battles are taking place."

The Chronicle reports that for the first time, Republican National Committee chairman Jim Nicholson has agreed to meet with the Log Cabin Republicans. Political analysts say Nicholson's move reflects growing Republican unease with the tone of the conservative crusade against gay men and women.

"A tone of intolerance and exclusion plays very badly in today's America," Republican party spokesman Mike Collins told the Chronicle. "Only somebody with a political tin ear would think that you improve your position by gay bashing or anyone-else bashing," he said. "Every time you have this sort of 'we want to tell you how to run your life' behavior, it makes it harder for Republicans in the Northeast and Midwest to gain ground."