The LCR has been around since the 1970s, yet “In Search of…Gay Repub-licans,” particularly elected ones, sounds like a topic for a Discovery Channel special. Even in California, the Congressional delegation, state assembly, senate and mayoral offices are devoid of LGBT Republicans. The highest ranking out, gay, elected Repub-lican representative can be found in his natural habitat of San Diego: Councilman Carl DeMaio.
As the LGBT Victory Fund preaches, there is “no substitute for having our own seats at the table.” Despite LCR reports that the GOP received 31% of the gay vote in 2010, the lack of LGBT power within the Republican Party is striking. As recently as 2006, the Republican controlled Congress allowed a vote on the Federal Amend-ment to ban same-sex marriage. Yet the Republicans of 2010 may provide an opportunity to make LGBT rights a more bi-partisan effort.
Those who scoff at engagement should remember that Lincoln’s Republicans were the original civil rights progressives. They ended slavery, and passed the 14th Amendment, a root of the constitutional argument for same-sex marriage. In the 1950s and 1960s, Democrats in the South presented the largest obstacle to civil rights legislation.
It was largely Ronald Reagan’s coalition of social and fiscal conservatives, as well as military hawks that cemented the Republican Party stance against LGBT rights. Beginning in the ’80s, the anti-gay Moral Majority provided much of the GOP’s energy and money. Despite Reagan’s philosophy that “the person who agrees with you 80% of the time is a friend,” Republican stances on HIV/AIDS, DADT, ENDA, hate crimes, local LGBT protections and same-sex unions were too much for many in the community to endure.
Recently, Reagan’s coalition has begun to unravel. With two active wars, Democrats and Republicans have often been indistinguishable on military issues. The economy has drowned out any discussion of the wedge issues that energize social conservatives, like LGBT rights. That left the fiscal conservatives, largely organized as the Tea Party, to support Republican electoral gains in 2010.
Some Tea Party members still consider the LGBT community a special interest group from which they need to “take back” America. But many Tea Partiers represent a more libertarian view of conservatism, wanting a smaller government that protects freedoms and gets out of the way. Where social conservatives tend to pick and choose where freedom applies (church = yes, bedroom = no), the libertarian wing rejects the bank bailout (TARP) and Obamacare with equal fervor.
Tea Party Congressmembers who want to keep their jobs will need to avoid or survive a Republican primary, and win a general election. Therein lies an opportunity for LGBT supporters. With President Obama on the ballot, 2012 will see more young, progressive and minority voters. His coattails will be a threat to newly elected Republicans, particularly the 61 from districts that voted for Obama in 2008. Some GOP Senators already see a benefit to a progressive stance on LGBT rights – 7 of the 8 Republican votes in favor of repealing DADT were from states won by President Obama.
The tougher sell will be that pro-equality stances won’t endanger Republicans in a primary. They must be convinced that there is as much money, and as many votes, on the side of equality. That will require the LGBT community to have more and louder voices WITHIN the Republican Party.
This is not to say that the entire LGBT community should re-register as Republicans. Those who do should not be labeled traitors. Similarly, our political leaders should reach out to Republican legislators. Progress with those elected in 2010 might also bring more established members into the fold. Groups like the Human Rights Campaign and the LGBT Victory Fund need community support when endorsing fair-minded candidates from both parties.
We must also generate ideas and arguments that speak to conservative thinking. Experts estimate that Proposition 8 cost California hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. Many business leaders have already enacted employment nondiscrimination, and support equality legislation. Love should be outside the reach of any government, federal or otherwise. Votes driven by these arguments count just as much as those driven by progressive ideology. Swaying Republican controlled legislatures may not prove easy, but it presents a chance to protect our rights by proving that pro-equality stances are tenable in both parties. Finding opportunity in adversity, turning lemons into lemonade, is the heart of fiscal and political success in America. If we can turn parts of the Tea Party into a Tea Dance, we may create long term bipartisan support for LGBT issues.
