Dear Candidate Faulconer:
This second part of my open letter to you was to be focused on how you should break with your Republican Party with respect to LGBT civil rights. Events over the last couple of weeks have made me expand the focus of this letter.
First, the Duck Dynasty controversy revealed the true tenor of your party. Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and Bobby Jindal, national leaders of your party, defended Phil Robertson’s right to say this:
“It seems like, to me, a vagina – as a man – would be more desirable than a man’s anus,” Robertson told GQ. “That’s just me. I’m just thinking: there’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: it’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.
“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong. Sin becomes fine. Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there; bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men. Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers – they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”
The response of the LGBT Log Cabin Republicans, the organization which is led by Susan Jester in San Diego, said:
“What Phil Robertson’s comments highlight is the need to engage the evangelical Christian community on the importance of gay acceptance. The knee-jerk reaction from the left shows that their strategy to engage evangelicals is to ignore them or shout them down, but that’s no way to win allies. Rather than see this controversy as the potential end of a career, it should be the start of a conversation – one that’s been long overdue between the evangelical and the gay communities. In the spirit of the Christmas season, let’s remember to love our neighbor.”
Yeah, Mr. Robertson really loved me as his neighbor. He continued to say that my mother was happy under Jim Crow laws, which made her use separate bathroom facilities to keep her away from white people. A conversation with evangelicals? The LGBT community has reached out to evangelicals countless times and the end result is the same; many evangelicals hate homosexuals.
The day the Log Cabin Republican statement was issued, you were walking the neighborhood of Hillcrest with Susan Jester. Let me assure you, the twelve people who belong to the San Diego Log Cabin Republicans do not represent the broader LGBT community. In contrast, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy group, and the NAACP wrote a letter to A&E; here are the first two paragraphs:
“As leaders of the nation’s premier civil rights organizations for African Americans and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans, we’re writing to express our outrage and deep concern about the recent racist, homophobic and ill-informed remarks made by Phil Robertson, a cast member on your network’s show Duck Dynasty. As you may know, Phil attacked both African Americans and LGBT people in a recent GQ interview (January 2014) – saying that African Americans were happier under Jim Crow laws, and equating being gay with bestiality and promiscuity.
“These remarks go beyond being outlandishly inaccurate and offensive. They are dangerous and revisionist, appealing to those in our society who wish to repeat patterns of discrimination. We urge A+E to immediately denounce and repudiate Robertson’s comments. Furthermore, we call on you to see that Phil Robertson apologizes for his vitriolic comments. Surely a brand like A+E does not want to be associated with such racist and homophobic remarks.”
The difference between the two responses highlights the challenges the Republican Party has with the LGBT community. I had the pleasure of being at the intersection of Mr. Robertson’s rants; I’m African American and gay. That’s why it is imperative for you to step forward and tell your party that Kevin Faulconer supports LGBT equality. No one in your party will step forward to defend the racist remarks, but it is still OK to defend the homophobic rant by wrapping it in the defense of Robertson’s faith. Many faithful use to say my skin color was the mark of Cain, the first murderer in the Bible. I don’t think anyone would say that in 2014. Robertson’s views are fine in some churches, but not the public square or the workplace.
I have a drafted a letter that the LGBT community would be ecstatic for you to send to the Republican Party national leaders about our civil rights. It is available below this message. I invite you to read it and send it.
Stampp Corbin
Publisher
San Diego LGBT Weekly
Letter Kevin Faulconer should send to Republican Leaders:
Dear Honorable Mitch McConnell, Honorable John Boehner and Honorable Eric Cantor:
As you may know, I am a candidate for mayor of the City of San Diego. As a Republican, I want to express my dismay with the national platform that attempts to make lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans second-class citizens.
While some within our party, due to their faith, believe that homosexuality is a sin, their religious opinions are simply that, religious beliefs. I fundamentally support anyone’s ability to believe what they want; I do not support the “tyranny of the majority.” If I subscribed to the ability of the majority to decide, it is questionable whether African Americans would have achieved legislative equal rights in 1964.
The Republican Party collectively cringes when we see footage of our members standing in the doorways of schools to prevent integration in the 1950s and 60s. I want to tell you that the same level of embarrassment will happen by the year 2020 with respect to LGBT rights.
I stand with the LGBT community of my city, state and the nation to say they deserve equality. My state is a leader in providing equal rights for the LGBT community and I wish my party would do the same. For us to remain relevant to the younger, as well as independent voter, we should support LGBT civil rights. Besides, it’s simply the right thing to do.
So please support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which provides employment protections for the LGBT community. Everyone deserves the right to work. Also, stop attacking the LGBT community as sinners and preventing their ability to marry the person they love. Remember; love your neighbor as thyself.
I am repudiating the distasteful speech and beliefs of some in our national party. 17 states now have same-sex marriage and the world has not come to an end. Just like it didn’t end when African Americans could marry white people, or when African Americans began sharing bathrooms and schools with us.
The nation has moved forward and LGBT equality is the civil rights struggle of our time. Let’s get on the right side of history this time.
Sincerely,
Kevin Faulconer
