The gay voter's guide to the GOP (Salon rates Republican candidates on "gay-friendliness")

How should a right-wing homosexual vote in the upcoming primaries and caucuses? ...Imagine this: You are a gay man or a lesbian woman who just can't stand Democrats.

What is a right-leaning homosexual to do in this presidential election? Start by taking a closer look at the candidates in the Republican field. There is substantial variation... Call it the Giuliani-Keyes Spectrum of Gay Friendliness. On one end, there is Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor who has lived with gay friends, favors gay domestic partnerships, and sometimes dresses in drag. At the other end, there is Alan Keyes, who calls lesbians "selfish hedonists," even though his only daughter is a lesbian. There exists... a rainbow of variation in between.

In service to the one in four gay voters who chose George Bush over John Kerry in 2004 ... Salon now presents its first ever Gay Guide to the Republican Candidates.

About a year before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Rudy Giuliani donned a wig and a dress so he could squeal with girlish delight when real estate mogul Donald Trump nuzzled his fake breasts. It was a harmless comedy sketch for the charity dinner of the Inner Circle of City Hall, a press club for New York City reporters. But the mayor's antics spoke directly to his notable comfort with all things gender-bending and socially liberal. A few months later, after his estranged second wife, Donna Hanover, kicked him out of the mayor's residence, he moved in with two close friends, a wealthy gay couple. According to one of the men, Howard Koeppel, Giuliani even agreed to marry the men "if they ever legalize gay marriage."

Duncan Hunter: The Straight Man

On the campaign trail, California Rep. Duncan Hunter boasts of having led the opposition to gays serving openly in the military. “I think it’s only because we have been able to resist that particular attempt that we have the very best military in the world today,” Hunter told the Values Voter Debate.

Hunter is among those few Republican candidates who advance the concept that homosexuality itself is immoral. To explain his opposition to ENDA, he says the Boy Scouts have a right to ban gay scout leaders. He is against hate-crime laws for sexual orientation and in favor of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. “Every American family should have the right to say it’s a matter of moral principle that we do not accept homosexual activity,” he said at the debate.

No ambiguity there!!

Does it really matter?

In the final throw down in November ‘07 libertarian and conservative homosexuals (I know that seems like an oxymoron) will vote Republican unless the candidate wishes to hunt them down and make their lives miserable.

I know of a few gay conservatives, for the most part they are very private and simply wish to be left alone by the government. They’d also like to keep their money in their pockets!

Many, or most, will vote with the Dems.

I don’t expect the ratios to be much different than they were last election.

Strong words indeed. But Romney's own paper record tells a different story. Back when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1994, he told the voters of Massachusetts that he would be a better leader for the gay community than his rival, incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy. "I am more convinced than ever before that as we seek to establish full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent," he wrote in a letter just before the election. In a debate with Kennedy, he said anyone should be able to participate in the Boy Scouts "regardless of sexual orientation." Back then, he supported adding sexual orientation to employment nondiscrimination laws. He called Don't Ask, Don't Tell the "first of a number of steps that will ultimately lead to gays and lesbians being able to serve openly and honestly in our nation's military." As recently as 2002, his campaign distributed a pink flier to celebrate Pride Weekend. "All citizens deserve equal rights regardless of their sexual preference," the flier read.

Mitt, to the Left of Teddy Kennedy of Gay issues.

To repost a reply to a discussion on morals:

The problem with that is Socialism and Morality are incompatible.
s
In Socialism, the groupthink enslaves, warps and strangles the individual spirit. Perverting it’s expression into darker forms until it can break free again.

Morality is the human spirit recognizing the hard learned lessons of man’s folly, and then choosing to do the right thing, and following an affirming path to continuing healthy and prosperous life. Morals are not “made up rules”. They are guides to avoid setting into motion destructive chain reactions. It’s why they call them morality plays. Because they teach, illustrate, and reaffirm lessons learned.

So when the age old moral against homosexuality that runs throughout history is trotted out..it’s not just because some people decided it was “icky”, It’s because in every society that allowed it to flourish, it contributed to the inevitable destruction of that society and in particular those who engaged in it. It is a a biological as well as a societal disease.

__________________________________________

“There are other ways we raise kids, and that’s fine — single moms, grandparents raising kids, gay couples raising kids,” he said at a high school in Concord, N.H., in June. “That’s the American way to have people have their freedom of choice.”

The Romney record on these issues is such a muddle that his performance in the White House is difficult to predict. On the one hand, he is clearly willing to exploit the culture war for political ends and make common cause with those parts of the Republican Party most opposed to homosexual rights. He has also reversed his positions on several major issues, like gays in the military and employment discrimination, when there was a political advantage to be gained. On the other hand, his history on the issues suggests that the ties to his new friends do not run deep. “If people are looking for people who are anti-gay, they aren’t going to find that with me,” he said at one stop in Iowa this year. “But I am going to fight to protect traditional marriage.”

THIS SHOULD BE HIGHLIGHTED: MITT ROMNEY is (A WOLF):

Mitt Romney: The Switch-Hitter

This is a tough guy to figure out. More than any other top-tier Republican, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been running aggressively as the best candidate to protect the “traditional family” from the onslaught of gay and lesbian marriage. Back in 2005, Romney traveled to South Carolina to make his case. “Today same-sex couples are marrying under the law in Massachusetts,” he warned a Republican crowd. “Some are actually having children born to them. We’ve been asked to change their birth certificates to remove the phrase ‘Mother and Father,’ and replace it with ‘Parent A and Parent B.’ It’s not right on paper. It’s not right in fact. Every child has a right to a mother and a father.”

Strong words indeed. But Romney’s own paper record tells a different story. Back when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1994, he told the voters of Massachusetts that he would be a better leader for the gay community than his rival, incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy. “I am more convinced than ever before that as we seek to establish full equality for America’s gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent,” he wrote in a letter just before the election. In a debate with Kennedy, he said anyone should be able to participate in the Boy Scouts “regardless of sexual orientation.” Back then, he supported adding sexual orientation to employment nondiscrimination laws. He called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell the “first of a number of steps that will ultimately lead to gays and lesbians being able to serve openly and honestly in our nation’s military.” As recently as 2002, his campaign distributed a pink flier to celebrate Pride Weekend. “All citizens deserve equal rights regardless of their sexual preference,” the flier read.

In more recent years, he has become one of the nation’s most public supporters of amending the Constitution to ban gay marriage, even testifying before Congress on the issue. He has come out against ENDA and announced that he supports the current military policy as it stands.

In other areas, he has not completely reversed himself. In recent interviews, he has defended his appointment of gay judges as governor and maintained that he supports contractual domestic partnership benefits for gay couples. “There are other ways we raise kids, and that’s fine — single moms, grandparents raising kids, gay couples raising kids,” he said at a high school in Concord, N.H., in June. “That’s the American way to have people have their freedom of choice.”

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