The GOP's dilemma: Winning over gay rights advocates could mean losing part of its base (RINO ALERT)

The Washington Post ^ | 2010-09-28 | Perry Bacon Jr.

[rabscuttle385]

When Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) agreed to attend a fundraising dinner in Washington for the Log Cabin Republicans, many social conservatives were outraged. The group has long urged the GOP to be more accepting of gay rights, and some Republicans worried that the appearance by Cornyn, a party leader in Congress, would further legitimize its views.

The senator not only attended the Log Cabin event at the Capitol Hill Club last Wednesday, he also accepted an award from the group, becoming the highest-ranking Republican to do so. After his speech, though, the group's president, R. Clarke Cooper, privately told Cornyn he still wanted him to back a repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," the policy that bans openly gay people from serving in the military. A day earlier, Cornyn, joined by 40 other Senate Republicans, had blocked a Democratic-pushed bill that would have changed the policy.

The strong views from both sides that Cornyn faced illustrated the complicated politics of gay rights for the GOP. As polls show that growing numbers of Americans back greater rights for gay men and lesbians, some well-known Republican figures, such as former party chairman Ken Mehlman,who recently came out, are calling for the party to shift its stances on such issues. But Christian conservatives warn that the GOP could lose its base if it endorses same-sex marriage or takes other pro-gay-rights stands.

[Little Ray]

The problem isn’t the >2% percent of perverts in the population. The problem is the 10-20% of the population who pride themselves on being “open-minded” (so much so that their brains seem to have leaked out...) and think that any one whole fails to endorse homosexuals’ self-destructive lifestyles is a “bigot.” Unfortunately, we need at least some of their votes.

[achilles2000]

Maybe Craig and Barney Frank were an “item” ;-)