Posted on 05/10/2003 3:09:32 PM PDT by Pharmboy
WASHINGTON, May 9 — At a time of intense debate over the relationship between gays and Republicans, 200 members of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay group, met today with senior White House officials. The name of Senator Rick Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican whose impolitic remarks about gays prompted the current debate, did not come up.
Instead, participants said, the session was devoted to education, judicial nominees and AIDS.
"They were substantive and really terrific policy discussions," Patrick Guerriero, the group's executive director, said, adding that no discussion of Mr. Santorum was necessary. "The core of the Republican Party, from the White House to Congress, understands that we're an important part of the American family."
The afternoon briefing, which took place at the Old Executive Office Building, across the street from the White House, was part of the Log Cabin Republicans' annual convention, a three-day event that this year includes talks on gays in the military, a tour of the Capitol and a reception for members of Congress.
At the reception tonight, the attendees included Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona, the only openly gay Republican member of the House.
Conflict between gays and Republicans is hardly new. But Mr. Santorum inflamed long-simmering tensions when, in an interview with The Associated Press, he likened homosexuality to incest and bigamy. The Log Cabin Republicans have been on the defensive ever since.
Today, Mr. Guerriero said the group was trying to get past the flap, and described the senator's remarks as "a terrible disappointment."
In a speech to the group this morning, Rich Galen, a Republican strategist, drew a contrast between Senator Trent Lott, who lost his job as majority leader over remarks he made about segregation, and Mr. Santorum, who remains third in line in the Republican Senate leadership.
"In America in 2003, you can't say bad things about African-Americans, but you can still say bad things about gays," Mr. Galen said, adding, "That's where we are."
That must change, several members of the Log Cabin Republicans said. Yet many said it already was changing. A number of those in attendance dismissed the Santorum controversy, saying the Pennsylvania senator does not represent the Republican Party they know.
"I think the Santorum thing was way overblown," said William Thibault, 59, of Donaldsonville, La. "Certainly, the Democratic side will always exploit a situation like this when a Republican missteps."
Sheri Clemons, a social worker from Brooklyn, agreed. "What Rick Santorum said was stupid," Ms. Clemons said. "It's not really representative of what the Republican Party is moving toward. I think we are the future of the Republican Party, people like us."
Among the White House officials briefing the Log Cabin Republicans today was Dr. Joe O'Neill, the administration's AIDS czar, who is openly gay. Bobby Bottoms, a Log Cabin Republican from San Diego, said he was struck by photographs in Dr. O'Neill's office, taken during the White House Christmas party, of Dr. O'Neill and his partner with the president and Laura Bush.
Mr. Bottoms said Dr. O'Neill told the group that the White House was "the most wonderful working environment that he had ever worked in."
"He spoke from the heart and you could tell in his tone, and in his words," Mr. Bottoms said, "he was very passionate that there was absolutely no issue with him and his sexuality."
That's because skin color isn't a behavior. Further, what's this "bad things" business? The behavior is immoral. The "bad thing" isn't what's being said, it's what's being done.
Doomed from birth.
What? Ya think Sheryl Gay Stolberg would make that up??
"The core of the Republican Party, from the White House to Congress, understands that we're an important part of the American family."
That's news to me.
Same thing with the Republicans for Choice. What are some of the things they think they can only achieve as members of the Republican Party?
You don't think they're really just RAT infiltrators do ya? You know, kinda like the Mayor of New York?
It amuses me (for lack of a better word) that they concern themselves with death taxes and not the behavior in which they engage that leads to an early grave.
I suspect the Pink Pistols have a large number of Republican members:
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