GOP vs. America (Gay And Straight)

Two events took place recently that shows a highly divided Republican Party now exists, and that the nation is at a crossroads over the issue of gay rights.

I wish to present exhibit one.

The Johnson County Sun has been a community newspaper in Kansas since 1950, reporting the general news of Overland Park, while having a Republican point of view on their editorial page.   But on October 5, 2006 a special column ran in the paper stating they would be endorsing many Democrats this year as the result of the ‘Republican civil war’.  After decades of endorsing basically only Republicans, wrote Steve Ross, Chairman of the paper, it could no longer endorse the far right wing conservatives that now become the party nominees.  One of the many reasons cited for the change concerned how Republicans treat gay Americans.  The paper wrote that for a Republican to win he/she needed to move to the right.  “It means gay bashing.  Not so much gay marriage, but just bashing gays,” Ross wrote.  The writer of the column had voted Republican since 1968, but finds that will not be possible anymore.

Now, here is exhibit two.

On the heels of the GOP scandal involving a cover-up of Congressman Foley’s emails to teenage pages, Reverend Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, commented this past week by blasting gay Americans.  He stated, “It’s time for what we call a ‘Come To Jesus Meeting.’  Homosexuality is a dysfunctional lifestyle, and it must be addressed.”  The blurring of the lines between a Congressman trolling for teenage boys, and the separate issue of being gay was intended as a political tactic.

It is now apparent that America has come to the point of two different paths, and must choose which one will lead our nation to the type of society we wish to live in.  We either pick the path of moderation and equality, or we pick the path of Lou Sheldon.

In 1980 I started to monitor and follow the actions of Jerry Falwell and his group, Moral Majority.  With self-righteous boldness the religious right thought it was time to get involved with politics in a highly partisan way.  They climbed into bed with the Republicans and became a part of what was to be called the ‘Big Tent’, since the party was said to have held so many diverse opinions.  I have always understood that the GOP was not so interested in the moral issues of Falwell, as much as they were in the millions of voters he could cajole to vote Republican.  With the increase over the past 25 years of religious right organizations the GOP has surged politically, while the wish list of the ‘true believers’ is still just as long.  As predicted, the Bible believing voters have been taken for a ride.  (Mind you, I do not feel sorry for them in any way.)  Meanwhile gay America has been used as a political pinata by the religious right and the GOP in their hunt for electoral success.  It has been a shameless spectacle, one which historians will research and write about for many years.

There is a continual need for right wing conservatives and the religious right to have something to strike at in order to raise cash and excite voters (primarily angry white men) to insure they remain politically viable.  Gay people and their issues related to fairness and equality have been sidelined, rejected, and ridiculed, all in the name of the GOP winning elections.  And as the Chairman of the Kansas newspaper wrote, the way to be nominated as a Republican is to run to the right, which includes being anti-gay.  

The problem for the GOP however, is that being gay is often a family matter.  Today with national gay role models, school policies that allow for broader understanding, and growing acceptance from their peers, growing up gay today is not like it was in the 1940’s.  As the bumper sticker reads, “Gay Kids Are In Republican Homes Too”; therefore more and more suburban Republican women are being turned off by the harsh words about gay people. In fact, I hear Republican candidates even have gay children.  (Hmmm…)

This past week some of the religious right seemed genuinely surprised that elected Republicans have gay staffers!  It amused me to hear them try and stammer their way around that fact.  How could it be, they wondered?  Wasn’t the GOP bashing gays in Congress just as the some ministers did on Sunday mornings in Church?  Weren’t they all on the same page? (No pun intended.)  It seems the religious right really had bought into the political rhetoric that the GOP was serving up to the public.  But I keep wondering just how uninformed are these members of the religious right?  Why would anyone think that government would not also be a place in our society where gay men and women, who had the talent and skills, would be hired to work in order to help affect change in our country? 

To make my point, consider the State of Wisconsin.  Before arriving in Madison I knew gay staffers who worked for Governor Tony Earl.  As a Democratic Party County Chairman I worked with them as a part of the effort to re-elect Earl in 1986.  When employed at the Statehouse I knew gay staffers who worked for Governor Thompson, and even more gay people who worked for  Republican legislators.  In fact, the two predecessors in the position I held were gay.  I mention all this to demonstrate the absurdity of being shocked that gay Americans work in government, or are hired by the GOP and the Democratic Party.  The reactions from some of the religious right this past week has just been down right bizarre. 

The GOP and the religious right should never have entered into their Faustian relationship for political purposes.  The GOP should never have given lip service to the most hateful language from the Moral Majority types.  However, once they did  cross that political line and became hypocrites on the issue of gay rights, they opened themselves up for controversy.  This past week a California Congressman was ‘outed’ and I think it was a correct thing to do.  The hypocrisy happens when an elected official who is gay, seeks to retain power through a strident anti-gay voting record.  It is akin to evangelist Jimmy Swaggart speaking fire and brimstone from the pulpit on Sunday mornings after picking up prostitutes and looking at porn during the week.  It is not right for gay politicians to deny who they are, and then vote in ways to hurt all gay Americans, just in order to preserve power and win re-election.

The events of the recent past over gay rights highlight the two paths that now present themselves to our country.  Clearly there is a galvanized and powerful political structure within the GOP to further use rhetoric and raw power to inflame and divide our nation over gay Americans.  The fact that eight states have ‘marriage’ amendments on the November ballot attests to this fact.  All were placed on the ballot to insure a heavy GOP turnout, thereby affecting other races.

But there is another path that our nation can take.  It is the same path that President Harry Truman used when allowing black Americans to serve in the Armed Forces.  With bold leadership and ever mindful of greater truths, America stepped into the future time and again in search of racial justice.  I think most citizens are hoping for an end to the use of gay Americans as nothing more than a pawn for the GOP in the next election cycle.  I think America is ready to step into the future once again.