President Trump waved the rainbow flag at a campaign rally, entered office supporting same-sex marriage, and has appointed openly gay officials to major posts in his administration. No, the president’s record on gay and transgender rights isn’t perfect, but under Trump, the national Republican Party has tacked away from division on gay rights and more or less moved on from the wedge issue. Yet the weekend brought a sad reminder that while the GOP nationally grows more tolerant and inclusive of gay people, particularly among young Republicans, some states are lagging behind, woefully so.
On Saturday, the Texas Republican Party barred the Texas Log Cabin Republicans, a state branch of the largest gay and transgender GOP organization, from official party affiliate recognition, even going so far as to deny them a booth at the state convention. Opponents of the gay GOP group’s recognition included Republican state Sen. Bob Hall, who decried the organization for supposedly promoting “unnatural sex,” and religious activist Steven Hotze, who lobbied against the group’s admission by ranting about gay people’s allegedly “immoral and perverted sexual proclivities.”
What a disgrace.
The Texas GOP is well within its rights to maintain socially conservative stances on issues such as same-sex marriage, and individual members have every right to their religious views on homosexuality as well. But to bar gay Republicans from the party despite them agreeing on almost all core principles and having worked hard to elect Republicans screams of bigotry and discrimination.
It’s also awful politics. In a major election year, Republicans should be seeking to make the party as big a tent as possible, to bring in the diverse coalition of voters required to re-elect President Trump and send Republicans to Congress. In some cases, such as San Diego congressional candidate Carl DeMaio and San Antonio candidate Mauro Garza, gay Republicans themselves represent a viable path to flipping more seats red. Anyone putting petty bigotry over actual electoral results is doing the GOP a disservice.
It’s also entirely inconsistent with many of the GOP’s other professed principles, such as individual liberty and small government. Additionally, denying the gay Republican group is inconsistent with where much of the Texas GOP (to say nothing of Republicans nationally) is actually at on these issues.
After all, the Log Cabin Republicans had the backing of the Texas Young Republicans and even the support of Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw. The freshman congressman and GOP wonderkid penned a letter calling for their acceptance, insisting that “Disagreements over certain policy issues should not be enough to exclude a group that shares the vast majority of conservative governing principles.”
Check out Dan Crenshaw’s letter in support of the Log Cabin Republicans, telling GOP leaders they played a “significant role” in his 2018 victory. pic.twitter.com/8zCVqBpLJA
— Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace) February 3, 2020
“It’s unfortunate that in a post-Obergefell world, and a post-Trump election, there are those in Texas Republican Party leadership who still oppose common sense, and legally mandated equality,” Charles Moran, managing director of the national Log Cabin Republicans, told me. “There is no place in modern political discourse for the venom and sheer ignorance displayed by those opposing Log Cabin recognition in the party. And their opposition goes against the beliefs of President Trump, the mainstream Republican Party, and average conservative Texans that pride themselves on increasing individual responsibility and personal freedom.”
“We’ve earned our seat at the table, and rank bigotry of this kind has no place in the modern day Republican Party,” Moran finished. His frustration was palpable, but it’s fully justified. The GOP should be a home for gay Republicans, religious conservatives, and all who believe in free markets, individual liberty, constitutional conservatism, and other core conservative values.
Of course, core disagreements on moral and religious issues among Republicans are still inevitable. But overt discrimination and exclusion of gay Republicans who otherwise largely agree with the party’s principles doesn’t have to be.
(Minor disclosure: I have spoken at two Log Cabin Republicans-affiliated events in Washington but received no compensation from the group.)
Editor’s Note: This article originally identified state Sen. Robert Hall as Rob Hall. It has been updated to reflect the fact that he goes by Bob Hall.
