The Christian Science Monintor reports on the dynamics at play aftert the revelation that California State Senator Ray Ashburn is gay, and the role of gay politicians in America and that gay men and lesbians play in conservative politics.

While it is unclear just how much Ashburn’s sexual orientation – apparently something of an open secret in Sacramento – played in his decision to leave politics, it raises new questions about gay Republicans’ place within the conservative movement.

While openly gay Republicans still face many hurdles, there has been significant change in how many conservatives view sexual orientation, says Charles Moran, spokesman for the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative group that advocates gay rights.

“Absolutely, the Republicans still have issues they are trying to overcome in terms of of sexual orientation,” Mr. Moran says. “We are kicking down the doors and really forcing the Republican Party to deal with the fact there are gay conservatives.”

…

This year, though, openly gay conservative Matthew Berry is vying for the Republican nomination to contest the congressional seat held by Rep. Jim Moran (D) of Virginia. Mr. Berry is “not a gay candidate, but a candidate who happens to be gay,” said Robert Turner, vice president of the Washington chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, in an e-mail response to questions. “And he’s good on the issues that Republican voters care about – taxes, education, national security, fiscal responsibility.”

“When you let your gayness define you, that is when people — the voters — lose interest,” Mr. Turner said.

According to Moran, conservatives such as former Vice President Dick Cheney and Meghan McCain, who both support gay marriage, are changing many conservatives’ negative views about homosexuality.

“[W]e are seeing a few more gay candidates running as Republicans each year,” said Turner.

It’s possible that Massachusetts could soon have the highest-ranking elected official who is gay. In the state’s upcoming governor’s race, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor – Massachusetts Senate minority leader Richard Tisei – is openly gay.

Read more in the Christian Science Monitor.

Posted: March 9th, 2010 under Elections, In Focus, In the States, Log Cabin In Focus.

As the GOP figures out how to position itself in the post-2008 election era, it appears that a focus on limited government, personal responsibility and freedom, and less focus on social issues seems to be the prevailing trend.  With the emergence of the Tea Party movement, congressional hearings on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, and the general theme of the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, the focus on social issues seems to be dwindling while the movement to restore traditional conservative ideals is bringing gay and straight conservatives together to accomplish common goals.

Robert Turner, vice president of the D.C. Chapter or Log Cabin Republicans, noted the Conference was devoid of many of the social policy discussions often heard when thousands of conservatives gather in one place.  The overall theme of CPAC this year was freedom.  Most of the panels and speeches were primarily about fiscal discipline, lower taxes and limited government.  The event took a very libertarian direction this year. Most assuredly, this is due to the rise of the “tea party” movement.

At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in February, Ryan Sorba, of California Young Americans for Freedom took the podium and used the opportunity to express unhappiness towards the fact that a gay Republican group was allowed to be a sponsor of the conference.  Sorba’s comments drew criticism from the crowd of mostly young conservatives who essentially booed Sorba offstage following his comments condemning homosexuality:

Gay Republicans say it was a telling moment: Evidence that the GOP is “moving away from a negative hate-based connotation with homosexuals in the Republican party,” according to Charles T. Moran, spokesman for the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group.

“The conservative movement is so focused on the issues that bring us together — limited government, personal responsibility and freedom — that the social issues have kind of gotten pushed off to the side,” he said. “Even the Tea Party movement – these people are not talking about social issues.”

Posted: March 4th, 2010 under From the Right, Uncategorized.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced legislation to repeal the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ policy. The ‘Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010′ would repeal the policy which bars gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the United States armed forces. In addition, the Pentagon, in a review led by Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson and General Carter Hamm, Commander of United States Armed forces in Europe, laid out plan for their review of the policy.

As the Pentagon officials described it in testimony before the House Armed Services Personnel subcommittee, the study will take into account nearly every question asked by a member of Congress, but the hearing laid out future key debate points.

On the Democratic side, members wanted to be sure the survey should take into account the successful experiences of foreign militaries such as Israel, Canada and the U.K., in accepting gays and lesbians in their ranks. Ham said he’s already consulting with foreign militaries and is planning more outreach.

Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark) said the review should also capture the view of gay troops on active duty in the U.S. military – a tricky assignment since open homosexuals aren’t allowed to serve under the current “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

“Today we don’t have a great answer for you,” Ham replied.” We must find a way for the views of homosexuals who are currently serving to have their voices heard. My pledge is we will find a way.”

Johnson said the review would also consider changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s ban on sodomy and oral sex, including among married couples, a topic also brought up by Snyder.

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), who’s sponsoring a DADT repeal bill in the House, sought the Pentagon’s blessing to move forward with legislation at the same time the review is working its way through Congress.

“There is no reason why these two processes cannot move together in parallel,” Murphy said, adding that the legislative process, which would keep any changes from taking effect until 2011, should give enough time for the study to be complete and to prepare the services to implement any changes.

Read more about efforts to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in Politico.

Posted: March 4th, 2010 under In Congress, In Focus, In the News.

Speaking on Meet the Press, General David Petraeus, Commander of the U.S. Central Command, overseeing combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, addressed the call for review and repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy:

DAVID GREGORY: General, with the, the military engaged in two wars, with a country fighting terrorism in other
forms as well, is this an appropriate time for the military to revisit the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy?

GEN. PETRAEUS: Well, there’s a process at work here now, David, and I, and I think that it is a very sound and good process. The secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs announced, when they were testifying, the creation of a review be headed by General Carter Hamm, U.S. Army four-star, and DOD General Counsel Jeh Johnson. I don’t think this has gotten enough prominence frankly. It is very important to this overall process. It will provide a rigorous analysis of the views of the force on the possible change. It will suggest the policies that could be used to implement a change if it, if it does come to that, so that it could be as uneventful as it was, say, in the U.K. or the Israeli militaries or, indeed, in our own CIA and FBI. And then it will assess the effects, the possible effects on readiness, recruiting and retention.

…

MR. GREGORY: But what, but what, what do you say, General? Should gays and lesbians be able to serve openly in the military?

GEN. PETRAEUS: Well, I’ll provide that, again, on Capitol Hill if, if asked at that time. I, I know you’d like to make some news here this morning. I support what our secretary and, and chairman have embarked on here. I will–I’m fully participating in that process. And I think it’s very important, again, that these issues be handled and discussed and addressed by this review that will be so important in informing decisions as we move forward.

Petraeus’s support for study of repeal of this policy is not only joined by Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, but by General Raymond Odierno, commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who as then Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff implented the policy, as well as former Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen and General John Shalikashvilli, also a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Posted: February 22nd, 2010 under In Focus, In the News.

David Rivkin and Lee Casey, two of the most prominent attorneys from the Reagan and Bush Administration, have joined the growing chorus of critics of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, which prohibits openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the military.

When the Pentagon’s top brass announced last week that they no longer believe military unit cohesion suffers from the presence of openly gay men or women in the ranks, they effectively transformed a policy question into a legal one, to which the answer is clear: Congress can no longer mandate discrimination in the armed forces on the basis of sexual orientation.

In the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law criminalizing same-gender sexual relations, reasoning that such conduct was part of a constitutionally protected liberty interest. The court also suggested that the Texas statute was vulnerable to challenge as a denial of equal protection of the laws. And it is application of the equal protection doctrine to the military’s professional assessment of the impact that openly gay service members have on combat effectiveness that is likely to be the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

…

This doctrine of equal protection is the minimum standard by which the Supreme Court measures any law, regulation or policy that treats one group differently than another. It has been applied in Romer v. Evans to laws disadvantaging homosexuals. In that 1996 case, the court invalidated a provision of Colorado’s constitution that forbade adoption of anti-discrimination laws based on sexual orientation. It could find no proper governmental purpose supported by this limitation and concluded that the provision “classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else.”

The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is now utterly vulnerable under that standard. When Congress enacted the ban in 1993, it justified the restrictions based on the military’s need for “unit cohesion.” Openly gay soldiers, Congress concluded, “would create an unacceptable risk.”

In 1993, the military agreed with, indeed encouraged, this assessment. Today, according to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, it does not. Statements of Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicate that the Pentagon’s civilian leadership also no longer agrees. That these judgments have been reached after nearly a decade of superb combat performance by U.S. forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan, in situations where troops served together for months-long stretches under enemy fire and in incredibly confined conditions and were inevitably aware of each other’s intimate habits, including sexual orientation, makes them all the more compelling.

Read the rest of Rivkin and Casey’s opinion in the Washington Post.

Posted: February 17th, 2010 under From the Right, In Focus, In the News.

Speaking before the libertarian Cato Institute, British Conservative Party Leader Nick Herbert laid out a case for the role that gay men and lesbians have in the conservative movement:

So can promoting equality for gay people be compatible with conservatism? 

In discussing this I’m going to take three things as given.  And if they’re contentious, they shouldn’t be.
 
First, since – on the most conservative estimates – around 5 per cent of the population are attracted to the same sex, there are more than 3 million gay people in the UK and 15 million in the United States.

People often speak of gays as though we are a society apart from the rest, living in our own quarter.

And a few choose to be apart. But most of us don’t. We live in every city and town. We are businessmen and women. We run shops and stack shelves. We labour on farms and in factories. We are fire fighters and police officers. We save lives in hospitals. We fight for our countries and sometimes we die for our countries. Some of us are extraordinary, but mostly we are quietly ordinary. We are not different.  And we don’t want to be different. We’re not asking for special treatment. We are United States or British citizens. Proud of our countries. Wanting to play our part in society. And across the world there are millions of us. Millions of ordinary people. Millions of voters.

Second, we can’t be uninvented.  Being gay is not a lifestyle choice.  Our sexuality is a fact.  It may be repressed, but it cannot be changed.

Doctors don’t try to change a person’s colour. And healers or politicians shouldn’t try to change anyone’s sexuality. Whether it is given by god, or set by nature, homosexuality isn’t nurtured by doting mothers or weak fathers.

It isn’t a condition to be cured and it can’t be willed away through prayer.

Third, democracies should subscribe to a fundamental principle: that ‘all men are created equal’.

Some claim that the promotion of gay equality has no place in conservatism.  In fact, many deny that conservatives should be interested in the equality agenda at all.

It is argued that equality is incompatible with liberty … that if men are free, they are bound to become unequal.

But conservatives who want people to become better through their own efforts can never stand by while others are denied that chance.

Conservatives should always believe that everyone should have an equal chance in life, regardless of any other factors, and that they should not be discriminated against.

Herbert, who serves as the Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, went on to talk about how the Conservative Party under the leadership of David Cameron has reshaped the party and made support for gay men and lesbians a part of its success.

At the last election, of our 193 MPs elected, just 17 were women, only two black or minority ethnic and two were openly gay.

If we were truly representative of the country we would have 99 women, 16 black or minority ethnic and 10 gay MPs.

So our party leadership recognised the need to change.

Change because we are a national party which needs to be able to speak to, and speak up for, all sections of society in all parts of the country.

As David Cameron said on Monday, “Unless you can represent everyone in our country you cannot be a one nation party.”

Change because we need to reconnect politics with a public who are increasingly disillusioned with a political class.

And change because it was the right thing to do – to promote an environment where people can succeed and live without fear, regardless of their gender, colour or sexuality.

We now have more female candidates, more black and minority ethnic candidates and more gay candidates.

In fact, if we secure a majority in the House of Commons of just one seat, we are likely to have more openly gay MPs on our benches than the Labour Party.

The panel also held a heated debate between prominent blogger and columnist Andrew Sullivan and Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage.

Posted: February 17th, 2010 under From the Right, GOP Progress.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week, former Vice President Dick Cheney backed repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy which prohibits gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Cheney, who served as Secretary of Defense under President George H.W. Bush, has been a consitent critic of the policy terming the ban as ‘a bit of an old chestnut.’

Cheney said that the support of military leaders had convinced him that it was time for a change.

“Twenty years ago the military were strong advocates of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’ I think things have change significantly since then,” Cheney said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I think that society has moved on. It’s partly a generational question,” he continued. “When the [Joint] Chiefs come forward and say ‘we think we can do it,’ is strikes me that it’s time to reconsider the policy.”

Cheney was referring to the testimony of Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month that it was “personal view” that repealing the law would be “the right thing to do.”

…

Two notable architects of the original DADT policy–retired Gens. Colin Powell and John Shalikashvili–also now support a repeal.

“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” Powell said in a statement following Mullen’s testimony. “I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen.”

Shaliksashvili penned an op-ed for the NY Times announcing his shift in position.

“I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces,” he wrote. “Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.

Read more about Cheney’s call for the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in The Hill.

Posted: February 14th, 2010 under GOP Progress, In the News, Issues in Focus.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that seventy-five percent of Americans back repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy which prevents gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. This echoes a 2009 poll released by the Washington Post and one released by Gallup, which showed sixty-nine percent of Americans supported repeal.

The support comes as the Pentagon, led by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, both of whom were originally appointed by President George W. Bush, have been advocating for study and repeal of the policy.  At a hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services Committee, Gates announced that he was appointing General Carter Ham, commander of Army forces in Europe, and  Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s general counsel, to study a possible repeal and logistics for implementation. Johnson and Ham have indicated that they would deliver its first recommendations by mid-March.

The percentage of Americans who say they support gays openly serving is the same as a Post-ABC News poll found in July 2008; both are far above the 44 percent who said so in May 1993. In the new poll, majorities across party lines favor such a policy, with support among Democrats (82 percent) and independents (77 percent) higher than among Republicans (64 percent).

The poll also reveals several sharp demographic divides. Men (65 percent) and seniors (69 percent) are far less likely than are women (84 percent) and young adults (81 percent under age 30) to say that gays should be allowed to serve if they have disclosed their sexual orientation. Knowing a gay person makes a big difference: Among those who say they have a gay friend or family member, 81 percent support allowing gay people to serve openly, compared with 66 percent who say they do not know someone who is gay.

With significant support among Republicans and self-identified conservatives, opportunities to repeal the legislation before the end of the calendar year remain strong.

Posted: February 12th, 2010 under In Congress.

The Dallas Voice highlights the race between Dallas Log Cabin Republicans President Rob Schlein and Homer Adams, the husband of former Texas Eagle Forum and current Texas Republican Party Chairwoman Cathie Adams, to chair the North Dallas Precinct 1800.

In some ways, the Schlein-Adams race might seem like an epic battle in the ongoing GOP civil war between right-wing social conservatives and moderates who espouse a “big tent” philosophy.

But both Schlein and Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Neerman, who’s himself been criticized by Cathie Adams for welcoming gays into the party, are downplaying the symbolism of the contest — at least for now.

“It’s just a precinct chair race, and I don’t want to make it bigger than it is,” Schlein said. “I think maybe the result could speak to something bigger, but you’ll just have to wait and see. If I kick his ass in a significant way, then maybe we can say it’s epic, but it’s just a precinct race.”

…

It’s not the first time Schlein has sought to take over the position from Adams.

In 2008, after Adams missed the filing deadline for re-election, Schlein was encouraged by Neerman to throw his name in the hat. Adams then expressed his desire to keep the position, leading to a vote by the Republican Party’s Executive Committee, which is made up of all the precinct chairs.

The committee voted for Adams by a margin of 60 percent to 40 percent.

“He gave his speech, I gave my speech, and he won but not by very much, which kind of surprised everybody in the room,” Schlein said.

Schlein added that he likes his chances even better this year, when the race will be decided by voters instead of party activists. His sexual orientation shouldn’t come as a surprise to those in the precinct because he and his partner knocked on doors in 2005 prior to the vote on Texas’ constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Schlein said he’s prepared to mount an aggressive campaign, including direct-mail pieces, and he accused Adams of not doing his job.

Read more about the contest in the Dallas Voice.

Posted: February 5th, 2010 under Elections, Log Cabin In Focus.

At a hearing before the United States Senate Armes Services Committee, Secretary of States Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued their emphatic support for the repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, which prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

“It is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do,” said Mullen, who was originally appointed to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President George W. Bush. “No matter how I look at this issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity, theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”

“The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we must — how we best prepare it — for it,” said Gates, another Bush Administration holdover. Gates announced his appointment of Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson and General Carter F. Ham, the commander of the United States Army in Europe, to begin a formal review process and create standards for implemantation for repeal of the policy.

Gates and Mullen’s testimony drew the quick support of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993 was one of the architechts of the policy he now opposes. “In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” Powell said in a statement issued by his office. He added: “I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen.”

Much of the questioning by the panel was focused on how repeal of the policy would be implemented and addressing alegations that such a change would cause a problem to unit cohesion and military readiness. In response to a question by Senator Susan Collins, Admiral Mullen indicated that American soldiers serving alongside openly gay and lesbian soldiers from allied nations, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, in joint combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan has not created problems for unit cohesion. Mullen went on to indicate that there were no current reports that indicated a basis that allowing gay and lesbian servicemembers to serve openly would create problems with unit cohesion, military readiness or recruitment.

Further opposition to the policy has come from former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, a former Republican Senator, who served on the Senate Armed Services Committee at the time the policy was enacted.

A report released by the non-partisan Williams Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles, indicates that there are currently 66,000 gay and lesbian servicemembers in the military and that a repeal of the policy could bring in as many as 50,000 additional troops. A recent survey by Gallup shows that fifty-eight percent of conservatives oppose the policy.

Posted: February 4th, 2010 under In Congress, In Focus.