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Growing a gay old party
Advocate, The, Dec 6, 2005 by Fred Kuhr
Patrick Guerriero has increased the Log Cabin Republicans' membership and budget--as well as its standing among liberal national gay rights groups. Of course, that means fewer invites to White House parties.
With the fight for gay and lesbian equality at a crucial crossroads, The Advocate continues its ongoing series of articles focusing on our leading activist and service organizations.
September 8, 2004, was a watershed moment for Log Cabin Republicans. On that day the group for gay and lesbian members of the GOP released an unusually long--five pages--press release announcing that its board of directors voted 22-2 not to endorse George W. Bush's reelection, largely because of his support of a constitutional amendment seeking to bar same-sex couples from marrying.
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This was the first time since Log Cabin opened its national office in 1993 that it had not endorsed the Republican nominee for president, having backed Bush in 2000 and Bob Dole in 1996, moves that caused a strong backlash against Log Cabin among many prominent gay and lesbian activists. The charge at the time was that Log Cabin was more interested in making nice with GOP muckety-mucks than advancing gay equality.
But that all changed in 2003 when Log Cabin hired Patrick Guerriero--a Massachusetts native and moderate Republican who had served as a state legislator as well as mayor of his hometown of Melrose--to be the group's second executive director. Recently, Guerriero's title was changed to president.
Guerriero has brought political skills as a former elected official, but also a new philosophy, one that allows Log Cabin to speak out against the antigay forces within its own party. With Guerriero at the helm and a new, more diverse board in place, the decision not to endorse Bush was not wholly unexpected, despite fears of repercussions from inside the GOP.
"There remains a lot of anger inside the party from those who wanted Log Cabin to give them cover for supporting the Federal Marriage Amendment," Guerriero tells The Advocate. "There are some who consider our decision to be a disloyal act, and that will take some time to heal. But if you allow yourself to be stepped on time and time again, you have no credibility in Washington. Over time, in part because we stood up for ourselves, feelings will flip back in our direction. We want results. I don't need to be invited to every GOP cocktail party. And yes, I've been invited to fewer GOP cocktail parties since the decision. So be it."
Guerriero goes so far as to place Log Cabin clearly on one side of a "battle" brewing inside the Republican Party, pitting moderates and "traditional conservatives" like U.S. senators Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Gordon Smith of Oregon against "theocrats" like U.S. senators Rick Santorarn of Pennsylvania and Bill Frist of Tennessee.
"Log Cabin used to be much too apologetic for bad Republican behavior," says Chuck Colbert, a freelance journalist and activist who Jives in Cambridge, Mass. "But under Patrick, Log Cabin is much more willing to take on fellow Republicans. Log Cabin was absolutely correct in not endorsing Bush last year. If they had, they would have been dead meat in the gay community."
One of Guerriero's first official acts when he assumed the lead of Log Cabin was to reach out to other gay and lesbian political groups. "I wanted these other groups to know that Log Cabin was willing to carry its weight. I also wanted to stop the infighting with other LGBT groups," says Guerriero, who also instituted a new policy inside Log Cabin: "If you speak ill of another LGBT group, that is grounds for dismissal."
Elizabeth Birch--then--executive director of the Human Rights Campaign--welcomed Guerriero's call on his first day on the job. "Patrick has reached out extensively to Republicans and Democrats Mike. He has been among the most principled leaders of our movement for equality," Birch says. "Patrick is a person of good character and does not ever take the easy road. He stood up to the profound failure of Bush with integrity. He takes the heat but stays the course."
Guerriero showed his bipartisan roots when he returned to Massachusetts earlier this year to aid in the successful lobbying effort to kill that state's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
"Patrick was instrumental as a Republican, and as a gay Republican, in talking with his former colleagues on this issue," says Marty Reuse, campaign director of MassEquality, the group spearheading opposition to any move to rescind marriage equality in the Bay State. "As a former state legislator, he understands that a lot of important work gets done behind closed doors and not quoted in the press. In order to achieve success, we need Republican support and behind-the-scenes work, especially for Republicans, who are, generally speaking, more opposed to gay equality and marriage rights."
