An Invitation To Gay Republicans

From Tara:

John-Manuel Andriote has a good piece at the Huffington Post today, in which he invites gay Republicans to "give up the nostalgia trip and get real."  According to Andriote, that means recognizing that pining for the good old days of the Grand Old Party isn't getting gay Republicans anywhere, because those good old days are gone.  Of gay Republicans, Andriote says:

I've never met one who doesn't ... pine for a far-off, glorious past when the Republican Party stood for something worth standing for, such as limited government and personal liberty.

.... 

As this presidential election campaign season has made clear, the Grand Old Party in 2012 is exactly that: old, white, male, and not even remotely in touch with the realities of life for the young, people of color, women, and pretty much everyone who isn't themselves.

Why would any self-respecting homosexual choose to be part of an institution that prefers that he or she didn't exist? 

Andriote invites gay Republicans to consider third party affiliations, or even to--gasp!--join the Democratic party, which welcomes LGBT members, and "work from the inside to reform the party of big government and high taxes."


My husband and co-blogger has taken an alternate approach.  He's speaking up for LGBT rights within the existing Republican party structure (by attending conventions and introducing platform planks and inviting like-minded Republicans to join him), and at least here in Iowa, he's received significant support.  But political change is slow, and anti-gay sentiments in his party are strong.  It'll be interesting to see whether the Angelo approach or the Andriote approach wins out among gay and equality-minded Republicans in the end.