The Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Presbyterians, the United Church of Christ, and to some extent the American Baptists, accept LGBT people in leadership and lay roles. There are even rumblings in the United Methodist Church of pending change in their policies that declare homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching,” while, according to Joanna Brooks: “an openly gay Mormon man named Mitch Mayne ha[s] been asked (or “called,” in Mormon parlance) to serve as a leader in an LDS congregation in San Francisco.”
All of these changes have been made because LGBT people were faithful to an institution that has historically despised and rejected them. Progress comes from making changes within, not protesting outside the doors.
completely understand the mindset of those who would question my membership in a club where many of its members wish to eliminate me altogether. I feel exactly the same way about gay Republicans. I can’t fathom why a gay or lesbian person—even if they were conservative in their economic views—would lay claim to the Republican Party. The GOP has historically rejected the full inclusion of LGBT people and within the last few decades has become vehemently anti-gay, fielding a group of presidential hopefuls that have clear anti-gay views.
While I don’t quite get gay Republicans, I understand why they remain loyal to the GOP. They understand, as I do, that you cannot change a homophobic institution without working from the inside. Gay Republicans have already helped our community make great strides. It was the Log Cabin Republicans who filed a lawsuit against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell back in 2004, challenging its constitutionality which led to last year’s federal judge ruling that DADT “violates the rights of gay military members to free speech, due process and open association.”
Just this past week, DADT was finally repealed, allowing gay and lesbian servicemembers to serve openly. The entire LGBT community worked for this repeal, but it was our brothers and sisters in the Log Cabin Republicans who got the legal ball rolling.
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Despite that clear rejection by the Tea Party, a gander at GOProud’s website reveals many far right talking points including touting Social Security as “a Ponzi scheme” and rejecting “Obamacare.”
Both fundamentalist LGBT Christians and GOProuders seem to be a bit on the self-loathing side, not so much interested in working for change from within, but instead submitting themselves to the rules and traditions already in place that ultimately go against their best interest.
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