Log Cabin Republicans.
For some, that’s been an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, like “war-mongering pacifists” or “steak-loving vegans” or NC State graduates who are Tar Heel fans.
For others, it has meant an organization dedicated to advocating for LGBT inclusion in our national policy. Such a bifurcated version has resurfaced now that the group has dropped the “T.”
Ross Hemminger, president of the nation’s largest organization of gay conservatives, announced in an August 20 article in conservative media outlet Townhall that the group is reversing its 2015 policy of including transgender issues in its mission.
That mission, as now stated on the Log Cabin website, is to provide “a community of other LBG Republicans and allies” which “provides critical and timely talking-points and information briefs on issues important to us.”
The “us” is now only lesbians, gays and bisexuals.
In aiming to create a “more inclusive” GOP party, Log Cabin folks think it best to be a bit more exclusive.
In his article, Hemminger wrote, “The transgender movement has ceased focusing on adults at all — nearly all of their efforts and those of their aligned special interest groups focus on minors. They push schools to teach radical gender ideology; they want biological men in women’s sports regardless of the consequences; perhaps most offensively, they support gender reassignment treatments for minors, often without the knowledge or consent of the parents, knowing full well these treatments are mostly irreversible.”
For Log Cabin Republicans, and for others, transgender issues are not issues of sexual orientation and therefore should be dropped from the group’s advocacy efforts.
Whether one sees this as a part of the widening debate of “gay versus queer” or simply as part of the ongoing war of Republicans on trans issues, it is significant.
Reflecting a New York Times essay by gay conservative Matthew Vines (as reported in Qnotes on August 14), the Log Cabin folks are arguing that the focus on trans issues both detracts from LGB issues and is causing a backlash in national opinion.
“Gay men and women are losing public support across the country, and support for gay marriage and other once-widely accepted rights is eroding…Their [voters] view of the gay community is based on today’s radical transgender activists with their unnecessary and discomfiting focus on America’s youth,” Hemminger wrote.
On a local level, even the Charlotte Log Cabin Republicans group got in on the “drop the T” movement when they posted an image confirming the chapter’s sentiment is apparently in line with the national movement, including this statement: “… Log Cabin Republicans National is refocusing its advocacy back on LGB Americans – marriage, adoption, military service, equal treatment under the law, religious liberty – and stepping back from transgender advocacy specifically. This isn’t about closing doors. Membership is still open to any conservative who shares our values. It’s a shift in advocacy focus, not who’s welcome at the table. For our Charlotte chapter, this feels less like a change and more like validation –we’ve said from day one that the gay community isn’t a political monolith, and that being gay doesn’t come with a required political affiliation. If you agree – come find us, we’ll leave the tent door open.”
LGBTQ+ rights organization the Human Rights Campaign was quick to respond to the national Log Cabin Republican’s intention of excising transgender inclusion from their platform.
On the website LGBTQ Nation, Delphine Luneau of HRC said, “It’s news to us that they ever pretended to care about the T. Splitting up the LGBTQ+ community and pitting us against each other is exactly what anti-equality forces want to see happen.”
Once a supporter of Democratic candidates Al Gore, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, South Carolina native and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent captured instant turncoat status when he hosted a Greenville, South Carolina, Trump fundraiser in 2024 and was immediately announced as Trump’s pick to head the Treasury.
Despite openly gay individuals like Bessent serving in the Trump administration, Republican politicians continue to prove they are no friend to the greater LGBTQ+ community.
This story is brought to you by Rosedale Health and Wellness and Dudley’s Place.
