The gay group Log Cabin Republicans conceded this week that it lacks the support needed to remove any of the existing language opposing gay rights from the Republican Party platform. They called on party leaders to add new platform language welcoming gay and pro-choice advocates into its ranks.

At an Aug. 16 news conference in D.C., Log Cabin Executive Director Patrick Guerriero joined leaders of the centrist groups Republicans for Choice and Republican Youth Majority in urging the party to adopt a "Party Unity Plank."

The proposed platform plank calls on the party to "recognize and respect Republicans of good faith," especially those who disagree with the party's platform on "abortion, family planning, and gay and lesbian issues."

"We understand that Republicans of good faith can differ over divisive social issues," Guerriero said at the news conference. "However, our platform should respect the diversity of this party."

Guerriero; Ann Stone, national chair of Republicans for Choice; and Eli Allagoa, managing director of Republican Youth Majority, said their respective groups would consider pushing for a floor fight at the Republican National Convention in New York to force the party to accept the "unity" plank.

Under party rules, the three groups and their supporters would have to line up 50 percent or more of the delegates in six states to force the convention to hold a floor vote on their proposed platform language.

An alternative route would be for the convention's platform committee to agree to the proposal and incorporate it into the platform it submits to the convention. But most party observers say the conservative-leaning platform committee is unlikely to agree to the proposal.

The platform panel is scheduled to convene Aug. 24 in New York, less than a week before the convention opens at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 30.

'Putting lipstick on a pig'
Gay D.C. Councilmember David Catania (R-At-Large), who withdrew his support for President Bush after the president endorsed a constitutional ban on gay marriage, said he was sympathetic to Log Cabin's effort to push for a more gay-friendly platform and to work constructively within the party.

But he predicted the party and the Bush campaign would spurn those efforts. Catania compared Log Cabin's proposed unity plank to "putting lipstick on a pig."

"The big tent is a big lie," he said. "In the last four years, we have a record from this party and this president. No big tent, no uniter and no compassionate conservative."

Catania, who played an active role as a Bush delegate at the Republican National Convention in 2000, said he would not attend the convention this year, even if he were invited as a guest.

Catania won election as a Bush delegate in February, but D.C. Republican Committee Chair Betsy Werronen revoked his delegate status after he publicly declared he would oppose Bush in the November election.

"I don't want to be critical of people who are working for constructive change," Catania said. "But the party is unwilling to accept our rights. They are willing to take our money. They won't do anything to help our cause."

The proposed unity plank by Log Cabin and its allies comes at a time when the White House and leaders of President Bush's re-election campaign have been urging the platform panel to shun "extremism in language" on both gay and immigration issues, according to the Washington Times, a conservative newspaper with access to GOP officials.

Party insiders have said they want to avoid controversy and project party unity at the Republican convention, just as the Democrats did at their convention in Boston last month. Although the president backs a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, Bush reportedly doesn't want what some might view as an overly harsh platform plank condemning gay marriage, the Washington Times reported.

Anti-gay groups have expressed mixed views on platform language related to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, with some groups demanding a strong new plank backing a constitutional amendment. Other groups, such as Phyllis Schlafly's Republicans for Life and the Family Research Council, say they are satisfied with the party's existing plank on marriage, which was adopted at the 2000 GOP convention.

The existing plank states, "We support the traditional definition of 'marriage' as the legal union of one man and one woman, and we believe that federal judges and bureaucrats should not force states to recognize other living arrangements as marriages."

The 2000 GOP platform also expresses support for the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage under federal laws as a union only between a man and a woman. The act, known as DOMA, also ...

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