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| One former Log Cabin official described Mitt Romney as someone who has ‘double-talked, flip-flopped and backstabbed.’ (Photo by LM Otero/AP) |
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
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The Log Cabin Republicans said that the party’s presidential
nomination remains “anyone’s to win” after Mitt Romney this week won
the Michigan primary.
Patrick Sammon, president of the gay partisan group, said Romney’s win scrambles an already unpredictable race.
“It’s clear this race is going to go on, I think, for a while,” he
said. “It’s a wide open race and I think it’s anyone’s to win.”
Log Cabin has targeted Romney in campaign ads during the primary
season. Frank Ricchiazzi, who helped found the organization three
decades ago, told the Blade in October that Romney is an opportunist
who has shifted his position on many issues. “There’s one candidate who
has double-talked, flip-flopped and backstabbed,” he said. “And we feel
that should be exposed.”
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, won the Jan. 15 primary
after taking 39 percent of the Republican vote. Sen. John McCain of
Arizona took 30 percent of the vote, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee had 16 percent of the vote.
Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3, while McCain won the New Hampshire primary Jan. 8.
“This is exciting, but nerve racking because the stakes are
incredibly high,” Sammon said. “The direction of the party is going to
be much different based on who wins this nomination process. So the
stakes are high.”
Republican presidential contender Ron Paul has taken “moral
responsibility” for not better monitoring a newsletter that bore his
name and repeatedly attacked gays.
The attacks, which were published almost 18 years ago and came to
light through an article this month in The New Republic, included a
lament that gays were becoming increasingly open about their sexual
orientation.
“I miss the closet,” says an unsigned article printed in the June
1990 issue of the Ron Paul Political Report. “Homosexuals, not to speak
for the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure
forced them to hide their activities.”
Another article in the January 1994 edition says “gays in San Francisco do not obey the dictates of good sense.”
“These men don’t really see a reason to live past their fifties,”
the article says. “They are not married, they have no children, and
their lives are centered on new sexual partners.”
The same issue also includes a passage that says gays “enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick.”
In a statement, Paul said the newsletter’s content was not written
by him and does not “represent what I believe or have ever believed. I
have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts.”
Paul said the newsletter, while published under his name, did not receive his review or approval.
Scott Tucker, spokesperson for Log Cabin Republicans, questioned Paul’s explanation.
“We’re pleased that Congress-man Paul has disavowed the remarks that
appeared in a newsletter bearing his name, but his explanation that he
had never read them just doesn’t add up.”
But Jesse Benton, a campaign spokesperson, said Paul remains “the
staunchest advocate of individual rights and personal freedom in
Washington.”
“He has been endorsed by Andrew Sullivan and a strong Gays for Ron
Paul coalition provides him tremendous support,” he said. “Ron has for
over a decade taken moral responsibility for these appalling comments
made under his name, but these ugly words stand anathema to what he
believes and has fought for for 35 years.”
With their work in Iowa and New Hampshire behind them, Human Rights
Campaign staffers have become active in other presidential primary
states.
Efforts are underway in Florida, Minnesota and Nevada to educate and mobilize voters.
Nevada holds its presidential caucuses Jan. 19, while Florida voters
go to the polls Jan. 29, and the Minnesota caucuses occur Feb. 5.
HRC President Joe Solmonese said the efforts in Minnesota, which
include workshops across the state teaching voters more about the
caucus process, are representative of the organization’s efforts “to
elect fair-minded candidates” across the nation.
“It is imperative that the GLBT community and its allies represent
themselves effectively during the caucuses to advance the cause of
equality,” he said. “By attending the trainings and engaging in the
process, our community can harness its political power.”
A spokesperson for Rep. Ron Paul says
the Texas lawmaker takes ‘moral responsibility’ for not better
monitoring a newsletter that bore his name and attacked gays. (Photo by
M. Spencer Green/AP) |
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The workshops, coordinated by an HRC staffer and done in conjunction
with OutFront Minnesota, consist of mock caucuses wherein participants
practice discussing gay issues and offering related resolutions.
Meanwhile, an HRC staffer in Nevada is planning a rally for the eve of the Jan. 19 caucuses.
Organizers said the rally, set for 5 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Clark
County Government Center in ...
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