Gay Republicans have had their own dim spotlight at the Republican National Convention as they peddle apologetics for their party while trying to advance LGBT equality from within. Log Cabin Republicans were proud to have been part of the platform drafting committee, but the GOP ended up approving one of the most anti-gay platforms ever. One member of LCR, Casey Pick, admitted to NPR that the platform might very well have been a “hostile” retaliation to their presence:
PICK: When you back someone into a corner, they fight back twice as hard. The platform is ugly and harmful. We lost, and you could say the social conservatives in our party dropped the hammer harder because we were there.
A couple of points here: first, when you’re a mouse siding with the cat, you really do have to expect things to go terribly, terribly wrong. This could not have turned out any other way. Seriously.
Secondly, take a look at other civil rights movements in history. You’ll notice that blacks didn’t join the KKK with the intent of changing it from within. It sounds nice, like a very special episode of The Waltons where everyone learns a valuable lesson about tolerance, but the fact is that TV ain’t real and people learn lessons if they want to learn lessons. Those who cherish their ignorance cling to it like a life-preserver and aren’t about to learn jack squat.
No, if you want equal rights, you have to shove the people standing in your way out of your way and take those rights which are yours. You don’t ask them politely if you might please be considered a human being at some unspecified time in an unclear future.
