7 Local Log Cabin Chapters Endorse Trump in Contradiction of National Group

Seven local chapters have so far endorsed Donald Trump for president, even though the national Log Cabin Republican organization is withholding its own support.

Colorado is the latest local chapter confirmed to endorse the Republican nominee. It joins local chapters in Cleveland, Los Angeles, Texas, Georgia, and Orange County, Calif. that the national chapter confirms have issued Trump endorsements. A spokesman for the national group confirms it is breaking with the usual protocol and inviting local chapters to issue endorsements.

The Miami chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans was upset that the national chapter negated to endorse Trump for president, so the Florida group endorsed the Republican nominee Monday.

"It's huge," Vincent Foster, president of Miami's Log Cabin chapter, told the Miami Herald. "A lot of our membership was upset. We were ready to risk everything and go our separate way to support our most supportive Republican presidential candidate for the LGBT community."

The Los Angeles chapter of Log Cabin called 2016 "a wild election year," saying Trump "has been anything but a conventional candidate." Despite that, the group wrote that it was "excited to unite behind Trump as the most pro-LGBT candidate in our Party's history, and help defeat Hillary Clinton on November 8th!"

"We enthusiastically endorse Donald Trump for president because of his commitment to America first, peace through strength and free enterprise," said Colorado chapter president George Gramer, according to Mile High Gay, a Colorado LGBT blog. Gramer cited national security among his top concerns.

Despite referring to Trump as "the most pro-LGBT presidential nominee in the history of the Republican Party," the national organization refused to endorse Trump because, it said, he is surrounded by a sea of advisers who had a record of opposing LGBT equality. Two of Trump's top advisers are Stephen Bannon, the former editor of the conservative site Breitbart, and Roger Ailes, the former CEO and chairman of the right-leaning Fox News. Plus his running mate is Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who signed that state's "license to discriminate" bill into law (it has since been amended) and has a history of other anti-LGBT stances.

The organization's president, Gregory T. Angelo, spoke to The Advocate in October to further explain the national group's reasoning, saying it could not endorse Trump because of "the high degree of uncertainty about what a Trump administration would look like for Log Cabin Republicans and LGBT Americans in general."

Clarification: This story was updated to show that a spokesman for Log Cabin Republicans says the national leadership gave local chapters permission to issue endorsements.