The head of Log Cabin Republicans has written a commentary piece for USA Today condemning the Texas Republican Party's recently adopted anti-LGBTQ+ platform but claiming the national party is actually a welcoming space -- something with which many LGBTQ+ people would no doubt disagree.
"The Texas GOP isn't just on the wrong side of history. They're shortsightedly on the wrong side of the modern Republican Party," Log Cabin President Charles Moran wrote in the op-ed, taking the state party to task for calling homosexuality "an abnormal lifestyle choice" and not letting Log Cabin have a booth at its recent convention. The USA Today article is available to subscribers only, but Log Cabin has posted the full text on its website.
Moran asserted that Donald Trump made the Republican Party inclusive. "It's difficult to understand just how game-changing Trump's presidential campaigns and presidency were for LGBT conservatives, who were suddenly included as welcome members of the party after decades of being sidelined," he said.
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He mentioned Trump declaring that marriage equality is a settled issue and appointing gay people to his administration, including Richard Grenell, who was ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence. He also noted that Trump formed an LGBTQ+ coalition during his reelection campaign and held "Trump Pride" events.
He ignored Trump's many anti-LGBTQ+ actions as president, however, such as endorsing "license to discriminate" provisions in many federally funded programs, opposing the Equality Act, and appointing overtly anti-LGBTQ+ judges and Cabinet members.
And there were also the actions that were specifically anti-transgender, such as the trans military ban and the revoking of trans-inclusive guidance for schools. But Moran extended little sympathy to trans people, and he went on to endorse trans athlete bans and Florida's "don't say gay" law.
"Our members vigorously oppose this radical gender culture war just as much as [Texas Republicans] do," he wrote. "Our organization vocally defended Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Parental Rights in Education law and slammed Democrats for lying about it. We oppose teaching young children about sex and gender ideology in schools. We believe allowing biological men to compete in women's sports is unfair. We have been on the front lines in these fights because, unlike LGBT activists on the left, we do not agree with the radical notion that sex and gender are meaningless." That mischaracterizes the positions of many in the LGBTQ+ movement.
"Regardless of what Texas does, our members are proud conservatives and will keep fighting Democrats however they can," Moran wrote toward the end of the piece. And it's true there is a diversity of ideology among LGBTQ+ Americans, although most lean Democratic. But it's questionable, to say the least, that the Republican Party has LGBTQ+ people's best interests at heart.
