Diversity in American Politics, part 1c

Some of the material on this page was originally on Part 1a of this series.

Both of America's major political parties have factions in them.  Republican factions are named and described on pages 1a, 1b, and this page.  Current factions include the Trump family and its' supporters, conservative groups (including the House Freedom Caucus and the Tea Party), and the Mormon Church.  Most of these groups adhere to a traditional set of principles, including:

• The Rule of Law, which states that laws are more important than any one man, even the President of the United States
• The belief that a supreme being exists and because he is influential in the world, he must be worshiped
• "The right of the people to keep and bear arms", as stated in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

support for the U.S. Military capitalism, rather than socialism

• support for small business, which offers most of the jobs in America
• support for state and local police forces, including the National Guard

In contrast, the Democrat Party has no unifying principles.  As shown on Parts 2a through 2g of this series, they are little more than a loose collection of special-interest groups.

Gay Republicans are another faction in the GOP.

Link to the Facebook page of a group called the Log Cabin Republicans.

Their logo is on the right.

This is the text of the paragraph labeled "What we believe" on the "About us" page of their website.

We are loyal Republicans.  We believe in limited government, strong national defense, free markets, low taxes, personal responsibility, and individual liberty.  Log Cabin Republicans represents an important part of the American family—taxpaying, hard working people who proudly believe in this nation’s greatness.  We also believe all Americans have the right to liberty and equality.  We believe equality for LGBT Americans is in the finest tradition of the Republican Party.  We educate our Party about why inclusion wins.  Opposing gay and lesbian equality is inconsistent with the GOP’s core principles of smaller government and personal freedom.

A gay Republican in the Pennsylvania state legislature

These are the first five paragraphs of a September 28, 2013 New York Times Op-Ed.

ORBISONIA, Pa. — MIKE FLECK, wholesome country boy, cruised to a second term in the State Legislature in 2008, running unopposed in both the Republican primary and the general election.  He got 100 percent of the vote in a largely rural, religious, conservative district.

It was the same two years later: 100 percent.  And the same again in 2012.

But for 2014, primary opponents are circling.  Some supporters are fleeing.  He’s in trouble.

And while nothing has changed — not his deep roots in the farmland here, not his degree from an evangelical Christian university founded by Jerry Falwell, not his fondness for hunting or his pride in the bear pelt from one of his kills — everything has.  At the end of last year, he announced that his marriage of 10 years was over.  And that he’s gay.

Plenty of people figured that he’d exit state politics after that.  But on Monday he’ll announce his campaign for a fifth term.  This time, it will almost certainly be a campaign, with rivals and an uncertain outcome, hinging on whether he can persuade his constituents that he’s the same politician they embraced before, the same man, apart from a reality owned up to, a truth embraced.

According to this May 27, 2014 story in PennLive, Mike lost the Republican nomination but his name will still be on the ballot because he received a sufficient number of Democrat write-in votes.

These are the first two paragraphs ofa July 21, 2015 article in the Washington Blade, which calls itself "America's LGBT news source".

THREE SPRINGS, Pa. — A gay Republican who served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for nearly a decade has accepted a position in Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration.

Mike Fleck, who represented the state’s rural and conservative 81st House District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2006 until late last year, in June officially became the director of the Bureau of Workplace Partnerships and Operations within the commonwealth’s Department of Labor and Industry.

Sometimes, a member of one faction will find a reason to join a very different faction.  Professional politicians, especially the ones who have been working as politicians for a long time, have a habit of working with politicians in the other major party on legislation that would benefit both of their constituencies.  This situation happened a lot with this Republican President and this Democrat Speaker of the House of Representatives, who were actual friends for most of their lives.

These are the first five paragraphs of a July 14, 2016 CNN story.

Washington (CNN) One of the most influential gay Republican groups says it is furious about what it's calling the "most anti-LGBT Platform" in the Republican Party's history.

"There's no way to sugar-coat this: I'm mad as h*** -- and I know you are, too," Gregory Angelo, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, said Tuesday in a fundraising email.  "Moments ago, the Republican Party passed the most anti-LGBT Platform in the Party's 162-year history."

LGBT issues were a popular issue this week as Republicans in Cleveland worked to hammer out a platform representing the heart of the GOP.

A few delegates attending Platform Committee meetings ahead of next week's Republican National Convention repeatedly challenged their peers to moderate provisions affecting gay Americans.

"Opposition to marriage equality, nonsense about bathrooms, an endorsement of the debunked psychological practice of 'pray the gay away' — it's all in there," Angelo said.  "This isn't my GOP, and I know it's not yours either. Heck, it's not even Donald Trump's!"

In order for this group or any other group of people to stay in the Republican Party, they must be willing to live with the traditional Republican values

• low taxes
• small, efficient government
• support for small business so that they can grow into larger businesses
• support for the police so that they can protect us from our domestic enemies
• support for the U.S. military so that they can protect us from our international enemies

There's no mention in the news stories in this section of any of these Republican values, so as an organization, the Log Cabin Republicans are rather selfish.  They should be working harder to elect non-gay Republicans and working less to divide the party using issues of sexual politics.

A short-lived gay group within the Republican Party

These are the first four paragraphs of a January 22, 2014 Politico story.

GOProud co-founder Jimmy LaSalvia announced last week that he would renounce his affiliation with the Republican Party and become an independent nearly five years after he founded the group aimed at gay conservatives.

“I just came to the realization that the Republican Party doesn’t represent my principles and values,” LaSalvia told POLITICO. “I’m a small government conservative and they’re for big government. They’re happy to have big government as long as they’re in charge, More importantly, I don’t tolerate bigotry of any kind, whether it’s anti-gay bigotry, anti-Muslim bigotry. And they do and that’s just not OK with me.”

Although LaSalvia has spent the time since co-founding GOProud in 2009 working within the Republican Party to focus on the issues he cares most passionately about, he says he’s given up hope.

“I think there’s a cultural problem within the Republican Party that’s beyond fixing. I think the leadership of the Republican Party is so out of touch with life in America today that I just decided that it’s not worth fixing. I don’t think they can win a national election again. Pull the plug on the patient, the party’s brain dead.”

The first paragraph of the previous Politico story says that this group is already threatening to leave the Republican Party.  For that reason, I question their commitment to be Republicans when they formed their group.  The Log Cabin Republicans have a page on their website that has information about them.  This is the first sentence of their "What We Believe" paragraph on their "About Us" page.

We are loyal Republicans.

These are the first six paragraphs of a June 3, 2014 story in The Advocate, a national publication that focuses on gay issues.  The links in the second paragraph were in their story.

After five years in the often precarious space of being a gay conservative group, LGBT Republican organization GOProud is ceasing operations, according to a series of reports at Bilerico. 

Bilerico reporter Andrew Markle initially reported that GOProud was shuttering on Sunday, and following initial denials on social media from members of the group, key organizers confirmed to Bilerico founder Bil Browning Monday that the group is indeed planning to close up shop.

GOProud executive director Matthew Bechstein told Browning that the mixed messages were an attempt to calm members and stave off any problems with fundraising efforts.

Nevertheless, "We're leaving GOProud behind and re-branding the chapters," Bechstein told Bilerico. 

"The fact is, in order to continue promoting the conservative principles upon which this organization was founded, change is needed," Bechstein wrote in an email to Bilerico.  "One of the changes under discussion is a switch to a different legal type of organization — basic paperwork that requires dissolution and immediate subsequent reorganization.  Technically, as some argue, this would be a legal closure. … But if it were to actually happen, it would only be momentary and certainly not the end of our organization."

Bilerico, however, reports that the government requirement Bechstein cites does not actually exist, explaining that the group is being dissolved and will have to file entirely new paperwork if it reorganizes as a different entity.  If, as Bechstein contends, the group intends to focus on grassroots online activism, it would not be required to file legal paperwork, but if it accepts financial donations, it will be required to formally register with the government, according to Browning.

This is a similar story, dated June 6, 2014, in the Daily Beast.

The relationship between gays and pedophiles

This section was added December 18, 2019.

These are the first six paragraphs of a July 10, 2018 story in Life Site News, a national publication that focuses on Pro-Life issues.  The links in the first and sixth paragraphs were in their story.

July 10, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A pedophile group is trying to destigmatize pedophilia by calling themselves “Minor Attracted Persons” (MAPs) rather than pedophiles.

Gay groups are up in arms because in the process the same pedophile group is claiming to be part of the LGBT community, even having gone so far as to create their own version of the rainbow flag for Gay Pride Month.

This should come as no surprise.

In essence, the MAP group is attempting to re-hitch its wagon to the gay community, which, for the sake of political – and judicial – expediency, distanced themselves from the pedophile cause beginning a few decades ago.

For the last dozen years or so, the gay rights movement has focused the lion’s share of its energy on what appear to many to be conservative issues: winning same-sex marriage and the right to openly serve in the military.

Yet the warm, fuzzy, family-oriented, “American as baseball and apple pie” picture of gay culture presented to the world by gay activists is a far cry from the movement’s origins in the 1960s and 70s when groups like NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) were an integral part of their coalition.

These words are in a section titled "Who we are" on this page of the website for the North American Man-Boy Love Association.

As never before, our society is beginning to recognize the value and richness of human diversity.  The manifold nature of our humanity appears in the emotional, spiritual, and physical attractions between people.  Attractions between men and boys can be found in every society, crossing lines of race, age, temperament and occupation.  They form a sure basis for mentoring and friendship traditions the world over.  Man/boy love is exceptional only for the degree to which it is still misunderstood in cultures derived from Northwestern Europe.  Most man/boy relationships are based on mutual respect and affection, and strongly desired by both partners.  Such relationships do not harm anyone, and often entail many benefits for both man and boy.  Boy-lovers and boys alike respond to the needs of those they love — needs for affection, understanding, and freedom.

Who we are is perhaps best understood from Dr. John Money’s account of two boys, who speak about how they view their adult lovers: Andy – “Just as normal as anybody else.  He is like a second father to me.”  Burt – “He’s neat; and he’s nice, and gives me more respect than anyone ever has ...  he treats me like an adult, not like my parents treat me.  To me, he’s my best friend.”

This video was uploaded on January 3, 2014.  This is the description of this video. This is a video shot in 1994. It presents a widely vilified & disparaged viewpoint within the LGBT community.  This group was officially banned from marching in the official 1994 Pride Parade in NYC.  Tom Reeves died in either 2013 or 2012.

This video about a man named Harry Hay was uploaded on January 3, 2014.  The description of this video includes this link and these hash-tags. Please remember that not every gay is pedophile and not every pedophile is gay.http://kinseysyndrome.com - This clip comes from the documentary The Kinsey Syndrome (www.thekinseysyndrome.com). Harry Hay (the father of the homosexual movement) actually supported NAMBLA (The North American Man/Boy Love Association).   Hay also supported the works of atheist and Darwinist Alfred Kinsey. #LGBT #pedogate #pizzagate

This is the last sentence in the sixth paragraph of Harry Hay's biography in the Encyclopedia Britannica.  Both of these links were in their page.

A champion for a diverse homosexual identity, Hay often waded into contentious debates, notably by advocating for such controversial organizations as the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), a pro-pederasty group.

Harry also has a page on the Wikipedia website.