Is there any sadder group in America today than gay Republicans? Here in California the queer GOP group, the Log Cabin Club, will put its members’ pathetic self-loathing on display on June 29 when it hosts an address by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is running for reelection in November.
The governor vetoed a bill last year that would have legalized gay marriage — and soon after his address to the gay Republicans will reportedly veto a bill that would promote the teaching of gay history in schools.
The address by Schwarzenegger is a craven attempt by his campaign to court the vote of the state’s burgeoning “independent” voters, many of whom are fiscally conservative but socially liberal, by symbolizing his alleged tolerance on sexual identity issues. It also represents a hard shift to the left by the governor after years of catering to California’s anemic conservative base.
But why would the members of the Log Cabin Club allow themselves to be subjected to such feckless pandering? Listen to the defensive tone in Log Cabin President Patrick Guerrero’s explanation of the invitation to the governor:
“There is a better than 50-50 chance this man will be the governor of California for the next four years, and for the gay community to label somebody based on one veto is shortsighted,” Guerrero said. “We thought allowing him to address these issues in a friendly setting as well as giving him a chance to get another look at who gay and lesbian families are was important both for him and for us.”
Right. That’s all he needs — just one more look at gay and lesbian families.
What could the real reason for this devotion be? Are the gay Gops simply shallow? After all, even though Schwarzenegger has had tens of thousands of dollars of work done on his face and (probably) elsewhere, wears makeup by the trowel-full and has fake-looking dyed hair, he is a movie star. Or maybe it’s a fetish — for daddies, bullies or both.
