How will Republicans deal with growing gay rights issues?

Chances are, there are just as many gay Republicans as there are gay Democrats – why wouldn’t there be? – even though one might assume otherwise based on commonly-held assumptions about what it means to be “conservative” or “liberal,” particularly when religion and “family values” are thrown into the mix.

But no matter how one argues those points, the GOP finds itself in a rapidly evolving situation regarding sexual orientation and gay rights.

In Washington the other day, the group Log Cabin Republicans honored what it called “allies in its fight to create a more inclusive Republican Party.” Among them were six Republican members of Congress, including Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, chairman of the Republican National Congressional Committee.

The group’s mission statement includes standard conservative boilerplate: “balanced budgets and fiscal discipline,” comprehensive tax reform, Social Security “allowing individuals to invest in their futures,” strong national defense, and “market driven health reform.”

But the main aim of the Log Cabin Republicans (named for Abraham Lincoln’s legendary home) is “to work within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians.” That includes “marriage equality for all Americans,” a “broad, inclusive definition of family in America,” and repealing the “don't ask, don't tell” law preventing gay and lesbian Americans from openly serving in the military.

Gay Republicans versus their party leaders

The irony, of course, is that neither Cornyn nor Sessions supports same-sex marriage or doing away with don’t ask, don’t tell.

Public attitudes are moving inexorably in the opposite direction regarding don’t ask, don’t tell – especially among younger people. In 1993, 44 percent of Americans polled said gay people who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military. By 2001, that had risen to 62 percent, and in 2008 it was 75 percent – including majorities of Republicans as well as Democrats and independents.

(In what's being seen as a legal chipping away at don't ask, don't tell, US District Judge Ronald Leighton ruled Friday that former Air Force Reserve Maj. Margaret Witt, a military nurse, should be "reinstated at the earliest possible moment." Maj. Witt had been forced out of the military under don't ask, don't tell.)

Meanwhile, prominent Republicans are speaking out on the marriage issue as well.

• Former first lady Laura Bush told CNN’s Larry King earlier this year that she supports gay marriage, even though her husband doesn’t. “When couples are committed to each other and love each other … they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has,” she said.

• Speaking at the National Press Club last year, former vice president Dick Cheney said: “I think that freedom means freedom for everyone. As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish.”

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