Once again, I am grateful to Christian Grantham’s blog for alerting me to important happenings in the gay world. Just last week, he posted two items on conflicting attitudes of two different Republican parents of lesbians. Fortunately, the one with the better attitude has an office in the White House, while the other ran well behind the president in his bid for elective office in a “blue state.”
Christian reported that Alan Keyes, a three-time loser in his bid for Senate seats in Maryland and Illinois, kicked his lesbian daughter out of the house. He also noted that America’s Second Lady, the wise and classy Lynne Cheney, opposes an amendment to the constitution banning gay marriage.
While in my previous post, I agreed strongly with one of Christian’s, this time I’m afraid I have to disagree with that hard-working blogger and web guru. He suggests that Dr. Keyes who ran 17 points behind the president in Illinois represents the “compassionate conservatism of Republicans.” While I believe the president is wrong to back a constitutional amendment defining marriage, he better represents the face of the real Republican party than does Alan Keyes.
This president has refused to cave in to the demands of social conservatives that he rescind a Clinton-era Executive Order barring discrimination against gays in the federal workforce. He believes states should be left alone to decide whether or not to recognize same-sex civil unions. His Vice President (and some say, his closest political advisor) has been open about his disagreement with the president on the marriage amendment. And once again, the Vice President’s wife has made public her opposition to the amendment.
Not only that. This president allowed the Vice President’s daughter to bring her same-sex partner on stage with him when he declared victory in the presidential election. That young woman sat in the presidential box at the Republican National Convention. And she sat right behind the Vice President’s daughter, her beloved, at the inauguration last month.
It is reprehensible what Alan Keyes has done. There are few worse things that a parent could do than to reject his own child. His daughter must be one remarkable woman for, despite her father’s inexcusable behavior, the “WASHINGTON POST” reports that she still loves him.
A man who rejects his own children is not the face of the GOP. I condemn Mr. Keyes strongly for this action and encourage him to show true love and to welcome his daughter back into his family even if he opposes what he might call her “lifestyle.” And I note that many Republicans have rejected Dr. Keyes as well. Nearly one million Bush-voters in Illinois refused to cast a ballot for Dr. Keyes last fall in his bid for the U.S. Senate.
No, that three-time loser is not the face of the GOP. The Vice President presents a better image of compassionate conservatism than does that conservative firebrand. We must always remember that our president, the standard-bearer of the Republican party, picked as his second in command and closest advisor a man who cherishes his lesbian daughter and welcomes her partner into his family.
-Dan (aka GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com