As I prepare to depart for New Orlean to attend the Log Cabin National Convention/Liberty Education Forum National Symposium, I wanted to tell y’all why I’m taking the trip. I’m going to see whether or not Log Cabin had really changed, whether it is an organization of gay and lesbian Republicans committed to building their party or an organization of gay and lesbian Republicans dedicated to promoting the agenda of the various “gay rights’” groups in our nation’s capital.

On the one hand, I have been heartened by Log Cabin’s support of some of President Bush’s initiatives, notably Social Security reform. And by its co-sponsorship last month of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). I join Log Cabin in opposing the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment — or whatever it’s called in its latest incarnation.

On the other hand, In January, Log Cabin signed on to the Unity Statement of 22 “gay advocacy organizations, thus taking the same positions on gay issues as all of these groups, including such left-wing outfits as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and the Stonewall Democrats.

This morning, a reader e-mailed me an article from Sunday’s Washington Post where writers Mike Allen and Dana Milbank begin their piece, noting “ The Log Cabin Republicans are looking less and less Republican.” LCR’s rhetoric, particularly on gay issues is virtually indistinguishable from that of other gay groups, notably the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

Looking less like Republicans, repeating the rhetoric of other gay groups, Log Cabin doesn’t seem to be making an effort to put forward a Republican vision of gay issues.

So, I’m traveling to New Orleans to listen and to take notes, to sit in on the panels and to see how this organization — and its affiliated education forum — present themselves. I will be talking to participants and perhaps questioning some of the organizations’ leaders.
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The New York Times reports today that Mary Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Cheney, “has sold the rights to a memoir to Simon & Schuster for an advance.” According to the Times, Mary said

The first time I campaigned with my father I was 8 years old. . . . I’ve been involved with campaigns as a family member, a staffer, and though I certainly never intended it, as a political target for the other side. It’s been an amazing experience – uplifting, frustrating, educational and always entertaining.

I am looking forward to this book for a number of reasons, particularly to get the perspective this bright woman on campaigning and politics, but also because she will present “a portrait of the vice president different from his public persona.” A longtime fan of the Vice President (long before he became Vice President), I regret that he has gotten a bum rap in the media. Hopefully, this book will correct many of the misperceptions of this good and wise man.

Although he has been savaged by many on the left, including numerous gay activists, the Vice President loves his daughter even as he knows she’s a lesbian. He and his wife have welcomed Mary and her partner into the family, inviting both to sit in their box at the Republican National Convention, up on stage when the president declared victory last November and into VIP seats at the president’s second inaugural just two months ago.

The Times reports further

Mary Cheney’s memoir is first book planned in a new line of titles about conservative politics and current events, overseen by Mary Matalin, a political consultant and close adviser to the Cheney family. Ms. Matalin was not involved in making the book deal, she and others said.

Matalin commented “I am doing a handful of books that reflect the breadth of conservatism today . . . and I think she represents that, and she represents it beyond the narrow casting of ‘she is a gay Republican.’”

This blog welcomes anything which shows the true breadth — and I would add, depth — of American conservatism. Gay conservative bloggers know all too well about the “narrow casting” of those who reduce us to our political label, those who sneer at us when we come out as gay Republicans.

It seems Mary Cheney’s memoir will do much to advance the causes this blog has promoted as it presents a more accurate picture of the Vice President and his family.

I can’t wait until it comes out.

Hat tip: lgbt-politics listserv.

-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

In a column in today’s OpinionJournal.com, columnist and blogress Bridget Johnson (this blog’s guest at the Ben Stein dinner Monday night) offers some thoughts on Hollywood’s love affair with Che Guevara, noting that after the success of MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, a movie about the revolutionary’s youth, a number of Che-movies are now in production.

Pondering Che’s appeal, Bridget asks, “What feature films have showed the true nature of communism?” Despite the Oscar-winning 1984 film, “THE KILLING FIELDS” which depicted the brutality and mass executions committed by the Communist Khmer Rouge when they took over Cambodia, few Hollywood movies have shown the horrors of communism. Bridget lists a number of nations which suffered (and one which still suffers) under the yoke of Communism, suggesting that each would be a worthy subject for a film.

As she details the crimes of Che Guevara, Bridget notes, that in films depicting the reality of Communism, he would be one of the villains. His legacy includes, among other things, “both ordering and conducting executions and founding forced labor camps.”

Communism may have been built on a noble vision, but it has found its place on “the ash heap of history” because whenever a Communist regime took over a nation, it impoverished that nation’s citizens when it didn’t imprison or kill them. Under communism, there were long lines for the basic necessities of life, neighbor spied upon neighbor and people could be punished for disagreeing with the government, believing in God, or even for being gay. Bridget think it’s time for Hollywood to explore the real nature of this failed system. I agree. So, read the whole thing!

UPDATE: In the comments, Michael Tinker mentions the 2000 film BEFORE NIGHT FALLS which depicted the persecution of a gay man in Castro’s Cuba, “a Che-state.” For his portrayal of writer, Reinaldo Arenas, Javier Bardem garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com