Before I turn in tonight, I wanted to note that as of today, I have been blogging for six months. To honor that, I reference my “virgin post” and quote again the words of the great Albert Camus with which I entered the blogosphere:

Something in us has been destroyed by the spectacle of the years just past. And this something is the eternal confidence of man, which has always made him believe that one could draw human reactions from another man by speaking to him in the language of humanity. We have seen lying, debasing, killing, deportations, torture, and each time it was not possible to persuade those who were doing it not to do it, because they were so sure of themselves and because one cannot persuade an abstraction, that is to say, the representative of an ideology.

The long conversation of mankind has just ended. And, of course, a man whom one cannot persuade is a man who frightens us….

We live in terror because persuasion is no longer possible, because man has been delivered entirely to history and because he can no longer turn to that part of himself, as true as the historical part, which he discovers in front of the beauty of the world and of human faces…

The Century of Fear from “COMBAT,” November 1946 (my translation)

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

During the Log Cabin Republicans National Dinner Saturday Night at the New Orleans convention, LCR showed a short video on the group’s efforts in 2004. Among other things, the video included footage of a press conference held during last summer’s Republican National Convention where LCR announced the release of TV ad claiming that the GOP was focusing on issues which divide the party. Once again it struck me as odd that, just as Republicans were coming together to rally around their nominee, Log Cabin had been focusing on divisions within the party.

Of course, it makes sense for Log Cabin to distance itself from the president’s stand on the Federal Marriage Amendment as well as the GOP platform’s plank on civil unions (and other such planks). But, it seemed odd to use an occasion for party unity to promote and distribute a commercial which highlights their differences with the GOP.

Including that press conference in the video reminded me of the most frequent criticism this blog’s readers have made about Log Cabin. They cite such examples and wonder if Log Cabin is truly interesting in promoting the GOP.

At the convention this past weekend, I noted the relative paucity of Republicans on the panels. To be sure, former New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato joined us at the Welcome Reception while former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman delivered the keynote address at the dinner (when Chris Matthews had to rush off to Rome to cover the passing of the Pope). But, these two Republicans are former elected officials. No current Republican elected official addressed the convention.
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Like most gay people, I am saddened, but not surprised, by yesterday’s vote in Kansas to add the definition of marriage (as one man to one woman) to the state’s constitution. I am especially troubled by the sweeping nature of the provision. Not only does it define marriage, but it also prohibits the state from authorizing civil unions. The measure passed with 70 percent of Kansans in favor. All but one county, Douglas, voted for the proposition.

Kansas is now the 18th state to amend its constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Voters in every state who have had the chance to vote on the issue, have approved, in many cases by margins of more than two-to-one, measures which so define marriage.

The people of Kansas have spoken. I wish they had voted differently than they had. But, now that the results are in, we must recognize their reality. Our task now is not to condemn the Kansas vote as HRC and NGLTF have done, but to figure out what it means.
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