Conservative homosexuals (a quarter of the homosexual population) are not feeling at home with the GOP...

Gays are wary of GOP's future

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Log Cabin Republicans Vote to Withhold Endorsement from President Bush
In 2004, the Log Cabin Republicans withheld their endorsement from President Bush.
What that meant as far as lost votes is something I don't know.

The Republican platform is coming to a dividing point. A point where they will suddenly have to choose whether or not to side with the religious right, or to go with the majority on the "gay issue".

Polls over time show the American public is shifting in its opinion of gay issues. Today, a majority support gay equality on every issue with only "gay marriage" being the exception. Even a majority of younger voters approve of gay marriage, which is pretty astounding.
And that trend towards higher approval of gay rights issues continues, as the age gap on the issue shifts with the younger generation being more tolerant, and the older more intolerant segment reaches the end of their life-span.

The religious right is demanding more acquiescence to their demands from Republicans, threatening to withhold approval.
I think they are being naive in that they fail to recognize that they will not see the type of service they saw with George Bush in a while. Their demands are to go with the MINORITY position on too many issues, even above and beyond just the "gay issue".
And quite frankly, what alternative do the religious right have? To vote for the Democratic candidate instead??? Puh-leaze!

While the conservative gays may be wary of their Republican future, I think the GOP needs to be wary of their own future as well. The "gay marriage amendment" resurrection right before the last election cycle was too transparent, and too ineffectual to not go unnoticed.
It may not be too long before such efforts actually work against them, and not for them...

I got a better idea...Why not vote for the person in the country's best interests and not your personal interests?...

This subject (along with abortion) are the two subjects that should be NULL & VOID when choosing a president...

I find it absolutely absurd to think a candidate is considered very good for the country by an individual but they don't agree on homosexuality or abortion so they don't vote for them...

There are too many other fish for a president to fry...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Well I use it as a tie breaker issue. If I have to pick two equally competent individuals, one supports gay rights and the other doesn't, then I vote for the one that supports gay rights. But I think you are on to something that most forget. If you support gay rights, pick your congressional representatives based upon that as it's congress that is ultimately going to make the decision.

But the issue is an important issue to be sure. Important as Iraq? Yes, but different. If we ignored the issue of individual rights every time we had 'more pressing' issues, we wouldn't have individual rights.

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You presume too much with my position.

Quite frankly, I don't give a damn if the president thinks I'm committing a mortal sin, feels I am making a "lifestyle choice", and thinks I'm a pervert.
If he protects my equal rights, I'm happy.

I think part of the problem is that you aren't in a category that has truly been discriminated against. You have never had to worry about "equal rights" protection.
The biggest worry you seem to have is whether or not somebody uses "XMas" and they intend to offend you...

But as for your claims, are you telling me that you wouldn't think twice about voting for a president who felt that Christianity was "cult", and felt that religious protections should not be observed???


With that said, I wouldn't make the "gay" thing an exclusive issue. There are a couple of Democratic candidates who support gay marriage, but their overall package makes me go towards somebody else on the Democrat side.
When it comes to the Republican side, there are only a couple of candidates who have said anything a little too scary to create a "vote against" type mentality, IMO.

okay
I'll not worry about my personal interests in when choosing a candidate.

will YOU pay for my inheritance taxes - will YOU replace the funds lost by not being eligible for my spouse's social security benefits - will YOU replace the funds lost by having our dual health insurance taxed as income by the federal government?

frankly - those things are going to impact my life one fuckload more than the price of gasoline.

I believe that social issues are the most important issues to judge a candidate on...hell, we all know the fascists can make the trains run on schedule.

Oh, I don't know about that... the "average" American is not as clever as we think.

This trick (and it IS just a trick) works EVERY time on JUST enough voters to continue to be worth their while.