# Gay Republicans -- how will the Party deal with them? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 5, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145 "2006-11-05T02:07:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/1 "2006-11-05T02:07:34Z")
I had a sudden thought this morning. Should the Republicans lose big on Tuesday, the conservative wing might simply pin it on gays. I can hear it now --“They infiltrated our party to make this day happen.” Foley, the various Congressional staff who are suddenly being scrutinzed during this investigation, and Haggard, make convenient targets. Do you see the Republicans doing some very public purges after the election? Or moving back toward the center and cooling down their firebrand social agenda rhetoric? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/2 "2006-11-05T02:50:11Z")
They’ll deal with them the same way they’ve been dealing with them. They’ll ignore them 98% of the time and make half-hearted pitches for money and votes the other 2% of the time. And the gay Republicans will continue to fall for it, because once you’ve deluded yourself to the point of thinking that you can be both gay and a Republican, there’s no limit to your capacity for self-deception. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/3 "2006-11-05T03:00:23Z")
But parties have to blame someone or something for their defeats. Of course that’s not to say they will make the correct choices. If not gays, then who or what? ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/4 "2006-11-05T03:08:45Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] They’ll deal with them the same way they’ve been dealing with them. They’ll ignore them 98% of the time and make half-hearted pitches for money and votes the other 2% of the time. And the gay Republicans will continue to fall for it, because once you’ve deluded yourself to the point of thinking that you can be both gay and a Republican, there’s no limit to your capacity for self-deception. [/QUOTE] Huh they make half hearted pitches in favor of gay republicans? With what I’ve seen the only reason gays support republicans is because they are masocists. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/5 "2006-11-05T03:26:03Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] But parties have to blame someone or something for their defeats. Of course that’s not to say they will make the correct choices. If not gays, then who or what? [/QUOTE] Gays will not be the issue. If the Republicans lose big, the fracture will be along the following lines: Economic conservatives vs Bushite big government conservatives, possibly with another split between social moderates and evangelicals. Big issues that the Republicans have to deal with include stem cell research, spending control, and the Iraq war. Stem cell research is a good example of an issue that could fracture the Republicans. A majority of Republican voters actually favor embryonic stem cell research, and the population as a whole is for it in a big way. Opposing it obviously hurts the Republican party, and yet the Republican party is officially against it, in part because Bush is against it, and in part because of the evangelical wing of the party. There are Republicans who are socially moderate, don’t give a crap about stem cell research and Terry Schiavo, and who are sick of Bush’s religious posturing and big government habits. And they’re sick of the cultural conservative wing of the party that doesn’t care much about small government and traditional Republican values, instead focusing on opposing gay marriage, stem cell research, and keeping the Ten Commandments in courthouses. Basically, it’s the Reagan Republicans, who are fiscally conservative and socially moderate, against the Pat Robertson Republicans, who are fiscally agnostic and only care about social issues, on which they are very conservative. That’s where the fight will be. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/6 "2006-11-05T07:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=boytyperanma] Huh they make half hearted pitches in favor of gay republicans? [/QUOTE] No, they make pitches _to_ gay Republicans, then create completely worthless organizations like the Republican Unity Council and ignore them. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/7 "2006-11-05T08:01:49Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] completely worthless organizations like the Republican Unity Council [/QUOTE] Oops, the name of the completely worthless organization is the Republican Unity _Coalition_, not Council. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/8 "2006-11-05T08:36:10Z")
Swifty and brutally, with clubs! And not the clubs with throbbing dance beats and disco balls! Why, oh why did I have to answer this using the words “club” and ''balls"? :smack: And “throbbing”! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/9 "2006-11-05T08:50:46Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] Basically, it’s the Reagan Republicans, who are fiscally conservative and socially moderate, against the Pat Robertson Republicans, who are fiscally agnostic and only care about social issues, on which they are very conservative. That’s where the fight will be. [/QUOTE] You may be right about this explanation, but it makes me think that ultimately, the GOP won’t change much. I think the small-government Republicans would be hopelessly outnumbered, and it remains to be seen if they’d ever become a reliable Democratic constituency. Since the Republican Party will probably have to distance itself from Bush anyway, they may try to appeal to those fiscal conservatives by saying they will return to those values in 2008. Gay Republicans vs. evangelicals could be interesting. I don’t think the Democrats did anything to endear themselves to gays during the Foley scandal, though. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/10 "2006-11-05T08:56:14Z")
Well, if nothing else, it is starting to make the rabid Republican stance against homosexuality look sillier than it already is. I mean, come on…even a staunch Republican has got to start wondering what the hell is happening. And it certainly puts the Republicans on the defense when they go harping on their patent on moral family values. How will the Republicans be able to keep a straight face when decrying Democrats as fag lovers, when there are suddenly so many Gay faces popping up in their midst? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/11 "2006-11-05T09:13:30Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] How will the Republicans be able to keep a straight face when decrying Democrats as fag lovers, when there are suddenly so many Gay faces popping up in their midst? [/QUOTE] By claiming that they are infilterators and part of a gay liberal atheistic agenda to subvert the Republicans to Godless Liberalism. And they’ll probably work terrorism into that somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/12 "2006-11-05T11:50:45Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] By claiming that they are infilterators and part of a gay liberal atheistic agenda to subvert the Republicans to Godless Liberalism. And they’ll probably work terrorism into that somewhere. [/QUOTE] Exactly the point of my OP. Or at least one possible outcome – a big ugly purge to try to reconnect with the most conservative part of their base. **Sam Stone** , I understand what you mean by _Reagan Republicans_, but I wonder if people remember that he too drove deficits up to record levels in his time – even without a war. Never mind – stupid question on my part. Of course they won’t remember – in 2004 voters didn’t even remember 2001-2003. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/13 "2006-11-05T15:48:23Z")
Before 1948, the Democratic Party was the party of racial segragation. Less than twenty years later, it was the party that passed the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/14 "2006-11-05T17:44:57Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I don’t think the Democrats did anything to endear themselves to gays during the Foley scandal, though. [/QUOTE] What exactly was the role Democrats played in the Foley scandal? I’ve yet to hear of a single Democrat who knew about Foley’s pederastic activities, in fact the Democrat on the relevant House oversight board was IIRC deliberately not informed by his Republican colleagues. Nor have I heard any statements from any Democrats which would alienate the affections of the party’s gay constituency. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/15 "2006-11-05T17:49:35Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] Basically, it’s the Reagan Republicans, who are fiscally conservative and socially moderate, against the Pat Robertson Republicans, who are fiscally agnostic and only care about social issues, on which they are very conservative. That’s where the fight will be. [/QUOTE] You might want to check out this [article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110201801.html) from the Washington Post, about the fight between Dick Armey and James Dobson. according to the article, Armey’s arguing that the Republicans are going to lose in November > [@](#): > > because they stopped being the party of limited government, allowed spending to spin “out of control,” and concentrated on such issues as flag burning, Terry Schiavo and same-sex marriage. and that > [@](#): > > “Dobson and his gang” have split the conservative Christian movement into two camps: those who want to “practice their faith independent of heavy-handed government” and “big government sympathizers who want to impose their version of ‘righteousness’ on others.” As you can imagine, the Dobson people are pretty upset over these comments. > [@](#): > > A Dobson ally, the Rev. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, said in an interview that evangelicals are irate over Armey’s suggestion that issues such as same-sex marriage have distracted the Republicans. In 2004, he said, a referendum to ban same-sex marriage got more votes than President Bush did in Ohio. > > “If it weren’t for the marriage amendment in Ohio, John Kerry would be president. So shut up, Dick,” Land said. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/16 "2006-11-05T17:51:49Z")
I cannot say how much I hope they blame their losses on Secret Agent Gays infiltrating their ranks. That is just pure comedy gold! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/17 "2006-11-06T04:51:34Z")
[QUOTE=Revtim] I cannot say how much I hope they blame their losses on Secret Agent Gays infiltrating their ranks. [/QUOTE] I always feel so bitter when I hear about how we’re taking over the world. Listen, I can’t even deal with my _cat_. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/18 "2006-11-06T05:09:27Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] Listen, I can’t even deal with my _cat_. [/QUOTE] There’s a joke there about gay men and pussies, but, I shall refrain. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/19 "2006-11-06T05:37:22Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Before 1948, the Democratic Party was the party of racial segragation. Less than twenty years later, it was the party that passed the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. [/QUOTE] And after LBJ signed that into law, he commented that the Democrats had sacrificed for this – they would not elect another President for 20 years. (And he turned out to be quite right). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145/20 "2006-11-06T13:00:08Z")
Jimmy Carter was a Republican? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-republicans-how-will-the-party-deal-with-them/379145.md?page=2)