A Stitch in Haste

Dale Carpenter comes to the defense of gay non-liberals:

Not long ago columnist Wayne Besen wrote that gay Republicans have “no place” in the “GLBT movement.” Because they support John McCain this year, he charged they are “shamefully in cahoots” with anti-gay forces.
…
Besen’s column was only the latest in a barrage of attacks against gay conservatives this election season. Time and again gay conservatives have been called self-hating, treasonous, and selfish. It’s the worst vitriol against gay conservatives I’ve seen in fifteen years in this movement.

The problem I have with Carpenter’s thesis is that he weaves and bobs among three non-equivalent sets of people: (1) gay “conservatives” (by which he really means gay non-liberals), (2) gay Republicans and (3) the Log Cabin Republicans. Each is a subset of the group preceding it, and each deserves to be critiqued in its own context.

(Note: Carpenter does not provide a link to the Wayne Besen piece, and I am not a regular reader of Besen’s website. I therefore don’t have the piece in front of me and can’t pigeonhole his targets into one of the three categories.)

To the extent that Carpenter is defending the Log Cabin Republicans (a group he never names explicitly), then he is a fool. LCR members are most definitely self-loathing, are most definitely “shamefully in cahoots” with anti-gay forces and are most definitely deserving of nothing but intolerant (and yes I am going out of my way to use that specific word) contempt. People who actively advocate, as a priority, against their own rights and interests are, quite frankly, pathetic. And when their pathetic behavior stands to wrongfully harm me, then I will indeed spare no vitriol against them.

Regarding non-LCR gay “Republicans,” keep in mind that I am not a fan of anyone joining either major political party: the best way to fight the two-party system is by not being part of it. But I can certainly understand a gay voter supporting a particular Republican candidate in a particular race. Not all Republicans are created equal (e.g., New York Republicans are a far different lot from Utah Republicans). Heck, I voted for Giuliani in 1997 (back when he was a gay-friendly cross-dresser, of course; I did not support his presidential campaign).

Nevertheless, the national Republican Party does have explicitly anti-gay planks and a clearly anti-gay theme. The fiscal conservative wing of the party has been purged by the social conservative wing. That is a simple empirical and political fact that any informed Republican voter, gay or straight, must acknowledge. (How much time, I wonder, does Carpenter spend critiquing Medicare’s prescription drug plan or No Child Left Behind — both primarily the work of Republicans?)

Bottom line: While being a “gay Republican” may be a political misdemeanor relative to the intellectual felony of being a bona fide member of LCR, it is not unreasonable to insist that a “gay Republican” acknowledge the meaning of the word “Republican” today.

Finally, it is unfortunate that Carpenter insists on using the intellectually sloppy term “gay conservatives” when he really means “gay non-liberals” (or, perhaps better still, “gay non-progressives”):

While gay progressives believe we must have more government in our lives to end discrimination, gay conservatives are wary of interventions in the private sphere. While many movement leaders would punish anti-gay “hate speech,” gay conservatives want freedom even for thought we hate.

Even when we agree on issues, we have very different rationales. Gay leftists tend to see access to marriage and the military as legalistic matters of “civil rights,” even as they distrust these institutions. Gay conservatives eschew such rights talk, and instead see these institutions as important traditionalizing, stabilizing, and integrating forces in our lives.

As a gay libertarian, I can’t figure out which side of the Great Gay Divide Carpenter would put me on. I don’t believe that “we must have more government in our lives to end discrimination, ” but I do believe, strongly, in “legalistic matters of ‘civil rights,’” (note Carpenter’s sad, McCainian use of air quotes there).

One would think that someone who insists, “as a gay conservative, I have worked my entire adult life for gay rights,” would have developed a more coherent political worldview about exactly what “conservative” does and does not mean in modern American politics:

At a deeper level, gay conservatives believe the path to happiness leads through the inclusion of homosexuals in all aspects of American life. Many gay leftists dismiss this as “assimilation.” Gay conservatives want a place at the table. Gay leftists want to upend the table.

Carpenter, qua gay conservative, wants to pursue a “path to happiness through the inclusion of homosexuals in all aspects of American life.” But is that what straight conservatives are offering? Carpenter, qua gay conservative, wants “a place at the table.” Are straight conservatives offering such a place?

Of course not. That is why it is entirely legitimate to presume that gay conservatives are misguided at best and self-loathing at worst. In the special case of the Log Cabin Republicans, the presumption is irrebuttable.

Again, my purpose is not to defend “gay progressives.” My purpose is instead to highlight that the opposite of what Carpenter condemns is not what he embraces (social conservatism generally or the Republican Party specifically). For gays, the opposite of “Democrat” tends to be not “Republican” but “Independent.” For gays, the opposite of “progressive” tends not to be “conservative” but “libertarian.”

Previously:
–Video: McCain’s “Mixed” Record on Gay Rights
–“We Will Never, Ever Betray You…”
–Anti-Gay Bigotry Quote of the Day
–On “Self-Loathing” Gays
–Gay Republican Quote of the Day
–Gay Politics Quote of the Day
–Law Professor Quote of the Day

Filed under: Gay Rights and Issues, Libertarianism