Republicans are Fun! Who Knew?

Last June, a local gay organization, the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), made headlines when it was denied a booth at the Western Conservative Summit (WCS), sponsored by the Colorado Christian University. This annual, evangelical convention held in Denver revved the 2016 election cycle into high gear as many high-profile presidential candidates auditioned for votes.

Formed in 1977 as a conservative organization for Californians opposed to the Briggs Initiative — the attempted ban of homosexual teachers in public schools — LCR was part of the coalition that defeated the measure by a landslide. In 2010, they brought about the lawsuit that led to the overturn of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. More recently, they’re lobbying Congress to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and encourage support for a wide variety of LGBT rights, both locally and nationally.

Meet George Gramer, current president of the local LCR chapter.

What does LCR offer the community?

The national organization lobbies on behalf of conservative gay issues. We speak to our elected officials and wanna-be elected officials and influence them — we hope. I know a lot of state house members and senators. I think our influence is in large part just knowing that we have a following. We have a mailing list of about 450 people from all around the state. Believe it or not, we’re pretty good people. We’re fun!

[The interviewer choked on his vanilla frappé] WHAT?! Fun Republicans? No way!

Yes! We have a monthly social and meeting. Later, we’re having our summer picnic which is usually the largest event of the year.

Were you involved when John Andrews denied LCR a table at the recent Summit?
[Mr. Andrews is the Director of Centennial Institute, a public policy think tank based on the campus of Colorado Christian University.]

As president, I was aware of the decision. John Andrews did not make the decision. He was told by his boss and the board of CCU that we were not appropriate to have an individual table. Steve House [Colorado Rep. State Party Chairman] was very good about working out a settlement.

How did you feel about the recent SCOTUS decision on gay marriage?

I was happy! However, I wish it had gone through the legislatures instead of the courts.

I also attended the Summit. To me, there was so much un-Christian anger about the gay-marriage ruling.

The body of attendees was primarily evangelical Christian, and they were shell-shocked with the Supreme Court decision. Many felt it was an affront to their religious beliefs. I’m a mainline Protestant. I have religious beliefs too, but my church is bigger than that. Some churches are small in their mindset. I think the candidates who spoke — and I heard five of the six — handled it pretty well considering they hadn’t given it much thought. Our candidates are not necessarily anti-LGBT. We have many friends in Congress. Trust me, the national executive director, Gregory Angelo, will certainly lobby the Republican presidential candidates to get them an informed point of view. I know for a fact one of the candidates — I won’t say which — has already contacted the national organization. Maybe more than one, but I can’t say.

Last week I read that Phyllis Schlafly* encouraged disobedience of the ruling, that we should just ignore it.

I didn’t realize she was still around. She must be eighty. Phyllis has a gay son, right?

Yes.

It’s extremely interesting that, like a praying mantis, she will eat her own kind.

She’s one example of many who’ve said words to that affect.

It’s a ridiculous thing to say. I don’t agree with every law or ruling, but you have to live with the system we have, and it’s the best system we have, the best system on earth.

What’s next on the infamous gay agenda?

All fifty state legislatures will need to clean up the language in their laws because there are still laws on the books that discriminate. The SCOTUS decision wasn’t about discrimination, it was about marriage. We have to resolve and implement employment non-discrimination, ensure nobody is fired, nobody is refused to be hired, nobody is refused accommodation in buying a house because of their sexual orientation. There are a lot of things that the gay movement as a whole can come together in agreement on.

What other issues can Republicans and Democrats reach across the aisle to find compromise?

We should be able to do it in foreign policy, energy policy, educational policy, in some aspects of healthcare and national defense.

Do you have a favorite presidential candidate?

There are several I like. I don’t think I should favor anybody in my position (with LCR). About four that I really like. I could tolerate any of the second team. Donald Trump can be abrasive.

Speaking of the elephant in the room — and I don’t mean the Republican mascot — why is Mr. Trump topping the polls?

Two things. First, he’s a TV celebrity. People have known him for years. He’s been in their living rooms. Number two, he’s not afraid to say anything. He’s unapologetically brash, but a lot of people are tired of political correctness. They just want somebody to tell it like it is, egging him on saying, “You go, Don!”

As a gay Republican, what has the Obama presidency meant for you?

I don’t know that America is a better place, or a safer place, or a powerhouse in the world that it once was. In that respect, the last seven years have been a setback for America and not a movement forward.

Do you think George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq was a step forward?

Retrospectively, I think it was a wrong move, but based on the best intelligence of the time that was available. We do know there were chemical weapons found after the fact. Now large swaths of the country are under ISIS control. It’s downright scary.

Explain to me as best you can the reason behind the absolute hatred of Hillary Clinton.

She has very high negatives across the total surveyed populace. She can be shrill, she has a cackle, she has the Bill baggage. There’ve been Clinton scandals dating back to 1991 and before that in Arkansas. I think people are tired of the Clintons.

People aren’t tired of the Bushes?

I don’t think the Republicans are going to have Jeb Bush as their nominee.

He’s got quite a war chest to purchase votes. The Bush presidential PAC has raised $114 million dollars … so far!

Money doesn’t get you elected.

It helps. After Obama was elected in 2008, the Republican National Committee had one agenda item: Defeat anything Obama proposed. How does that speak to you?

I think the better point of view on this is: What are we going to propose? Let’s just not repeal Obamacare; let’s propose substantive changes that we can live with. Saying something is bad without giving an alternative is just saying something’s bad. You have to give positive alternatives.

Is the Republican Party not anti-gay?

I think it, like the Democrats, has slowly been transitioning in their views as America changes. Our older population, which was possibly less inclusive in their views, is dying. The younger generation has more experience knowing gay people. I don’t think I knew a gay person — that I knew of — until after college.

What does LCR offer younger generations?

We have a good number in that age group who come to our events. They’re working. They have cars, some of them nicer than mine. I think young people are fearful of the tremendous amount of debt that keeps growing faster and faster. Half the national debt has occurred in the last seven years.

Let’s not go there.

OK. The young are scared about the future. Most of my Log Cabin friends are employed. I don’t know any who are unemployed. For the young who have a work ethic, who want to develop the future of the United States with opportunity, with hope, and who happen to be LGBT, Log Cabin is the organization. Kids getting out of high school face an entirely different future than I did in 1970 in small-town Iowa. Today, kids can’t find jobs, kids can’t get into good schools.

Or can’t afford school if they can get in.

Or can’t get in because they haven’t had the proper preparation.

My tuition at UNC in Greely was $333. When I graduated in 1975, it skyrocketed to $393.

Wow! Keep the faith. Things are better. Things will continue to get better if we help push things along in a positive way. I would encourage LGBT people to come to our meetings to find out who we are, what we’re like. I don’t think a lot of gay people know Republicans. Hear both sides, have an open mind.

Sound worth a try? Check it out online.

Mrs. Schlafly, actually 91, is an extreme political and social conservative who opposes modern feminism and in 1972, successfully helped defeat the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution.