LCR Slams Kerry On Iran Deal

The Log Cabin Republicans today published the above message in a full-page ad in Roll Call. Via press release:

“It is absolutely appalling that the negotiations taking place right now between the United States and the Iranian government have avoided any serious discussion of the horrendous human rights abuses taking place in Iran,” Log Cabin Republicans National Executive Gregory T. Angelo stated. “Given the reluctance of Democratic gay rights activists to ever level any criticism whatsoever against the Obama administration, and the absence of the brutal treatment of gays as well as women and Jews from United States diplomacy in this matter, it was incumbent upon Log Cabin Republicans to draw attention to this important issue. The deadline for a deal is looming, but it is not too late; Secretary Kerry can still make human rights an important part of these highly consequential negotiations. Anything that does not is a bad deal.”

Log Cabin: We Helped Make Utah Happen

"Having visited the Beehive State and Governor Herbert less than two years ago, I know firsthand how hard Log Cabin Republicans of Utah President James Humphreys and his team have been working to achieve this monumental victory. The passage of this bill in Utah should show Republicans around the country that the balance between LGBT rights and religious liberty is not a zero-sum game. Likewise, advocates on the gay left would do well to see that an all-or-nothing approach to LGBT protections with no reasonable religious exemption will doom passage of any similar non-discrimination protections in GOP-controlled legislatures, be they state or federal. I'm proud of the many Republicans, common-sense LGBT advocates, and the Log Cabin Republicans of Utah who worked tirelessly to achieve this historic milestone in the reddest of red states." - Log Cabin Republicans head Gregory Angelo, via email.

CPAC Relents: Log Cabin Head To Speak

Via Politico:

The head of the Log Cabin Republicans has been invited to speak on a panel at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, the pro-gay rights group announced Monday. Executive Director Gregory Angelo said he will be speaking on a panel called “Putin’s Russia: A New Cold War?” alongside Seth Cropsey, Cliff May, Amanda Brickell Bellows and potential 2016 candidate Carly Fiorina. The announcement comes after days of back and forth between the Log Cabin Republicans and the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC. “There has been a great deal of confusion over the last 48 hours regarding Log Cabin Republicans’ role in CPAC 2015,” Angelo wrote in a statement. “[A]fter some fruitful conversations with the leadership of the American Conservative Union,” Angelo wrote, “we would like to express regret if anyone associated with the American Conservative Union felt unfairly maligned. That was never our intention.”

From Log Cabin's statement:

For years, all we have wanted is for Log Cabin Republicans to be able to provide a meaningful contribution to CPAC, be it as sponsors, speakers, or panelists. Now is not the time to make the perfect the enemy of the good. Log Cabin Republicans will continue working toward full sponsorship of future CPACs. In the meantime, I look forward to bringing the gay conservative perspective to CPAC 2015 on behalf of Log Cabin Republicans, as well as the message that when conservatives focus on unity rather than division, we win.

Don't expect CPAC to tweet out one of their "CONFIRMED!" notices. (Tipped by JMG reader TJ)

CPAC Bans Log Cabin Republicans

"The American Conservative Union has the right to invite or not invite whoever they want to the Conservative Political Action Conference, but they should be honest about the reasons why. The ACU is fond of hiding behind a fig leaf stating gay people are welcome as guests, but the ability to buy a ticket to CPAC was never what our debate was about; indeed, I will be attending CPAC, as will hundreds of other Log Cabin Republicans members and supporters. Make no mistake: LCR is actively being prohibited from sponsoring CPAC.

"For our organization, this has always been about contributing to CPAC as sponsors or in some recognized capacity. Time and again, when we showed the ACU that we met the criteria for sponsorship, the reasons for our exclusion changed. The only conclusion that can be made is that the organizers of CPAC do not feel gay people can be conservative - a position opposed by the thousands of Millennial CPAC attendees who have been asking Log Cabin Republicans for months if we would be participating at this year's event. We owed it to them to explain why we are not." - Log Cabin Republicans head Gregory Angelo, via email.

Angelo's email goes on to tick off on a long list of positions which align with the goals of CPAC. Top on that list is the repeal of Obamacare. The on-again off-again inclusion of homocon groups has long roiled CPAC and caused very entertaining infighting among its participants. Last year the now-defunct GOProud was allowed to attend after two years of being banned, but were prohibited from purchasing booth space.

Headline Of The Day

The head of the local Log Cabin chapter reportedly asked Bieber to pose for a photo in front of their banner, but he refused. So he's not entirely stupid.

Log Cabin Slams GOP Attempt To Stall Executive Order On Federal Contractors

"Bring it on. Unlike his hotly contested unilateral actions on immigration or minimum wage, President Obama’s executive order providing workplace protections for LGBT federal employees is a simple extension of an executive order that was already in place under the administration of President George W. Bush. We hope that Director Shiu calls Congressmen Kline and Walberg on their ridiculous bluff — if she does, both Congressmen will soon discover what Log Cabin Republicans has been telling their offices for years — that 69 percent of Americans support workplace protections for the LGBT community — including 56 percent of Republicans. It may be extreme, but perhaps a public comment period is what it will finally take for Chairman Kline to realize just how out-of-touch he is on this issue, both with Americans and his own constituents, and finally push the Employment Non-Discrimination Act out of committee where he has kept it bottled up for the past 13 months." - Log Cabin Republicans head Gregory Angelo, responding to the GOP's attempt to stall the executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT employees.

HomoQuotable - Gregory Angelo

"This is really a time of choosing for LGBT advocates on the left. Do you support the left agenda, or do you actually support equal rights for Americans? Those who fall in the latter category are going to be the ones who are going to be come to the table with Republicans and find solutions, ways to pass things, like employment protections for LGBT individuals, that also reach consensus among Republicans." - Log Cabin head Gregory Angelo, speaking to the Washington Blade.

Log Cabin Head Gregory Angelo: Boehner Has Always Backed Gay GOP Candidates

Carl DeMaio Vs Rep. Scott Peters

Last night Log Cabin Republicans endorsee Carl DeMaio debated Rep. Scott Peters.

As they have for much of the campaign, the two honed in on each other’s record while on the San Diego City Council and DeMaio’s 2012 mayoral campaign. Peters repeatedly tried to paint DeMaio as a tea party extremist, while DeMaio said Peters was at the center of the city’s pension debacle and reduction in services. Republican DeMaio said Democrat Peters was labelling with him a politically pejorative term in an effort to obfuscate his own record, which DeMaio described as dismal. “In four years time I cleaned up the mess you made in eight years,” DeMaio said, pointing to his push for city worker pension reform and reductions in council perks. Peters stuck with the tea party theme, highlighting a statement DeMaio made at an appearance before the group during his 2012 mayoral campaign in which he indicated if elected he would “owe them and our collective movement everything.” DeMaio said the comment was taken out of context and that a video clip showing it had been spliced. Peters said the full video is on his campaign website.

The full debate is below. You might just want to watch the first few minutes in which the station sets up the campaign so far. Peters, should you be new to this particular battle, is an ardent LGBT ally.

LCR: We Still Back ENDA

"Nothing has changed at Log Cabin Republicans regarding our calculus. We continue to support ENDA as it is now, as we always have. A lot of these organizations on the left withdrawing their support are ignorant of the political reality in Washington that led to bi-partisan support of ENDA in the Senate in the first place. It’s puzzling, really — it’s like we scored the touchdown with the Senate passage of ENDA, and right as we’re about to kick the field goal in the House the left decides to move the goal posts. Histrionics about the Hobby Lobby decision didn’t help, and a misinformation campaign about the religious exemption in ENDA hasn’t either. ENDA isn’t perfect, but no one ever said it was the end-game, and in politics you can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. From a lobbying standpoint, I think this could potentially help ENDA in the House, because it underscores what has long been a lobbying strategy we have employed: this bill is going to pass sooner or later, and Republicans who care about religious liberty and equality would do well to prioritize its passage in this congress." Gregory T. Angelo, head of the Log Cabin Republicans, speaking to MetroWeekly.

TEXAS: Author Of State GOP's "Ex-Gay" Plank Says He Is Misunderstood

Author Of Texas GOP "Ex-Gay" Plank Was Member Of Log Cabin Republicans

Via Lone Star Q:

According to Rob Schlein, former president of Log Cabin Republicans of Dallas, Schwab was a member of the group before becoming ex-gay. “He was in LCR for a time and even attended a party at my house with boyfriend,” Schlein wrote. Log Cabin Republican is one of the groups that fought the reparative therapy plank. Schwab claims he became ex-gay in 2009. However, in comments on the blog of former ex-gay leader Warren Throckmorton, Schwab admitted to having gay sex more than a year later."

Shocking, huh?

RELATED: In October 2011 the Log Cabin Republicans dissolved their Dallas chapter after its president, the above-quoted Rob Schlein, appeared on Michelangelo Signorile's radio show where he declared that businesses should have the right to fire people for being black

"Texas is a right-to-work state. So as an employer, which I am, I can fire anybody at will," Schlein claimed. "You cannot fire somebody for being African-American," Signorile objected. "Well, I wouldn’t tell them," Schlein said. "You wouldn’t tell them, but you’d do it anyway?" Signorile asked. "I’d find a reason if I wanted to fire them," Schlein said, defending discrimination against black people while trying to prove an anti-discrimination law would make no difference to LGBT people.

Schlein went on to write a editorial backing Rick Perry for president. In April 2012, Schlein and the former members of the LCR Dallas chapter elected to formally affiliate with the now-defunct GOProud, which welcomed them without comment about the racism scandal.

Log Cabin: Dem Rep Must Apologize For Linking Blog That Refers To Gay US House Candidate Carl DeMaio As "Mary"

The Log Cabin Republicans today demanded an apology from Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) for linking to an Americablog post which refers to homocon GOP House candidate Carl DeMaio as "Mary." The link has since been removed from Peters' site. Americablog founder John Aravosis responds:

Apparently, Lob Cabin isn’t terribly familiar with “the gay lifestyle,” as Carl DeMaio’s friends on the religious right like to call it, if they think calling someone “Mary” is a slur. The only people who ever call gay people “Mary” is other gay people. And it’s not a slur, it’s actually often a term of ironic endearment. But then again, we shouldn’t expect anti-gay gays to actually understand, support or defend a culture that their own political party and candidates have long sought to destroy. Keep in mind that Log Cabin supported Mitt Romney for president when Romney refused to endorse any of their basic civil rights.

Romney was against ENDA, against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, against marriage equality. Mitt Romney was even for enshrining anti-gay prejudice in the United States Constitution. Mitt Romney was so anti-gay that he got rid of his campaign’s foreign policy spokesman when word got out that the man was gay. And after all that, Log Cabin still supported Mitt Romney for president. So if that’s the best Carl DeMaio has to offer to prove that he’s not really anti-gay — a group that endorses candidates with a “zero out of 100″ record on gay civil rights issues — then it’s no wonder that the entire gay community has abandoned Carl DeMaio.

RELATED: In 2012 local LGBT activists organized a campaign to boo DeMaio during that year's pride parade, noting that he'd been reluctant to endorse marriage equality and had accepted donations from backers of Proposition 8. DeMaio, a wealthy political consultant, is vehemently anti-union and has vowed that LGBT rights will never affect his political decisions.

Homocon Tweet Of The Day

Log Cabin To CPAC: Let Us Speak

"Any official participation from Log Cabin Republicans at CPAC needs to be meaningful, and in our estimation meaningful participation does not begin and end with buying a ticket to CPAC. We asked for a seat at the table — quite literally — at the 'Reaching Out' panel at this year’s conference. It seemed a natural fit for LCR, while also giving CPAC the benefit of showing their inclusion of gay conservatives at an event in which the focus was not specifically about gay issues. We were rebuffed. Like all good conservatives, we want conservatives to win. With a preponderance of Americans in support of equal rights for gay Americans, Log Cabin Republicans’ mantra that 'inclusion wins' has never been more relevant. It’s not too late for the ACU to embrace that, allow us formal participation on the 'Reaching Out' panel, and welcome Log Cabin Republicans as meaningful participants at this year’s CPAC." - Log Cabin head Gregory Angelo, writing for the Daily Caller.

Log Cabin Republicans Slam "Gay Stereotypes" In Obamacare Pitch

Via press release from Log Cabin Republicans head Gregory Angelo:

This cynical ad betrays the depths Obamacare advocates will sink to in order to pad their pathetic enrollment numbers. As a self-proclaimed ‘fierce advocate’ of gay equality, President Obama would do well to distance himself from this nonsense and denounce it immediately. This ad is also an example of the left promoting harmful stereotypes that gay men are nothing more than sex-crazed lechers. If anyone on the right made such a comparison, liberals would be apoplectic. At a time when left-wing propagandists are decrying Duck Dynasty‘s Phil Robertson for equating homosexuality with promiscuity and deviance, Out2Enroll and others should take a look in the mirror and ask if the truth is that they are the ones responsible for promoting such harmful stereotypes.

Here's the ad, which I first posted last week.

Quote Of The Day - Danita Kilcullen

"We must fight with all we have. We must put pressure on the House like has never been seen before. I'll be damned if I will ever be forced to hire someone with orange hair, body/neck/face covered with tattoos, multiple piercings, or a man in a dress... or for that matter, a demonstrative effeminate male or purposeful butch-looking female. The Log Cabins are the same lobbyist organization that has all but taken over [Broward Republican Executive Committee]; and besides that, we have someone on the Board of BREC who is using her position to openly put pressure on some BREC members to stand for same-sex marriage. This is the same group who, based on nothing other than his recent stand for gay marriage, supports Chris Christie and who publicly worked against Cuccinelli for his stand for traditional marriage. Keep in mind, this is a thug organization with only their own 'special interests' in play." - Danita Kilcullen, co-founder of Tea Party Fort Lauderdale.

RNC Speaker Slams Gays & Immigrants For Pushing Poor Black People Aside

"I really think that the civil rights movement in it’s effort to expand has excluded some of the people that it originally designed to help and that’s low income people of all races. I didn’t hear poor people mentioned at all very much [on Saturday]. It was the environmentalists, women, gays, and immigrants. Everybody except poor people. The next frontier for me in the civil rights movement, is what are we doing for the least of God's children. Everybody has come in front of them on the bus: gays, immigrants, women, environmentalists. We never hear about the conditions confronting poor blacks and poor people in general." - Bob Woodson, speaking yesterday at a Republican National Committee luncheon to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March On Washington. Woodson's comments earned him a standing ovation from GOP leaders.

RELATED: Noting the criticisms of Woodson's comments, Log Cabin Republicans head Gregory Angelo rushes to his defense via press release.

"I was at yesterday's event, and on my feet with everyone else in the room applauding Mr. Woodson for his bold remarks. His words weren't meant to diminish the importance of the gay rights movement at all. In context, his speech was an indictment of a culture in the United States of zero-sum morality where one cause takes money, media, and attention away from others. 50 years out from the famed March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and black unemployment is at 12.6% today. 44 years out from Stonewall and gay men and women face discrimination and murder because of who they are. There's no reason we should work to achieve one victory at the expense of another."

LCR Endorses Homocon For Congress

"Log Cabin Republicans is proud to issue an enthusiastic endorsement of Carl’s campaign. The people of California need a reform-minded, new generation Republican to represent them in Congress, and I can think of no one who fits that bill better than Carl: a successful businessman, a proven leader, and a fine example of a strong gay conservative. This is a seat we can win, and we’re going to win it with Carl.” - Log Cabin Republicans head Gregory Angelo, endorsing failed San Diego mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio for the U.S. House. 

RELATED: Last year local activists called for San Diego Pride attendees to "turn your back on DeMaio" when he passed in the parade. DeMaio, whose mayoral candidacy was backed by the some of largest donors to Proposition 8, is a wealthy political consultant who is vehemently anti-union and who has vowed that LGBT rights will never affect his political decisions. True to that vow, there are exactly zero mentions of any gay issue on his campaign website.  (I can't even find mention that DeMaio is himself gay.)  DeMaio is seeking to unseat Democratic freshman Rep. Scott Peters, who like DeMaio was once on the San Diego City Council.  Peters is an ardent LGBT ally who issued a celebratory press release following the Supreme Court rulings on marriage.

NOTE:  Last week Angelo entered GOProud territory when he denounced the Seattle Pride incident as an example of "liberal tolerance."

VIDEO: Here's DeMaio getting repeatedly booed at last year's San Diego Pride parade.

Tweet Of The Day - Gregory Angelo

As the rest of us know, the man arrested in Seattle is a straight, married, multiple felon. I suspect that fact is known to Log Cabin Republicans head Gregory Angelo.