GOP Shifting on Gay Issues?
By David Vandygriff
During July, after the president circumvented Congress and issued a sweeping new policy, GOP lawmakers bit their tongue.Asked if he had any reaction to Obama’s latest move, House
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, “Nope. The president signs a lot of
executive orders.”
The fact that GOP lawmakers didn’t freak out about Obama’s latest
executive order is evidence that Republicans don’t see much of an upside
to celebrating anti-gay workplace discrimination. But if the party had
really evolved, the House would follow the Senate’s lead and allow a
vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a move Boehner has
refused to even consider.
Inside the offices of Republican gay-rights groups, a strategy is
forming to convince party leaders to strip opposition to gay marriage
from the GOP platform.
The target, operatives say, is to see party leaders drop their support for a gay-marriage ban in time for the Republican National Convention in summer 2016.
The target, operatives say, is to see party leaders drop their support for a gay-marriage ban in time for the Republican National Convention in summer 2016.
Furthermore, Republicans on K Street are helping members of their party shift their stance on gay rights issues.
Kathryn Lehman, a top GOP lobbyist and partner at Holland & Knight, carries a list of 40 to 50 Republican offices in the House and Senate she visits on behalf of Freedom to Marry, a group that backs same-sex marriage.
GOP "mega-donor" Paul Singer thinks he has the answer. He's spearheading a push for the party to back less divisive gay rights—so even if its elected lawmakers don't support gay marriage, they can still appear gay-friendly, the Washington Post reports. The first operation by Singer's advocacy group, the American Unity Fund, is to get Republican congresspeople to vote for a bill banning workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Republican culture warriors seem to be focusing less on gay rights lately and more on reproductive rights, with GOP officials principally concerned lately with opposition to contraception access and abortion. But so long as Rick Perry is running around equating homosexuality with alcoholism, it’s safe to say the party hasn’t changed that much.
Kathryn Lehman, a top GOP lobbyist and partner at Holland & Knight, carries a list of 40 to 50 Republican offices in the House and Senate she visits on behalf of Freedom to Marry, a group that backs same-sex marriage.
GOP "mega-donor" Paul Singer thinks he has the answer. He's spearheading a push for the party to back less divisive gay rights—so even if its elected lawmakers don't support gay marriage, they can still appear gay-friendly, the Washington Post reports. The first operation by Singer's advocacy group, the American Unity Fund, is to get Republican congresspeople to vote for a bill banning workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Republican culture warriors seem to be focusing less on gay rights lately and more on reproductive rights, with GOP officials principally concerned lately with opposition to contraception access and abortion. But so long as Rick Perry is running around equating homosexuality with alcoholism, it’s safe to say the party hasn’t changed that much.
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