Bay Windows - January 6, 2005
Ethan Jacobs, ejacobs@baywindows.com.

The decision not to endorse Bush was a controversial one. So much so that Log Cabin ended up expelling a rogue chapter of its organization that broke ranks and endorsed the president. What used to be the Palm Beach, California chapter of Log Cabin has now formed a new Republican advocacy group. The group, which doesn't yet have a name, will be headed by Maurice Bonamigo, a hair stylist who was featured in a documentary about gay Republicans produced by the cable station Trio. Bonamigo and other members of the rival group will also be at the inaugural gala.

An ardent supporter of President George W. Bush, Bonamigo watched with disgust as the national Log Cabin Republican organization criticized the president for his support for the Federal Marriage Amendment and accused him of attacking gay families for political gain. When Log Cabin announced in September its decision to withhold its endorsement of Bush in his re-election bid, Bonamigo decided it was time to break his silence and publicly endorse the president. By a 15-0 vote with two abstentions, the rest of the Palm Beach chapter agreed with him.

"If you're a Republican regional chapter belonging to a Republican organization, you have to endorse the Republican president," explained Bonamigo. "[The national Log Cabin organization] were so anti-Bush this whole year, and we just got tired of it."

GayPatriot blog, an online forum for gay and lesbian Bush supporters, broke the story Dec. 29 that Bonamigo plans to form a new group with the other members of the Palm Beach chapter. The group will not be exclusively focused on gay issues, but Bonamigo said part of the group's mission will be building support within the party.

"We will tackle gay issues that come up," Bonamigo told Bay Windows. "In many ways we'll be taking care of a lot of things that should have been taken care of."

In particular he blames Log Cabin for calling on Republicans to embrace same-sex marriage, saying that civil unions are more in line with conservative values.

"They put all their eggs in one basket. [Marriage is] a religious term, and you're never going to have that in this country," said Bonamigo. He hopes to dialogue with Red Staters and the administration on the need for civil unions as well as other gay-inclusive policies. He cites Bush's statement in support of states passing civil union laws on "Good Morning America" the week before the election as evidence that Bush can be a willing partner on gay and lesbian issues.

The broader mission of the organization will be to spread Republican values, including support for Bush, through outreach to the general public. Bonamigo said Republican leaders often fail to explain their policies to the general public, citing the recent public relations flack over the Bush administration's delayed response to the tsunami disaster, and his organization will educate citizens about the reasoning behind Republican policies.

He said Log Cabin's decision to withhold their support from Bush thrust the organization to the margins, and he hopes his organization can help pick up the slack.

"State Republican organizations aren't paying attention to Log Cabin," said Bonamigo.

Log Cabin Political Director Christopher Barron defended the organization's decision to expel the Palm Beach chapter and argued that Bonamigo's opposition to the endorsement decision was a minority view.

"Out of about 50 chapters one single chapter chose to ignore the bylaws of the organization," said Barron.

Yet while Log Cabin stands behind their decision not to endorse the president's re-election bid, the group appears to be following a similar strategy as Bonamigo, working to mend fences with the Bush administration.

"The important thing is that the election of 2004 is over," said Barron. "Folks in our community who are interested in advancing equality need to find ways to work with this administration."

In a marked shift from the campaign season, Log Cabin's leaders will be celebrating Bush's Jan. 20 inauguration. Although no official Log Cabin events are scheduled for the inauguration, executive director Patrick Guerriero and Barron, along with members of the national board, will attend an inauguration celebration to benefit the AIDS Responsibility Project (ARP), an organization that has supported the Bush administration's AIDS policies in Africa and that is headed by openly gay Bush supporter Abner Mason.

The ARP event has already generated controversy among HIV/AIDS activists. Initial invitations to the event described it as a "Salute to a Second Term," and advocates criticized D.C.-based AIDS Action's executive director Marsha Martin for signing on as a member of the celebration's host committee, arguing that AIDS Action should not endorse a partisan event.

Mason, who served as former Governor Jane Swift's senior policy and political advisor and who Bush appointed in 2002 to serve on the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, said that press reports labeling the event a partisan celebration are inaccurate. He said the invitations cited by the press were inappropriately worded drafts that were mistakenly sent out by the company contracted to handle invitations.

The celebration "is officially a nonpartisan event to celebrate the inauguration, which is a civic event that all Americans can share in, as well as to commit to aggressive U.S. leadership against HIV," Mason explained.

Regardless of the nature of the event, the ARP gala promises to feature a heavy Log Cabin presence-in addition to current Log Cabin staff and board members, Mason served for three years as president of the national organization and is still an active member. Log Cabin Founding Executive Director Rich Tafel also serves on the ARP board.

Mason, who wrote an essay for the Dec. 21 issue of the Advocate arguing that Bush was a "leading advocate for gay rights," declined to comment on Log Cabin's decision to withhold its endorsement, but he said gay organizations should take Bush's stated support for state civil unions at face value and partner with him on getting civil union protections passed.

"He can't do that alone," said Mason. "Someone has to reach out and work with him."

Barron declined to say whether Log Cabin has contacted the Bush administration since Election Day, but he said Log Cabin hopes to work with the White House in putting together proposals for Social Security reform, tax reform, and immigration reform that respond to the needs of gay and lesbian people.

In addition to Log Cabin's efforts to reconcile with the Bush White House, the organization may have to prove its legitimacy as the voice of gay and lesbian conservatives in the face of challenges from Bush supporters like Bonamigo. This year's election saw 23 percent of gay, lesbian, and bisexual voters cast ballots for Bush according to exit polls, down just two percent from 2000, indicating that conservative gay and lesbian people generally remained faithful to the president.

B. Daniel Blatt, who blogs under the pseudonym GayPatriotWest as one of the two regular contributors of the GayPatriot blog, said he has received e-mails from disgruntled Log Cabin members upset over the organization's decision not to endorse. Blatt served in leadership positions during the 1990s in the D.C. chapter of Log Cabin before founding the Northern Virginia chapter and serving as president from 1997-1999. After that he left politics behind and moved to Los Angeles to go to graduate school, but he was inspired to begin blogging in support of Bush in October.

He believes Log Cabin alienated many gay conservatives by placing too much emphasis on gay activism.

"The whole point is that gay conservatives have a variety of issues, and on most of them we think Bush would be better than [his opponent, Mass. Sen. John] Kerry," said Blatt.

Yet Andrew Sullivan, who also withdrew his support for the president in large part over the marriage issue, said Log Cabin made the right decision in not endorsing Bush. "To endorse a president who wants to rob gay Americans of basic citizenship would be suicidal and immoral," Sullivan said in an e-mail to Bay Windows. "They had no choice, in my opinion."

He said he does not have high hopes for Log Cabin's efforts to get into the good graces of the Bush administration.

"If they succeed, good for them," wrote Sullivan. "I think they're dreaming, I'm afraid. But I'd love to be proved wrong."

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