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Monday, April 1, 2002
Gays Pushing to Change California GOP
With three openly homosexual candidates running in
hopeless races for a couple of seats in the California State Assembly and one
congressional spot, California's Log Cabin Republicans hope to get a foothold in
the party's leadership and work from the within to push the party leftward.
Although none of the three is given any chance of
defeating opponents in the heavily Democratic districts, California's Log Cabin
Republicans - an organization of some 400 gays and lesbians - are trying to take
advantage of party rules that allow membership on the state GOP committee for
victors in primary races.
The three candidates were all winners in their
primaries, and even if they lose in the general election - viewed as a sure
thing - they could get as many as 18 appointments to the state committee, the
state GOP's governing body.
"The state is an extremely diverse state with an
extremely diverse electorate, and the party needs to reflect that," Jeffrey
Bissiri told the Sacramento Bee's Kevin Yamamura. Bissiri, an architect running
in Los Angeles' 42nd Assembly, told Yamamura, "Embracing that diversity is a
strength, not a weakness, and it's a road to victory."
Also running with Log Cabin Republican backing are
Matt Munson, a college student from Ontario who is trying for the 61st Assembly
District seat in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties, and Michael German, a
deputy attorney general from San Francisco who is running for Congress against
House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi.
None is given a chance of winning, but the point of
the effort is to increase gay and lesbian membership in the state committee and
be a voice for moderate Republicanism in a committee composed largely of
conservatives.
According to Rob Stutzman, a party spokesman, GOP
legislative primary winners receive as many as nine appointments to the state
committee, depending on how they fare in the general election. Stutzmamn told
Yamamura that candidates who win get the full nine appointments, while those who
suffer a close loss get six. A big loss gets none, though Stutzman said that is
rare.
The GOP's central committee has 1,400 members, with
60 percent to 70 percent appointed via the election route.
Picking up a 18 seats on a committee with a
membership of 1,400 may seem insignificant, but gays hope they can build a
coalition with other groups they consider mainstream, David Hanson, president of
the Log Cabin Republicans, told Yamamura
"We haven't been effective enough at changing the
state GOP, and it has been on a self-destruct mission," Hanson said. "So if we
can get on the inside with more members to change the bylaws and be effective,
that's what our goal is."
While Log Cabin members generally support
Republican principles of limited government and a strong military, Yamamura
explained that they back legalizing domestic partnerships - gay marriage - now
opposed by the GOP membership in the state Legislature.
They also object to the provision in the California
Republican platform that calls heterosexual marriage "the only stable
relationship upon which to build a society."
"I'm ... conservative on economics but [liberal] on
social issues," Munson told the Bee.
Assembly Republican leader Dave Cox told the Bee
that the three Log Cabin candidacies are a "non-story" and added that his caucus
ignores the sexual preferences of GOP contenders.
"I don't go around asking people about their
sexuality," Cox said. "That's just not the way I start a conversation."
When Yamamura told him Log Cabin Republicans
considered their efforts a significant step, Cox responded, "So?"
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