The Washington Blade reports that gay D.C. Republican Committee member Jose Cunningham is hosting an “intimate lunch” and DCRC fundraiser on Thursday with Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus. During an interview with the National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher when he sought NOM’s endorsement for the RNC chair, Priebus said he would use RNC resources to help fight against marriage equality.
The Blade says only 15 people paying $500 each were invited, including R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, who serves as the head of the RNC’s finance committee. In 2008, the RNC’s platform was opposed to LGBT rights, including the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which LCR is successfully challenging in federal court. Meanwhile, LCR also issued a statement today calling Ann Coulter a “comedienne” for her support for “reparative therapy.” In 2010, the very conservative gay group GOProud featured Coulter as a guest speaker.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting.
The DCRC is, as I understand it, very pro-gay. It is headed by Bob Kabel, a former Log Cabin chairman.
And a total contribution of $7,500 is not a very big price to pay to have access to Priebus, especially if it goes to DCRC. If they strategize carefully, this could result in positive movement.
When LCR established a relationship with Deal Skelos in NY, some were skeptical. But this year when Skelos could personally just stop the vote on his own or could have pressured the caucus to “advise him” not to have the vote, he allowed it. And Maggie Gallagher is right when she said that marriage equality in NY can be “blamed” on the Republicans, in the sense that while most technically voted “no”, when the caucus decided to allow the vote to proceed, it was a “yes” vote for marriage equality.
I know LCR was a strong part of the vote effort, but I can’t say with certainty that they influenced Skelos’ decision or that of the caucus.
But i can say that their relationship with Skelos and others helped. Merely by their presence, LCR sometimes turns gays from being “them, the enemy” in the minds of some Republicans to “us – liberal squishy us who I may not support – but still us”. And that is important. Sometimes it makes all the difference.
Let’s hope it pays off this time.
Agreed, which is why I wrote so much about Clarke when he first came on board….so much so I got emails asking if I was a gay Republican. I was flattered – it meant I was doing my job properly to convey the LCR story.
I’m emailing Clarke to see if he’ll share what happened, etc….
BTW – I have that commentary from you scheduled for tomorrow. That’s for letting me cross-post.
Mr. Cunningham’s live-in partner Greg Nelson was recently arrested, tried and convicted of soliciting and trafficking minors across state lines for sex.