Gay Republicans Respond Bizarrely to Obama Announcement [View all]

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Maybe the weirdest response to President Obama’s support of full marriage equality has come from the two prominent gay republican groups, the Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud. They’re stuck in the bizarre position of being on the same side as Obama, but still wanting to hurt him politically. LCR said:

“That the president has chosen today, when LGBT Americans are mourning the passage of Amendment One, to finally speak up for marriage equality is offensive and callous,” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director. “Log Cabin Republicans appreciate that President Obama has finally come in line with leaders like Vice President Dick Cheney on this issue, but LGBT Americans are right to be angry that this calculated announcement comes too late to be of any use to the people of North Carolina, or any of the other states that have addressed this issue on his watch. This administration has manipulated LGBT families for political gain as much as anybody, and after his campaign’s ridiculous contortions to deny support for marriage equality this week he does not deserve praise for an announcement that comes a day late and a dollar short.”

Funny how Obama’s embrace of marriage equality, something LCR claims to be for, is “offensive and callous,” but there’s no mention of the fact that the North Carolina amendment they refer to was written and supported by the same party they continue to vote for. Oh what tangled webs we weave when trying to maintain opposing positions.

GOProud’s reaction is even more bizarre, as they actually invoke Dick Cheney:

Today, President Obama signaled his support for marriage equality in an interview with ABC News. In response, Christopher R. Barron, Chief Strategist and Co-Founder of GOProud – a national organization of gay and straight Americans seeking to promote freedom by supporting free markets, limited government, and a respect for individual rights, issued the following statement:

“It is good to see that after intense political pressure that President Obama has finally come around to the Dick Cheney position on marriage equality. I am sure, however, the President’s newly discovered support for marriage is cold comfort to the gay couples in North Carolina. The President waited until after North Carolina passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.”

So they’re all for Dick Cheney, who sat silently while his own administration was reelected in 2004 largely because of the two dozen anti-marriage equality amendments on state ballots, but they’re speaking out against Obama. How convenient. Such incoherent attempts to express one’s position are inescapable when you support a party that actively opposes everything you claim to stand for. And they’ll still vote for Romney, who has pledged to continue those anti-equality policies.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/05/10/gay-republicans-respond-bizarrely-to-obama-announcement/