Guest Commentary 4

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Conservatives Who Support Same-Sex Marriage

 

©2006  Jim Kouri 

Lately, the words Republican and Conservative are being used interchangeably by members of the news media, commentators and many people in the general population.

To be sure, there are many conservatives who are Republicans, while at the same time there are but a few Republicans who can claim they are conservative without eliciting howls of laughter. Republicans are Republicans and conservatives are conservatives.

Conservatives pragmatically believe they have a better shot at having an impact upon the Republican Party than upon the Democrat Party. The only time the GOP becomes conservative, in many cases, is just around election day.

One example of this confusion over the difference between conservatives and the GOP is a man named Chuck Muth, who's the founder and CEO of Citizen Outreach. While Muth is touted as a conservative, his politics appear more Libertarian at best. One of his disturbing activities is his work as a political consultant for so-called conservative gay-rights groups which is truly an oxymoronic concept.

Muth is helping gay and lesbian Republicans in their quest to legalize same-sex marriage.

The issue of "gay marriage" is a liberal-left construct and no true conservative would be inclined to become a proponent of same-sex marriage. The concept is anathema to conservatism. But Muth seems to believe he can pull off a miracle and convince the conservatives that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right and a moral institution.

Chuck Muth was a speaker at an event sponsored by the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization that sounds more conservative than other gay-rights groups, but has the same goals: gay marriage, gay adoption, openly gay men and women in the military and others.

"Log Cabin Republicans courageously stand on the front lines of today's most important battleground for gay and lesbian civil rights. We are the nation's leading voice for fairness, inclusion, and tolerance in the GOP. Our party stands at a crossroads. The GOP must choose between fairness and freedom or intolerance and exclusion. Log Cabin works tirelessly to make sure the Republican Party chooses the right path. Ending up on the wrong side of history will cost the GOP for decades to come. So we tirelessly strive to achieve liberty and equality for all Americans," they say on their website.

Log Cabin's convention was held in conjunction with the Liberty Education Forum National Symposium.   LEF educates people about the importance of achieving freedom and fairness for all Americans.   The 2004 National Symposium highlighted some of the key issues facing the gay community.   Speeches touched on the importance of gaining basic protections for gay and lesbian families, according to Log Cabin literature.

The symposium also included a panel discussion on the critical issues related to HIV/AIDS.  Several speeches focused on the military's don't ask, don't tell policy.  Speakers included noted conservative author and commentator Andrew Sullivan, conservative activist Chuck Muth and others who support the goals of the Log Cabin Republicans.  Also, Rob Compton and David Wilson shared their experience as one of the plaintiff couples in the historic Goodridge marriage equality case in Massachusetts.  Plus, openly gay Brigadier General Keith Kerr, CSMR (Ret.) shared his experience as a retired high ranking military officer.

But Muth's activism on behalf of gays doesn't end with a mere speech at a gay Republicans event. He also testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition to a Federal Marriage Amendment. He was presented to the Senators on the committee as a "grassroots conservative activist."

During his testimony, Muth sounded more like a liberal-left Democrat than a "grassroots" conservative. He used every trick in the liberal play-book including this nugget in response to the argument that polls show Americans are opposed to gay marriages:

"The point is, even if 85% of people polled thought that bringing back slavery or taking away the right of women to vote in a particular state was a good idea, the Constitution simply doesn't permit it."

Muth used the liberal-left construct of equating the prohibition of gay marriage with slavery or a woman's right to vote. Then Muth stated this tidbit:

"As a constitutional conservative, I am very distressed at President Bush’s recent statements on this issue. His position in the last presidential election reflected the federalist principle of letting the states decide. Yet by now embracing a federal constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages, he has rejected this principle. Should the Federal Marriage Amendment as currently drafted be approved, the people of individual states will forever be banned from coming to a different conclusion on this issue."

Then Muth returns to the liberal-left trick -- which is distressing even to many blacks -- of equating gay marriage to the fight for equality by African-Americans:

"Sadly, though, this is not the first time a constitutional marriage amendment with such ugly undertones has been proposed. In preparing for my testimony here today, I came across a paper titled “Journal of African American Men” which describes the objections many had in the early 1900s toward blacks marrying whites. According to this report, Rep. Seaborn Roddenberry, Georgia Democrat, proposed a constitutional amendment banning interracial marriages stating that, 'Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is abhorrent and repugnant. It is subversive to social peace.'”

Chuck Muth is the gay activists' Trojan Horse. The Log Cabin Republicans hope he will make inroads within the conservative movement in order to achieve something they know they can't achieve without the support of conservatives -- acceptance of same-sex marriage.

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