Hangin' with the GOP gays

I spent a portion of today at the Log Cabin Republicans National Convention here in San Diego. LCR, of course, is the national LGBT Republican organization. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders (above) popped in to welcome the conventioneers. He said: "I'm proud of the political opportunity that this brings in terms of the interaction and the issues and the people you're bringing here. I understand Gov. Schwarzenegger and [former U.N. Ambassador] Bolton are coming in tomorrow and I think that really tells you how important all of these issues are to all of us and how important the Republican Party -- how important Log Cabin Republicans are to the whole process."

You may remember that last September, Sanders outed his daughter Lisa and came out in support of same-sex marriage. My blog posts on that are here and here. And my news story on it is here.

I had a chat with Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon (who surely is older than he looks) about Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has twice vetoed bills passed by the California Legislature granting same-sex couples access to full marriage.

"We understand that it's an education process on [marriage] but Gov. Schwarzenegger has signed more pro-gay bills than any governor in American history," Sammon said. "I understand the rationale he's used for vetoing the [marriage] bills. It doesn't mean I agree with it but I understand the rationale. ... I'm more focused on what happens if there's an affirmative [California Supreme] Court ruling [on same-sex marriage] by June 5 -- what's the governor's position going to be on an [voter-initiated constitutional] amendment to possibly roll back whatever decision is made? ... I'm optimistic that marriage equality can be achieved in California and I'm optimistic that we can have a successful effort to defeat this amendment or, hopefully, keep it off the ballot."

Here Sanders and Sammon get to know each other before Sanders' address to the convention. It seems likely LCR will endorse John McCain's presidential bid later this year. Sammon told me: "We're pleased he was nominated. Our posture during this campaign was stopping Mitt Romney. We're proud of the role we played with our ad campaign and, you know, Sen. McCain, we endorsed him in his Senate re-election in 2004; in 2000 a lot of our members were very supportive of his campaign, and certainly this time as well. We know he's someone who's an inclusive Republican who understands the party needs to get back to its core principles and we are excited about the campaign ahead."

Above: Many happy gay Republicans (and one lesbian) listen to Mayor Sanders speak. Photos by me

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