The board of directors of Log Cabin Republicans, a gay conservative political advocacy group that touts itself as dedicated to “building a more inclusive GOP,” announced that it was dropping support for transgender rights from its mission.
Since its founding in the late 1970s, the group has promoted conservative values and policies — grounded in the constitutional principles of equal protection under the law, limited government, and individual freedom — while advocating for equal rights and fairness regardless of sexual orientation.
In a column published on the right-wing news and opinion site Townhall, Log Cabin Republicans President Ross Hemminger noted that the group’s board of directors voted in 2015 to include the “T” — representing advocacy on behalf of transgender rights — under the umbrella of its mission.
Hemminger wrote that the organization’s board decided to support transgender rights “out of a belief that all adults should be allowed to pursue their own happiness, free of government interference, as long as it did not impede on the inalienable rights of others.”
But Hemminger said Log Cabin’s leaders believe the transgender rights movement has elevated specific issues and positions that are no longer in keeping with the group’s mission.
“The transgender movement has ceased focusing on adults at all — nearly all of their efforts and those of their aligned special interest groups focus on minors,” he wrote. “They push schools to teach radical gender ideology; they want biological men in women’s sports regardless of the consequences; perhaps most offensively, they support gender reassignment treatments for minors, often without the knowledge or consent of the parents, knowing full well these treatments are mostly irreversible.”
Hemminger also noted that despite some of the “victories” for which the group takes credit — such as the striking down of bans on same-sex marriage and the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that barred people from serving openly in the military based on their sexual orientation — support for gay and lesbian rights is declining, particularly among younger voters.
“[M]any voters today weren’t alive or cognizant of the politics of gay marriage winding its way through the courts and gaining ground in public opinion,” he argued. “Their view of the gay community is based on today’s radical transgender activists with their unnecessary and discomfiting focus on America’s youth.”
As a result, the board of directors voted to refocus Log Cabin Republicans’ national advocacy specifically on issues related to sexual orientation, such as the rights to marry a same-sex partner, adopt children, serve in the military, and live free from discrimination, while respecting the religious beliefs and rights of people who disagree with homosexuality.
“When we remain focused on those principles, we win,” Hemminger wrote, adding that the group will identify itself as an “LGB advocacy organization” going forward.
Hemminger noted that the group’s mission change does not limit who can join the organization, which remains open to all political conservatives. That presumably means transgender individuals can still attend meetings, participate in club activities, and organize on behalf of Republican candidates as Log Cabin members.
“Returning to our roots is a recommitment to the disciplined advocacy that has gotten us this far,” Hemminger concluded. “We were founded on principle, and we move forward with clarity, strength, and the confidence that conservative values — properly applied — protect the liberty of every American.”
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, recently criticized an Indianapolis high school classroom displaying rainbow-colored banners and signs supporting LGBTQ rights, women's rights, and the Black Lives Matter movement.
On July 21, Rokita shared two photos of flags and decorations displayed inside a classroom at Perry Meridian High School. One photo shows a string of international flags hanging above a bulletin board with three larger banners, two of them rainbow-colored. One reads "Love Wins," while another states "Science is real. Black lives matter. No human is illegal, Love is love. Women's rights are human rights. Kindness is everything." The third depicts a raised fist in rainbow colors.
Prosecutors in Uganda have thrown out a case against two women accused of violating the country's Anti-Homosexuality Act by kissing in public.
The 2023 law -- which American evangelicals and Republican lawmakers encouraged Ugandan lawmakers to pass as part of a crackdown on displays of homosexuality and expressions of LGBTQ identity -- imposes some of the world's harshest penalties for same-sex intimacy, including up to life in prison for consensual same-sex relations.
The women -- Wendy Faith, a 22-year-old musician known as Torrero Bae, and Alesi Diana Denise, 21 -- were arrested in February in the city of Arua after neighbors claimed to have seen them kissing in public. The neighbors photographed the women and accused them of hosting "same-sex orgies," a local police spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse at the time.
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), an out lesbian who entered Congress after flipping a Republican-held district in 2018, has lost her bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
Craig, 54, was widely considered the more moderate candidate in the race against Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, 46.
Flanagan, who won the primary by nearly 20 points, positioned herself as the progressive candidate at a time when much of the Democratic Party's energy and enthusiasm is coming from its left wing. She earned endorsements from U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Tina Smith -- who is retiring from the seat -- as well as Minneapolis-area Rep. Ilhan Omar.
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