eva young
Eva Young is President of Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota and lives in Minneapolis with her cat, Kiddleleewink. You can also read her other blog here.
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September 23, 2004

Dennis Sanders, who runs the Moderate Republican website, and is Vice President of Public Relations for Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota has made the news again in the Star Tribune.

The Rev. Dennis Sanders laughed at the suggestion that he's your typical gay, black, Republican minister.

"No, I'm more of a moderate, old-style Rockefeller Republican, which makes me even more of an oddity," said Sanders, 34, a vice president of Minnesota's Log Cabin Republicans and a minister at Lake Harriet Christian Church in Minneapolis.

The Rev. Terry Steeden, senior minister at Lake Harriet Church calls Sanders "an anomaly," describing the Flint, Mich., native as a man who "encompasses some very meaningful old traditions, but, on the other hand, is a rebel ... with a cause."

"Dennis defies stereotypes," added Joe Grubbs, the retired minister at First Christian Church Disciples of Christ who helped with Sanders' ordination. "You wouldn't want to label him."

But this is a story about labels. Black. Gay. Republican. Minister. Let's throw in tall and good-looking while we're at it, Grubbs suggested.

"Labels at least help identify who a person is," Sanders said. "It's only a problem when the labels basically become the people.

"People who have labeled me have asked, 'Why would you stay in a party that doesn't want you?' Well, I'm a Republican, but I hope people don't think all Republicans sit and listen to Pat Robertson."

The only child of retired auto-factory workers who urged him at an early age to question things, Sanders studied journalism at Michigan State University. He spent one summer in Washington, D.C., as a congressional intern, working for Rep. Dale Kildee, a Michigan Democrat. Sanders said that in the 1992 presidential primary, he voted for Paul Tsongas, a Democratic reformer from Massachusetts.

Sanders came to grips with his sexuality when he was 22, "concluding that this wasn't a terrible sin," and says he has many black and gay friends who are Democrats. He says he is a Republican by choice, not by default. He is affiliated with a political party that, he acknowledges, remains outwardly uncomfortable with gay marriages in an era when TV shows like "Will and Grace" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" are celebrated in mainstream culture.

"The attitude of the gay community is if you want equal rights, you've got to have Democrats," Sanders said. "But it would be dangerous for the gay community as a whole to put all our eggs in one basket. To me, equal rights should not be a partisan issue."

A military issue

Sanders became interested in the Log Cabin Republicans, a small organization that backs gay-friendly Republican candidates for office, in 1992, when gays in the military was a big issue.

Minnesota's governor at the time was Arne Carlson, whose political career defied stereotypes and labels. Carlson, a longtime Republican, campaigned for governor in 1990 as an independent. He was elected with the blessing of Republicans only after the party's endorsed candidate, Jon Grunseth, withdrew from the race just weeks before the election after being accused of sexual misconduct involving adolescent girls.

Eva Young, president of Minnesota's Log Cabin Republicans, recalled telling Carlson in 1992 that "we wanted an executive order that would ban discrimination against people in state employment.

"We got it," Young said recently, because "Carlson wasn't afraid to stand up and do what needed to be done, even if other Republicans might not agree."

But Republicans have never been easy to stereotype and are continuing to change and become more diverse, Carlson says.

"I've never met Dennis Sanders, and while a gay, black, Republican minister may sound unusual, it doesn't surprise me," Carlson said. "Look at how the Republican Party has changed. What happened to the party that was cautious about war? Talk about flip-flops! It's the parties that flip-flopped.

"Who defines what a Republican is? Tim Pawlenty? Norm Coleman ... a former Democrat? The Republican Party is becoming the party of the South. Nobody challenges a new breed of Republicans in love with deficits. Rudy Giuliani and [Arnold] Schwarzenegger are keynote speakers at the Republican Convention. No, the party is changing."

Changes in the party are obvious in the Twin Cities. Peter Bell, chairman of the Metropolitan Council, is well-known for his conservative views. Bell is black. And a Republican.

Carleton Crawford, co-chairman of the Fifth Congressional District, is black, a Republican and an admirer of Sanders.

"Joining a political party is not about being accepted," Crawford said. "It's about trying to make changes. Being accepted is essentially determined by what you do."

If any label need be applied to Sanders, it's "determined," said his partner, Eric Doughty. "And maybe a little stubborn."

Wanted to write

Sanders became a Republican because, in part, as a gay, black man, the party could not ignore him.

"Political parties are tools to get things done," he said. "But before you can get things done, sometimes you have to be noticed first."

The day after Dennis's profile was published, I got this in my email:

Abe Lincoln Black Republican Caucus Letter of Endorsement Will Be Delivered to the Republican National Committee Headquarters at 11:30 a.m. Today, Wednesday, September 22

Now how much do you want to bet, we see ads from this group running in the gay and black press pushing this Bush endorsement.

A Log Cabin insider comments:

This is a total set up by the White House political strategists.

Four years ago, they used their friends brother, Charles Francis, to
have a meeting. It was an attempt to screw Log Cabin by setting up a
meeting on their terms.

They used Log Cabin for three years to get their appointees through
the Senate.

In December of last year, they told us to leave the table and slammed
the door in our face by not returning any phone calls, refusing to
talk to us and telling us in clear English they did not want us
around.

When we said O.K., but we do have self respect. Well, the vast
majority of us anyway. We are not going to support you. Now, they
find some guy from their home state to put this little attention
grapper together to put a "fuck You" Log Cabin to the country.

Yes, Bush will probably win, and yes we have a lot of work to do
amongst our friends in the Republican party and to get ready in four
years.

Exactly..... It's the way Rove et al exploited internal divisions within Log Cabin Republicans before.

UPDATE: More press releases from the group here and here.

They sure do race bait.

"We are not afraid of the white gay economic and political behemoth that continues to treat us like third class citizens and trash. It is the epitome of hypocrisy for White gays and lesbians to base their claims for rights to marry upon prejudice, discrimination and civil rights violations, when they are prejudiced, discriminatory and disrespectful of Black gay's and lesbian's human rights each and every day," stated Mr. Sneed. "The White gay community is one of America's last strongholds for White Supremacy. We will begin the dismantling of that stronghold today in downtown Dallas," stated Willie Beard, an ALBRC member.

This rhetoric also sounds alot like the rhetoric from the left.

See also Wonkette, Andrew Sullivan, BoifromTroy.

Now I recall reading that Donna Brazile, Gore's former campaign manager is one of Karl Rove's regular correspondants.