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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October 23, 2004

From the Washington Blade, here.

The Washington Blade should have known better than agree to publish accusations from anonymous sources.

But then, both Instapundit and Votka Pundit did the same thing. Instapundit doesn't agree with Bush on the Leviticus Crowd nonsense, but it's so much easier to blame Log Cabin Republicans for the Bush decision to gay bait for political gain, than to blame the Bush campaign.

These attacks on Log Cabin Republicans from an anonymous "gay republican", suggest that Rove is worried about the impact of the LCR nonendorsement of
Bush is having.

It's real interesting how the vast majority of Gay Patriot's posts have been trashing Log Cabin Republicans - all from a safely anonymous position. Who is funding Gay Patriot?

"Gay Patriot West" describes an email he got from the femail President of Log Cabin Republicans of Virginia. Now from Press Reports about Log Cabin, I assume that is Rebecca Maestri. Both of the "patriots" are spreading their rumors by mass emails to Log Cabin people.

Log Cabin Republicans sent out a response to the rumors.

Sadly, as Election Day approaches, there are a handful of people trying to do damage Log Cabin Republicans at the end of an extraordinarily successful year for our organization. There are a number of rumors floating around that we would like to tackle head on.

RUMOR: Log Cabin has lost members this year.

FACT: Log Cabin's membership has doubled since the beginning of the year. We've added over a thousand members in the last two months and continue getting new members every day.

RUMOR: Log Cabin has lost funding because of its aggressive fight to defend our Constitution.

FACT: Log Cabin has a record number of donors all around the nation. Our budget has quadrupled from last year.

RUMOR: The Log Cabin National Board is deeply divided.

FACT: The Log Cabin National Board is fully united in its mission to build equality for gays and lesbians within the Republican Party. The board's 22 to 2 vote not to endorse President Bush's re-election is evidence of an organization united in our purpose and committed to our mission.

RUMOR: Log Cabin Political Director Chris Barron is or has been a paid campaign operative for John Edwards.

FACT: Chris Barron is committed to building an inclusive Republican Party. He has been working tirelessly since he joined our staff in February to defend the Constitution and build a GOP committed to the principles of fairness and freedom. Chris has been open about the fact that in 1998, he volunteered for John Edwards in his Senate campaign against anti-gay Republican Lauch Faircloth (a former Democrat). Chris was not a paid employee of the Edwards for Senate campaign or the Edwards for President campaign, nor is he affiliated in any way with the Kerry/Edwards campaign. Chris has been and will continue to lead Log Cabin's efforts to support Republican candidates across the nation.

RUMOR: There is a chapter revolt against Log Cabin Executive Director Patrick Guerriero.

FACT: Patrick Guerriero enjoys the overwhelming support of our chapters, our grassroots membership and our National Board.

RUMOR: Log Cabin has kicked people out for supporting President Bush.

FACT: Log Cabin never has or will kick anyone out of this organization for supporting the President's re-election. One chapter, out of almost 50, chose to disregard the rules of the organization, which every other chapter followed, by deciding to endorse a federal candidate, in clear violation of the organization's by-laws.

Here's the reality: Log Cabin is growing in membership and growing in influence. Our principled commitment to defend the Constitution and stand up to the voices of intolerance in our party has upset some people. Now they're trying to distract us from our mission and distract you from Log Cabin's proud accomplishments during this difficult year. Every second we waste responding to the cynical voices working to undermine our mission takes us away from our true goals. During these last two weeks of the campaign, we will continue aggressively working to elect fair-minded Republicans to all levels of government. Their victories will be a testament to our party's hopeful future, built on a foundation of fairness and inclusion for all Americans.

It's also worth noting, I gave GP a scoop about Democrat Stephanie Herseth - who is supported the Federal Marriage Amendment also shacking up with a
Texas congressman (also supporting the FMA). Gay Patriot doesn't run with that - or with other stories about Democratic congresscritters or senators who
voting anti-gay. Instead, he seems to focus his bile, Log Cabin Republicans.

I went over to Gay Patriot's site and commented:

Yup, the Blade fell for the business of publishing rumours, without giving the names of who are spreading the rumors.

Log Cabin Republicans has always been against Outing. Individual members of LCR are split on the issue of Outing. I know this from being on a number of lcr chat lists.

As far as follow the money goes, GP, why not some disclosure about who you are, and who is paying you.

What's sauce for the goose.

It's very easy to criticize from anonymity.

I have lots of respect for sources who will give on the record interviews. Off the record sources have no credibility.

Republicans for Environmental Protection made a similar decision. Their PAC is also withholding endorsement from Bush.

Would you think that Log Cabin Republicans should endorse Alan Keyes because he is the Illinois Republican Party endorsed candidate? What about racist David Duke?