Republican and Lesbian, and Fighting for Acceptance of Both Identities

Republican and Lesbian, and Fighting for Acceptance of Both Identities

By: Rahmat Sulaiman 400835

The New York Times published an article yesterday entitled ‘Republican and Lesbian, andfighting for acceptance of both identities’. This article discusses the apparent dichotomy between sexuality and party identification, and interviews a few lesbian Republicans to ask how they reconcile the two. One of them, Ms Kathryn Lehman, is currently a lobbyist who is working to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. Ironically more than twenty years ago, she helped to draft the Act on behalf of the Republican House of Representatives.

I find this article really interesting. In line with the prevalent opinion, I feel that it is contradictory for one to be gay and Republican both at the same time because the party strongly believes that marriage – or even relationships– should be only between members of the opposite sex. Therefore, an identity which includes both is hypocritical and kind of self-hating. Afterall, how can one feel strongly for the party which denies you the basic yet fundamental right to love?

But at the same time, a person’s sexuality is ONLY one facet of his or her life. Although a person might be gay, this does not mean that he or she supports bigger government and higher taxation. On the contrary, they may believe and identify with all of the GOP’s ideologies except for the ‘traditional family’. In this way, what these lesbians in the Republican party aim to do is to change the party from the inside, so that it becomes more accepting of the LGBT community while still remaining distinct from the Democrats on other issues.

This article also deals with the future of the Republican party, and I think that it is published at the right time after the elections. It is a no-brainer that President Obama owes his second term not only to the minority racial communities – Blacks, Hispanics, Asians –  but also the LGBTs. In the years to come, there is no turning back in terms of the equality, publicity, and relative acceptance that the LGBT community has achieved so far. I think it is time that the Republican party reviews their position against LGBT carefully as the lack of support from this particular community may be extremely detrimental to their future in American politics. In other words, change is inevitable and if they do not change, they will suffer.

But how can the Republican party change? Let’s not forget that Republicans – Democrats as well, although by a much larger proportion – also consist of individuals who are against LGBT rights. Hence, for the party to change overnight and amend their stance on LGBT immediately will also be detrimental to their future. If they do so, they will lose a significant amount of votes from the ‘straight religious’ crowd; I do not think that many politicians would be brave enough to champion such cause too as it would risk their chances of winning re-elections. Therefore, instead of lobbying the politicians entirely, Kathryn and her fellow lobbyists should also be directing their efforts towards the Supreme Court. The Justices have lesser to lose if they rule anti-LGBT laws unconstitutional. Justices are not accountable to the citizens in the same way as politicians are. Moreover, Justices who are installed by the President based on political strategy and perceived similar ideologies can rule on things contrary to the President’s objectives i.e. President Eisenhower and Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether being gay and Republican will still be an oxymoron in the future…