A Gay Republican?

How is it that a gay man or woman can be a Republican?

My father was gay and he was a Republican. Mutually exclusive? Not really though he did switch teams a few years before he died.

In fact my father is not the only gay man I know who is a Republican. Hard to believe, I know. This isn't such an oxymoron if you think about it. It's all about picking battles and where you are in your life and career.

My father was a Republican first. He was always gay, at least as far back as he could remember, but he was trying to hide it so "gay" wasn't the first characteristic he labeled himself. He was also a doctor and thus a small business owner. He believed that the government had no right to tell him how to spend his money and he didn't much enjoy being taxed more because he made more money than the average American.

My father came out of the closet, a little at least, in the late '70's. My brother and I were just entering the teen years and Ronald Reagan was about to become President. All things came together to make both my brother and me Republicans. Had my father come out of the closet to us when we were younger we probably would have been less inclined to look to the right for answers. As it was things were pretty shaky in the world and in our house so the right offered stability and comfort.

While I have remained an open minded and moderate Republican my brother tends to consider himself more conservative. He isn't really but he likes to think he is. Neither of us is religious and that is what truly sets us apart from the Neo Conservatives which are the wrath of the liberals.

And honestly they are a small group. Unfortunately they have a lot of money and they are well organized. It has long been my desire to have the Republican party renounce themselves from the christian right but so far they provide too much of a voting block and thus I think they might be around for a while. I was hoping the Log Cabin Republicans would gain a foothold but this past election had everyone running for different corners and they pretty much folded. It's too bad because the Republicans admire all things that the gay profess to.

"Stay out of my business".

And, of course, we have Larry Craig.

The difference between the gay Republicans and the gay Liberals is that the gay Republicans are still in denial. They are afraid to come out of the closet because, as any gay person will tell you, it is scary to open yourself up to hate and disgust. It sucks to be shunned by your family and friends. Republicans have spent their lives doing what they have been told to do and have striven not to make waves. Liberals have been taught just the opposite. And thank god they have or we would have never come this far in the struggle to achieve fairness for all people.

We need two parties in our republic. If we didn't have at least two parties we would never achieve anything different. Having two parties creates new ideas and keeps the party in power in check. We need to stop labeling one party as evil however, and we need to take religion out of the whole equation. It does not belong in politics.

Most of my father's friends, who also happened to be gay and married, were Republicans. This should surprise no one. If they weren't closeted they might be more inclined to question authority, to try to change things that are wrong in this world. Owning up to being moderate or even liberal when you have spent your whole life as a conservative is really no different than coming out of the closet.

Jennifer Brown
Redhead Ranting

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Peace Y'all

Blanca's Stimulus Plan

Now that the House has finally passed a stimulus plan--thankfully without a single Republican vote--it is time for Blanca to introduce her own stimulus plan. Out of character, this particular stimulus plan has everything to do with the economy and nothing to do with sex toys.

For years our country has been struggling against unemployment. Although other nations have much higher joblessness--Iraq, Gaza, and Zimbabwe pop to mind--we still are looking at more than 7% unemployment nationally, and now more than 10% in Michigan. Of course, living next to the Wolverine State, Blanca knows how much of a cesspool Michigan really is. Most of Wisconsin dumps their trash in Lakes Superior and Michigan so the flotsam can float underneath the Mackinac Bridge on its way past Alpena down through the Detroit River, going by Toledo on its way to the Saint Lawrence Seaway to piss off the French Canadians. After all, we Americans owe it to Commander Guy to stick it to the French part of the Quebecois at the very least.

But our nation has known many times when employment was full, when it was workers, not jobs, which were scarce. Such times as World War II, World War I, and a very lucrative time--at least for my family--which came to a rather uneventful end in 1865.

We can return to those heady times of yesteryear with full employment if we only follow Blanca's simple plan: repeal the Thirteenth Amendment.

Immediately we would take almost all of the unemployed and put them to work--for nothing! Just think of the productivity to cost ratio! Immediately the indolent of our society would snap to it. We could even bring back the whip! My God, right now I can hear the whole "My name is Kunta Kinte, my name is Kunta Kinte, my name is Toby" thing in my head. And as an added bonus, all of those kinky, closeted Republicans will finally be able to work out their S&M fantasies. Finally Senator Vitter won't have to rely on diapers to get his Cajun rocks off.

We will reserve places for all of our minorities in this new work force. Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Muslims, even Gays and Women will be automatically enrolled in this new army of workers. But of course, we will allow those who can buy their own freedom to work with the rest of us white, Christian, straight normal people. Just think Chicken George or Condi Rice.

And Blanca won't have to stoop to do her own yard work or driving. With my new chauffeur, Jose the Pantless driving me around town, I will be free to pursue my two favorite past times: reading, and performing oral sex on a half naked Mexican slave. Olé!

So write your Representative and Senators today, and demand that the United States undo this terrible injustice, and return our nation to solvency and full employment. And then find yourself your own slave, and ride your way to easy street. And when I say ride, Blanca means ride him like a wild bronco: bare back and with spurs!

From the Right, Really.

When I first mentioned to Kim that I was interested in contributing to the World of Progress TeamZine and for From The Right it seemed like a really good idea. I have to admit that I had had a glass or two of wine before I volunteered my services. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing.

I write several blogs, Redhead Ranting, Ergodic Cogitation and Kids of Queers. I consider Redhead Ranting my main blog. It is the blog that really captures who I am. Ergodic Cogitation is a place where I can post about the weird things that go through my mind that I wonder about. Kids of Queers is a much more serious blog but also captures the essence of Jen.

I am queer spawn. My father was gay, he has since passed away, and my mother is straight. They remained married until my father's death two years ago. They were married for 45 years. My father raised me as a Republican. He did so because during those formative years of mine he was horribly closeted. In the last ten years of his life he switched side and became a Democrat. He was still fiscally conservative and socially conservative when it came to my dating habits, actually he was just a snob, but he hated everything that George Bush and Ronald Reagan represented.

I identify myself as a Republican (small government, individuals rights and fiscal restraint) however I do have a couple of very liberal beliefs. I'm for gay marriage and I'm reluctantly Pro-Choice. I'm probably more of a Libertarian than an actual Republican.

I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh. I have a time or two but frankly I don't know what he is talking about most of the time. I don't vote down party lines but I have voted for the right more than the left.

Last year I did some volunteer work for COLAGE. As a child of a gay parent I would have liked to have known someone with gay parents as a kid. I figured the next best thing would be to be that person for other kids in the same boat. I enjoyed working with the kids but found that working with the adults, people who were very active in politics and liberal ones at that, was a bit intimidating and off putting. I was not only pegged as straight but also as a Republican. I didn't realize I gave off vibes.

It is not my desire to bridge the two parties nor is it my desire to convert anyone. It is a good thing to have two very opposing parties for our country. Lets face it, the majority of us fall in the middle. If we didn't have the people on the far left and the people on the far right we wouldn't make any advances in our thinking or our policies.

We Republicans are not all bad. We do not all have horns. Some of us are actually pretty nice and fairly reasonable people. Hopefully in the coming posts we will both learn a thing or three about each other.

Jennifer Brown
Redhead Ranting