How Will Gay Republicans Spin This?

Since the 1990s, gay Republicans have remained loyal to their party in spite of a platform that opposes marriage equality, adoption rights, open military service, employment protections, and most other items of interest for the LGBT community.

When asked why they continued to support people who don’t support them, the rationale was that they were changing the party from within.

Groups like the Log Cabin Republicans and
GOProud maintain that their presence is helping to change minds. GOProud is even co-sponsoring the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference, the same event where Ann Coulter called John Edwards a faggot in 2007.

So I wonder how they will react to a new poll conducted by Daily Kos and Research 2000 that shows their presence has had minimal impact.

Over 2,000 Republicans participated in the survey. On the issue of gay rights, the results speak for themselves:

Question: Should gay couples receive any state or federal benefits?

Yes 11%
No 68%
Not Sure 21%

Question: Should same sex couples be allowed to marry?

Yes 7%
No 77%
Not Sure 16%

Question: Should openly gay men and women be allowed to serve in the military?

Yes 26%
No 55%
Not Sure 19%

Question: Should openly gay men and women be allowed to teach in public schools?

Yes 8%
No 73%
Not Sure 19%

Two recent Pew Research studies on marriage equality and gay military service indicate the respondents are out of step with the majority view. But these numbers make it clear that despite the bridge-building efforts of gay conservatives, their fellow Republicans aren’t willing to let go of their homphobia. I await GOProud’s response.

That said, I would like to see a similarly-phrased survey for Democrats, because I think their support for LGBT rights is more lukewarm than many believe.