Log Cabin Republicans Endorse (No Surprise) Trump For Reelection

You can just hear him now..."Suckers..."

Despite the Trump administration's numerous attacks on the LGBTQ community, the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay conservative political group, has endorsed the Donald for reelection.

Apparently, seeing gay billionaire Peter Thiel onstage at the 2016 Republican National Convention was a wet dream come true for the gay conservatives.

The only other grounds for their support they can note to are promises to end the HIV epidemic and promote LGBTQ rights abroad as reasons to support the man who kicked HIV+ and transgender soldiers out of the U.S. military.

But the op-ed penned by the group for the Washington Post eventually gets to the real reason for endorsing - and yes, it has to do with money:

It is not merely policies specific to LGBTQ people that have been good for our community.

The president’s tax cuts have benefited LGBTQ families and helped put food on their tables. His opportunity zones have helped create new LGBTQ-founded small businesses. The administration’s aggressive negotiations on trade deals have preserved LGBTQ jobs. His hard-line on foreign policy has protected LGBTQ lives.

What benefits all Americans benefits the LGBTQ community, as we cross every racial, socioeconomic, religious and cultural divide.

The group did not endorse the Trumpster in 2016.

Log Cabin Republicans: Trump's LGBTQ Attacks Are Just "Hiccups"

Jerri Ann Henry of the Log Cabin Republicans

Newly-installed executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, Jerri Ann Henry, characterized Trump’s almost constant attacks on the LGBTQ community since taking office as “hiccups.”

Via Hill TV’s The Rising:

“I think there’s a lot of ups and downs in the last two years with some of the administration’s actions.

"He has been more vocally supportive than any Republican candidate or president, but there have been a few things that I haven’t loved that the administration has done, and some things that I think we can do some work on. I want to make sure that we have the opportunity to improve on those things, not just fight over them.”

She added, “Some of the issues where we can make major improvements are just the nuances.

"You know, marriage has only been legal for a short time, and we’ve seen a few hiccups here and there how that’s been rolled out with the military, with the State Department, visas, and how they handle married LGBT partners and non-married LGBT partners for diplomats. That’s something we need a lot of work on.”

I see - it's just a matter of 'hiccups' and 'nuances...'

Gay Republican Fired For Calling Police On Woman Using A Coupon

MorryMatson, former employee of CVS Heath in Chicago

After a CVS Health store manager called the Chicago police on a black woman who was merely trying to use a manufacturer's coupon, the drug store chain has announced the manager and his assistant have been fired for their discriminatory actions.

Here's CVS's statement issued today via Chicago's :

"We have sincerely apologized to Ms. Hudson for her experience in one of our Chicago stores. Our Region Director in Chicago contacted her as soon as we were made aware of this incident. We have completed our investigation, and as a result the two colleagues who were involved are no longer employed by CVS Health. CVS Health does not tolerate any practices that discriminate against any customer and we are committed to maintaining a welcoming and diverse environment in our stores. We have firm non-discrimination policies in place to help ensure that all customers are treated with respect and dignity. Profiling or any other type of discriminatory behavior is strictly prohibited."

Last week I reported on the incident where Camilla Hudson tried to use the coupon at the CVS on North Broadway near Loyola University.

Hudson captured the incident on cellphone video and posted it to her Facebook page. The video shows manager Morry Matson literally shaking as he calls 911.

Matson told her Hudson wouldn't accept the coupon and accused her of forging the coupon.

Matson says he was a delegate for President Trump during his 2016 campaign and is running for alderman of Chicago's 48th Ward.

Shortly after the incident was reported and went viral, Matson's campaign site went dark.

Matson was also the president of the Illinois chapter of Log Cabin Republicans.

But according to a statement given to BlockClubChicago by Gregory T. Angelo, national president of the Log Cabin Republicans, the Illinois state charter has been revoked.

Log Cabin Republicans Chapter Leaders have a duty to conduct themselves in a manner becoming of an organization advocating equality and inclusion of all Americans — whether or not they are acting in an official capacity on behalf of LCR or otherwise. As news articles highlighting Mr. Matson’s actions from this past weekend show, not doing so can have detrimental consequences not only for individual Chapters, but for the national organization as a whole. As such, the provisional charter afforded to LCR Illinois under its newly reconstituted leadership has been terminated.

Gay Republican Calls 911 On Black Woman Using A Coupon

Log Cabin Republican Morry Matson

This past Friday night, a woman trying to use a manufacturer's coupon at her local CVS drugstore found herself the target of racisim as the manager of the store called police accusing the woman of fraud.

According to The Chicago Sun-Times, while making a purchase at the CVS store on North Broadway in Chicago, Illinois, Camilla Hudson presented a manafacturer's coupon at checkout.

But the manager of the store, identified as Morry Matson, said he'd never seen a coupon like that and proceeded to call the police.

Wait - what? The police? About a coupon?

In a video posted to Facebook by Hudson, Matson can be seen shaking as he describes Hudson as an "African-American" to the police. During the conversation Hudson assures Matson, "Tell them that I will be waiting for them to arrive."

From Hudson's Facebook page post:

So, THIS just happened: I had the police called on me for attempting to use a coupon @ the CVS Pharmacy located at 6150 N. Broadway in Chicago! I stopped in to make a purchase using a coupon mailed to me by the product manufacturer, as replacement for problematic/defective product. The manager on duty said that he’d never seen a coupon like the one I had and said that he thought it was fraudulent. When I asked for his name and his title/role within the store, he became agitated and rude. When I pulled out my phone to document what happened and exactly what he’d said to me (AND how he’d said it!) he turned his back and walked away from me. When I followed him and demanded that he answer my question, he ran to the back of the store and slammed a door in my face. Meanwhile, the other manager, who’d been helping me initially, came running back to tell me that I’d better leave the store immediately, because he’d called the police.

Of course, I had ZERO concerns about the police being called. Apparently, they’d hung up on him the first time he called, so he had to call them back a second time, telling the 911 dispatcher that I was harassing them (which I have on video). Three tactical unit officers arrived and, after some conversation and documenting their names, badge numbers, etc., I eventually left the store. Needless to say, this is far from over. Life in these United States. Aargh.

The Sun-Times notes that Matson is currently running for alderman in the 48th Ward of Chicago.

On his campaign website, Matson promises “increased police presence throughout Alderman Matson’s 48th Ward.”

He was a state delegate for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election and is president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Illinois, an LGBTQ conservative group.

Speaking of 'fraud,' the website BlockClubChicago took a look into Matson's own history and found that in 2013 he spearheaded an effort to build a waterfront walkway. But allegations of fraud arose when it was discovered pages and pages of signatures matched Matson's own handwriting.

Matson eventually admitted he had signed some of the signatures himself.

Hudson said in her post that there were three officers who showed up in response to Matson’s call, and she spoke with them before leaving the store. Chicago Police could not immediately respond to confirm.

CVS issued an apology to Hudson via BlockClubChicago, which read in part:

“We sincerely apologize to Ms. Hudson for her experience in one of our stores,” CVS said in a statement issued to Block Club Chicago. “Our Region Director in Chicago contacted Ms. Hudson as soon as we were made aware of this incident. CVS has begun an investigation and we will take any corrective action that is warranted to prevent it from happening again.

“CVS Pharmacy does not tolerate any practices that discriminate against any customer and we are committed to maintaining a welcoming and diverse environment in our stores,” the statement continued. “We have firm non-discrimination policies in place to help ensure that all customers are treated with respect and dignity. Profiling or any other type of discriminatory behavior is strictly prohibited.”

Log Cabin Republicans Aren't So Sweet On Trump After Transgender Military Ban

After calling Donald Trump a "do no harm guy" in the past, the Log Cabin Republicans President Gregory T. Angelo via press release in response to President Trump's newly-announced ban on transgender service members in the U.S. military:

This smacks of politics, pure and simple. The United States military already includes transgender individuals who protect our freedom day in and day out. Excommunicating transgender soldiers only weakens our readiness; it doesn’t strengthen it.

The president’s statement this morning does a disservice to transgender military personnel and reintroduces the same hurtful stereotypes conjured when openly gay men and women were barred from service during the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ era.

As an organization that led the charge against that hateful policy, Log Cabin Republicans remains equally committed to standing up for transgender military personnel who put their lives on the line to keep us free.

Podcast: Yelp, Log Cabin Republicans, Beauty And The Beast, RuPaul's Drag Race

On this week's episode of The Randy Report podcast:

• Yelp will now offer a new searchable attribute to help patrons find gender-neutral restrooms

• Log Cabin Republicans are surprised to be surprised by "no-so-good-for-the-gays" President Trump

• The director of the new live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast reveals the film will feature Disney's first-ever "exclusively gay moment" on film

• RuPaul's Drag Race heads to a new network for Season 9 of the hit series

• This year's Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Moonlight, is about to get even bigger

Listen below. Subscribe to The Randy Report podcast (for free!) on iTunes here :)

Log Cabin Republicans On Anti-LGBT Republican Platform: "Losers! Morons! Sad!"

As hard as they try, the gay men and women of Log Cabin Republicans remind me of the Peanuts cartoons where "Lucy" fools "Charlie Brown" over and over again by yanking the football away before he can kick the ball.

Year after year LCR hope to get to be part of the Republican party. To be respected. And every year, the GOP shows disdain for the LGBT community.

The self-loathing is painful to watch.

This year, in the wake of the most anti-LGBT platform ever,  LCR has run a full page ad in the Cleveland edition of USA Today denouncing the virulently anti-LGBT positions taken this election year.

Via press release:

Log Cabin Republicans has placed a full-page ad in USA Today calling out the GOP Platform Committee for drafting the most anti-LGBT platform in the Republican Party’s 162-year history. The ad runs today in the Cleveland edition of the largest newspaper in the United States and will be available in most every hotel speakers, Delegates, and credentialed guests will be staying at during the Republican National Convention.

“Response from allies to our reaction in the wake of the drafting of this vitriolic anti-LGBT platform has been nothing short of staggering,” Log Cabin Republicans President Gregory T. Angelo stated. “The email sent to our members last week propelled Log Cabin Republicans to the top trend on Facebook for more than two days, and now holds the record as the highest-grossing single fundraising appeal this organization has ever sent. But this was fundraising with a purpose—I’m pleased to share that every last cent donated to Log Cabin Republicans via last week’s email has been spent on this project. This unprecedented support is representative of the GOP I know, and this is the GOP our members want to see.”

The provocative advertisement reads, “LOSERS! MORONS! SAD! No, these aren’t tweets from Donald Trump. This is what common-sense conservatives are saying about the most anti-LGBT platform the Republican Party has ever had. GOP Platform Committee: Out of touch, out of line, and out of step with 61% of young Republicans who favor same-sex marriage.”

“It’s my hope this advertisement will be a wake-up call to the intransigent and ancient voices on the GOP Platform Committee that marriage equality is the law of the land, gay families are a part of the fabric of America, and LGBT Republicans have an important role to play in growing the Party,” Angelo concluded.

Log Cabin Republicans Are Shocked To Find Out The GOP Hates Them

Log Cabin Republicans are seemingly dumbstruck that their own political party hates them after having adopted a virulently anti-LGBT platform yet again for this year's national convention.

This year's platform opposes same-sex marriage rights, supports efforts to restrict bathrooms to individuals’ birth gender and protects businesses who refuse services to individuals based on religious objections to gay marriage. It also decrees “that ‘natural marriage’ between a man and a woman is most likely to result in offspring who do not become drug-addicted or otherwise damaged.”

In light of all that, Log Cabin Republicans want you to send them money - and lots of it - to fund their self-loathing field trip journey to the GOP convention next week in Cleveland so they can further beat themselves up "take back the platform."

Get a clue, LCR. The right-wingers just aren't that into you. And never were.

Log Cabin Republicans Pay Homage To Their Congressional "Super Friends"

Log Cabin Republicans share this "Super Friends" parody saluting GOP members of Congress they view as LGBT allies.

Singled out in the clip are Rep. Mike Coffman, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, Rep. Charlie Dent, Rep. Bob Dold, Rep. Chris Gibson, Rep. Richard Hanna, Sen. Mark Kirk, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. Rob Portman, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Texas GOP to Log Cabin Republicans: We just aren't that into you

Once again, the Log Cabin Republicans have been kicked to the curb by their fellow conservatives.

The Texas State Republican Convention will not allow the LCR to host a booth next week at it's annual convention.

Via press release:

“Overall, Log Cabin Republicans of Texas has found incredible support within the Republican party — Texans, like the rest of the country, are evolving on LGBT rights issues,” said Log Cabin Republicans of Texas Chairman Jeffrey Davis.

“The Republican Party of Texas has even welcomed many of our members as delegates to the Texas State Republican Convention. However, the party has denied our several attempts to host a booth in the convention exhibit hall, citing archaic language in the party platform to support their actions.

"We deserve to occupy a booth just like anyone else, and it’s time that the Texas GOP’s hypocritical policies and procedures are replaced by new ones that match the general opinion of Texan Republican voters.”

According to Texas GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri the group was denied not because they are gay but because "of the association with the promotion for gay marriage" - which is not in the party's platform.

Log Cabin Republicans: "Reagan's big tent isn't what it used to be..."

Log Cabin Republicans has a full-page ad in Politico calling on the Republican Party to grow the proverbial “big tent” by dropping its opposition to granting equal rights to the LGBT community.

The ad is a part of LCR’s relaunch efforts, which will more aggressively challenge the GOP to not be beholden to the vocal minority within the party that oppose rights for gays and lesbians.

To be fair, Log Cabin Republicans benefit by being viewed as more clear on their mission statement than the "other" gay Republican organization, GOProud. LCR remember who they are and don't fall into the trap of wanting to please the GOP masses to such an extent they lose their own identity.

Log Cabin Republicans: "Our party dropped the hammer harder because we were there"

Log Cabin Republicans have long said that their presence in the GOP helps to further the fight for equality for the LGBT community. In fact, they were allowed to sit in on the drafting of the national party's platform.

But looking back at a platform that is very anti-gay, Log Cabin Republicans now feel their presence possibly made the platform even more hostile to gays and lesbians.

From NPR interview:

"When you back someone into a corner, they fight back twice as hard," said Casey Pick of the Log Cabin Republicans, a national organization representing the interests of gays and lesbians.

"The platform is ugly and harmful," she said during a Wednesday gathering of same-sex marriage supporters at a law firm just across the Hillsborough River from the site of this week's Republican convention in Tampa, Fla.

Pick, the Log Cabin's program director and an evangelical Christian, characterized the tone of the party's discussions about same-sex marriage in meetings of the Constitution subcommittee as largely "hostile." "We lost," she said. "And you could say the social conservatives in our party dropped the hammer harder because we were there."

Gay Republicans take out full page ad in Tampa Tribune supporting marriage equality

More Republicans I can like!

The Log Cabin Republicans and Young Conservatives for the Freedom To Marry are running a full page ad in the Tampa Tribune during the Republican National Convention asking the conservative party to join the clear path of history and get onboard with marriage equality. The ad points out how and why marriage equality fits into the conservative viewpoint.

From the Log Cabin Republicans press release:

The full-page color ad, featuring photos of same-sex couples and their families, emphasizes that the freedom to marry is fully consistent with principles valued by conservatives: freedom, personal responsibility, and the importance of family. The ad comes in the wake of the party's extreme stance on marriage in its draft platform, which includes support for a federal constitutional amendment banning the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. Tony Perkins, the president of the anti-gay Family Research Council, authored the marriage plank, which is expected to be ratified at the convention.

"Gay or straight, Republicans are united in the belief that strong families are critical to a free society," said R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of the Log Cabin Republicans. "As fellow conservatives, Log Cabin Republicans actually agree with Tony Perkins about the importance of family values. The difference is, we believe that the freedom to marry is directly in line with the core ideals and principles of the Republican Party - less government, more individual freedom, personal responsibility and the importance of family."

"The writing is on the wall for the Republican Party: Stand up for the values they say they believe in, or risk being seen as irrelevant with younger conservatives," said Sarah Longwell, Vice President at Berman and Company and a member of the Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry leadership committee. "This is a party that should support freedom - for all people, and all families."

Here's the ad below:

LogCabin TampaTrib Ad

Log Cabin Republicans respond to Herman Cain's claim that sexuality is a choice

R. Clark Cooper

"If Herman Cain truly wants to see the science proving that sexual orientation is not a choice, Log Cabin Republicans would be happy to show it to him. The claim that a person chooses to be gay or lesbian has been discredited by every major professional medical organization, starting with the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association. An individual’s orientation is no more a choice than the color of his skin or whether he is left-handed, and too many people have been hurt because of failed attempts to change the way they were born." - via press release from Log Cabin Republicans head R. Clark Cooper.