bars</tle><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_65hRV2Qwn" class="css-1fxvzwo" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_ILVvi2tqx" class="css-1wnday1" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC"><rect x="34" width="6" height="36" id="el_qw_T_tngXw"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_p_9Pm85Ac" class="css-fwki7z" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_WxG3R40yd" class="css-t3i5e6" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU"><rect x="22.67" width="6" height="36" id="el_lf9GrROk6j"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_kYNRGDfcw" class="css-t9te0w" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_3c3bzSjOJ" class="css-1r5375t" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw"><rect x="11.33" width="6" height="36" id="el_-iueO8klO0"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_y_fKcpSxn" class="css-qknaag" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_R6bNB6_Ys" class="css-1vd04" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC"><rect width="6" height="36" id="el_dS5TKNZZ5w"></rect></g></g></g></svg></div><div><div class="css-1t7yl1y">0:00/44:05</div><div class="css-og85jy">-44:05</div></div></div></div></hear><div class="css-uzyn7p"><div class="css-1vxyw">transcript<h2 class="css-9wqu2x">She’s Gay and a Republin. Is There a Place for Her the G.O.P.?</h2><h4 class="css-qsd3hm">Wh the recent Republin rollbacks on L.G.B.T.Q. rights, Jerri Ann Henry wonrs whether she has a future the party.</h4><time dateTime="2022-06-30T09:00:10.000Z" class="css-1e605">2022-06-30T05:00:10-04:00</time></div><dl class="css-p98d0w"><dt class="css-xx7kwh"></dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">[MUSIC]</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Sudnly, everythg has changed Ameri overnight. Rights that seemed like settled law are up for bate. Now that Roe’s been overturned by the Supreme Court’s nservative majory, the qutn is, what next? One signal — Jtice Clarence Thomas wrote a ncurrg opn that, alongsi abortn, lgs protectg same-sex relatnships and marriage should also be rensired.Jerri Ann Henry n remember a moment jt a few years ago when she felt there might be a possibily that the Republin uld actually move forward on gay rights. She’s the former head of the Log Cab Republins, and for her, the Supreme Court’s protectn of marriage equaly had been a personal and profsnal victory. From New York Tim Opn, I’m Lulu Garcia-Navarro, and this is “First Person.” Today, Jerri Ann Henry and the Republin rollback of L.G.B.T.Q. rights.We’re gog to get started. Here we go.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">OK.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I really like your name, Jerri Ann. Is there a story there?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I don’t know that ’s a long story, but there is a reason. My parents were always very adamant that a name uld be very fg, and I know that’s not unique to them. Everybody feels that.But they spent a lot of time, maybe too much time, seemed like, sometim, wh all of but prayg over and lookg at the meang of different nam. So Jerri means appoted by God, and then Ann means prayer and fah. So I always grew up hearg that my name meant that I was appoted by God to pray and be strong.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So you grew up Texas what sounds like que a relig fay. I know you were home-schooled. Were your parents also polilly active?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Oh, very, very. There’s so many people who — polilly active may mean that your parents donate a lot or a parent ran for office. We always grew up wh the ep belief — and was jt burned to our bra early on that our actns and what we did each day uld have a direct role changg law, changg who was elected to office.My mom ed to always say that you didn’t get to pla about the ndidat or the party platform if you didn’t show up at the precct meetgs to set the planks. So we — I remember, lerally, young enough that I had to hold my parents’ hands, walkg door to door for — I uldn’t even tell you now what ndidate was but cy uncil or somethg like that. We were always very volved.But that also meant at home we spent a lot of time — over dner, my father would gather around and we would talk about polil issu of the day and go through not jt — sometim big-picture policy issu but also look at what was happeng at a natnal level.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I would sist that is impossible to mata Amerin civilizatn wh 12-year-olds havg babi, 15-year-olds killg each other, 17-year-olds dyg of AIDS, and 18-year-olds gettg diplomas they n’t even read.But this is a crisis of our entire civilizatn. And wh a half e —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I image that that environment there weren’t a lot out gay and lbian people around you. Am I right?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">One thoand percent. I thk there was a gay male uple our neighborhood that everybody jt sort of referred to as “The Boys” and didn’t want to say what they were. And I’m not sure I really knew what was myself.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">“The Boys“?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">“The Boys.”</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Meang they were together?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Two boys that lived together. We don’t really —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">But wasn’t explaed?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Right. I don’t even thk that my bra knew how to terpret at that time anythg sexual for sure. I don’t thk that ever crossed my md. But the ia of, oh, ’s two men, and they’re a fay. But we don’t do that.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Do you remember when you might have first heard the word gay or lbian, what you thought about those words and people who are associated wh them?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah. I don’t know that I uld tell you the first time I heard the words, but I know that all of my early associatns wh them were super negative. The word lbian — I thk I had — maybe more than the word gay, the word lbian was maybe almost ed as a rogatory term.I grew up — I was always a ltle b of a tomboy and didn’t f , and I thk I always had this small fear of, what if I was a lbian? Bee — oh my gosh — all the rogatory, bad thgs would then be me.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So when did you start to regnize for yourself that you liked women?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">While I was llege there were que a few different tim where I sort of was like, oh, crap, that’s happeng. But I thk at that pot, I still jt sort of put a box as, OK, but I’m not gog to let that happen. Let me put a box, put on a shelf, and ignore . And I will then overpensate and always make sure that I have a boyiend, that I ph harr to make that not a thg.And wasn’t until after I graduated om llege that I really started to jt e to grips.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Was there a moment?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">There was. You want this story?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">If you don’t md.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">OK. It was one of my first jobs after I graduated om llege. And I never had a girliend. I never dated a woman. But there was a woman that I worked wh that I was like, eh, that’s probably — I’m not an idt. I know what I’m feelg. But I never let really creep and bee too ser a thg.And then I walked to this meetg, and was jt me, and her, and a whole bunch of people that we had to prent a whole sli ck to. We’d been preppg for for weeks. I knew my part. She knew her part. This was gog to be great. We were gog to csh , w this client, all the thgs.For whatever reason, maybe to schmooze the client, she wore a pretty low-cut outf that day, and I was stg across the table om her. And you uld have asked me my name. I don’t thk I uld have told you my name. I’m not sure I uld have told you anythg on any of the slis that I lerally had wrten myself.And I fally had to exce myself bee I was so fltered, and I went to the bathroom, and cried, and looked the mirror, and I ma myself — was so paful, I thk, at the time, but I ma myself look the mirror and say the words, “you are a lbian.”And that word, lbian, had so many negative nnotatns and so much pa that that’s what moved me to tears. I didn’t want to have to say that word and associate wh myself.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So sounds like was really paful to say, but was also eeg?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It was. I had to get to that pot. And once I got to that pot and forced myself to take the actn of lookg myself the mirror the eye and sayg, yeah, this is who you are, then I uld start to take a breath and thk like, OK, what do that mean?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And what did mean? You’ve been fightg that part of yourself that was attracted to women, and then sudnly ’s unniable. But you’re still really stgglg wh . How much do you thk that stggle had to do wh your upbrgg and your polics?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I mean, I thk had everythg to do wh that. This didn’t f the visn that I had of what I wanted for myself. This meant not a picket fence. This meant not movg back to Dallas, Texas and beg the perfect wife of a member of ngrs who fought for all the nservative valu.So that was a challenge to let that break apart and realize that wasn’t gog to ever happen. And I will say I didn’t e to quickly. I had that moment, but was still years of fightg over that. And I uldn’t ppot the moment, but probably around like 2010, 2011 I started thkg — I was like, what if this is te? I don’t have to tell anybody, but what if I let myself, jt for myself, believe that this is te?And I’m gog to tell you somethg that’s like the most cliche thg ever, but I was like, OK, so if I was a lbian, what do that mean? I don’t know any lbians. I don’t know anythg about them. So I watched “The L Word.”</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Talkg, lghg, lovg, breathg, fightg, fuckg, cryg, drkg, lyg —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Which is like, a re of passage for every sgle lbian the world, pecially of my generatn. We all had to watch at some pot. And I was like, oh.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Dana, I’m imprsed. You’re to someone, and you want to know whether or not they’re down.She’s down?Whether she plays for our team, the gay team.Don’t the bisexuals have their own team?</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Now, fely I’m not — I didn’t f to the liftyl of any of those women.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Look at the sho. High-heeled sandals.Wh tapered jeans. Would you wear high-heeled sandals —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I was Washgton, D.C. beg a polil wonk and a nerd, but jt actually lookg at what a life as a lbian uld be like. What would be like to have another woman my life that I loved? Would that be possible?So there was a year or so of jt me, my head, learng that.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Rearchg.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah, rearchg and explorg, cryg over some of , hatg some of , lovg some of . Then I remember at some pot beg like, maybe I should change my wardrobe a ltle. What?I thk was a ltle after this, but — oh, what is her name? One of the leads of me out. And I was like, aha. I knew there was a reason I was shoppg at The cloth matched.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So you’re watchg “The L Word,” and you’re drsg and , and you’re g to accept yourself and who you are. Tell me about how that f to your Republin inty and when you actually cid that you would be public about who and what you were your profsnal life?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah, well there’s probably — like there’s two moments, I thk, one slightly more personal and then one way more public. So there had been — by this time, I’d had a few years go by workg wh Republin polics, and of urse, if — I don’t know how much time you’ve spent — I know you’ve been D.C. plenty, but there’s sort of this culture around Christmas parti Washgton, D.C. You’ve got to get ved to all of them. You’ve got to get on all the lists.And I was still like one of those young, hungry staffers tryg to get noticed by everybody and go to everythg. And at some pot, what I thought was probably a really smart polil strategist bra that I didn’t have but thought I had, I cid that a good way to start g out was not to jt make an announcement but to sort of backhand mentn to people and then be like, oh, you didn’t know? Huh. I thought I told you. Oh, well. Now you do.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And you were gog to do this the Christmas party route. Is that —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Well, I wasn’t planng to do the Christmas party route, but I had planned — I’d gone to like four parti the eveng, and I was at like an after-after party at Shelly’s cigar bar. And we’re all stg around talkg about datg and whatnot, and one of my iends who was gay and out said somethg. And I was like, oh, yeah. I was like, well, me, too. And she’s like, wa, did I know that? And I was like, huh, you mt have. Surely you uldn’t have not?And she was like, huh, I don’t thk I did know that, but we should get ffee next week and talk about . And I thk that started a lot of the mor l. So I don’t thk that was a good polil strategy, but my bra at the time thought was.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So what’s the send story? You said there were two stori.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">The send story was, I was on an email thread wh a ton of people, and they were batg — there was a ton of people, nsultants and otherwise, Republin staffers at many different levels on a number of different projects, talkg back and forth about how to navigate some tough polil issu related to gay dividuals.Fally, I jt kept watchg people go back and forth and back and forth, and wasn’t even necsarily hateful rhetoric or anythg wrong. I was jt like, oh, my gosh. Nobody knows what they’re talkg about. Everybody had an opn about, oh, well, we n’t say this bee the gays would thk that. Or what about the gays here? And was like this cliche “the gays,” “the gays,” “the gays,” jt very broad stereotyp.And I jt replied to all, and I was like as a lbian who n wear high heels but also manage power tools, I thk you guys are all a ltle b off.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">You did reply all?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I did reply all.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">How many people were on that list?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">There were probably a uple of people on that list.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">All Republin operativ? None of them are prumably openly gay? That’s que a g out.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It was. At that pot, I had started privately to tell two or three close iends here and there, and some of the people that I had told were on that list and immediately started textg and llg. And they were like — they were eakg out. They were like, do you realize you h reply all? And I said, I did, and that was on purpose. And I’ll take .</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">What was the rponse?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I’m sure there was a lot of buzz behd the scen. There were many people that I knew that I worked wh that — they may have accepted me and loved me personally but did not support homosexualy for relig reasons or whatever, and I knew that. And was sort of a, let’s agree to disagree. And so I was surround by that. I get .But they were overwhelmgly supportive. I got a lot of thgs that now, hdsight, I realize were maybe a ltle cliche, but I don’t flt anybody for that. I thk, if you’ve never had somebody e out to you, you don’t necsarily the exact words to say.I ma a pot immediately after that to go to all my boss and supervisors and make sure to tell each of them, and I thk each of them told me was OK.And by the fourth person, I was like, I know ’s OK. I’m not askg you permissn, which I thk got a lgh. They were like, we know. We’re jt — so they were all fe. Nobody md. In fact, the polil backlash that I probably had strsed about for a long time absolutely did not happen.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Around this time, ’s 2011. It’s right before the 2012 electn, which is, of urse, Obama vers Mt Romney. So at this pot, Romney was phg a nstutnal amendment that would block same-sex marriage.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I have the same view on marriage that I had when I was ernor and that I’ve exprsed many tim. I believe marriage is a relatnship between a man and a woman. And that’s my own preference. I know other people have differg views. This is a very tenr and sensive topic, as are many social issu, but I have the same view that I’ve had, well, sce nng for office.</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And he was opposed to the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” the ary. This is a moment where the Republin Party is still really phg back agast gay rights. I wonr, as you nsired whether would be possible to be out wh the reer you had chosen, how you sort of unrstood that dichotomy of the posn, though, polilly on gay rights?Bee you had had this genuely lovely experience of acceptance amongst your lleagu, and yet at the same time, there’s this platform that seems to be very much opposn to your new inty.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Sure. So I thk at that time wasn’t jt Republins, or Romney, or anybody phg back. I thk most people were. Obama was not for marriage eher at that time.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Wh rpect to the issue of whether gays and lbians should be able to get married, I stggle wh this. At this pot, what I’ve said is that my basele is a strong civil unn that provis them the protectns and the legal rights that married upl have, and I thk that’s the right thg to do. But I regnize that, om their perspective, is not enough. And I thk —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So I didn’t feel threatened or that I wouldn’t have a place wh the party I’d been workg for. I felt that was very much — opposn was driven by polil practily, not by actual dissent.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I gus what I’m askg is if you had any plited feelgs, that the people are willg to accept you as an dividual but they’re ntug to fight agast your rights?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I thk plited would even be too bold. I would say I was aware that thgs need to change, but I have never, ever my whole entire life thought that everythg — that every ndidate I supported was perfect or that we had a perfect platform or stance. Everythg always tak work and improvement.So me g out and realizg my own sexualy jt got me to the place to say like, OK, there’s the next battle. We’ll work on that. And very much aware that on my si of the aisle I had a lot more work to do.And was tertg. As a nservative, didn’t really give me pse bee I learned so early on and still hold as my own belief, dividual liberty is so herent to what mak, I thk, Ameri different and what we should be supportg and should be furtherg.So much of what I saw as issue was not jt bee of my personal tert as a gay Amerin but bee I felt was ntrary to that belief. It was pickg and choosg who got certa rights and liberti rather than regnizg the same herent value and rights for everyone.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So how did that play out, practilly speakg?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah. So I started workg wh young nservativ for the eedom to marry. I started volunteerg go on prs junkets and trips to different early primary stat.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Jog now is Jerri Ann Henry, mpaign manager for Young Conservativ for the Freedom to Marry. Jerri Ann, how’s gog? I don’t hear any Republin printial mpaigners g your talkg pots yet.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg (jerri ann henry)</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Well, they’re not g them yet, but we’re nfint that they will e around. A lot of what we’re talkg about is really foced on cln so that those who have — regardls of what opn people have, they have a place on this issue, they have a place the Republin Party. And I thk —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And so you’re now at the center of movg the needle on L.G.B.T.Q. issu for Republins.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And gay marriage is the ma thg on the agenda. You’re headg the Young Conservativ for the Freedom to Marry. Are you also workg across the aisle? Bee obvly there was a huge ph by the Democrats for —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Absolutely.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">— for marriage equaly.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah, of urse. So bee of that work, I did work closely wh all the different L.G.B.T.Q. groups. Of urse, I thk had a slightly unique perspective g om that right-of-center si and unrstandg how some msagg might not ronate as well.So there was sort of a two-part mpaign, one showg lears and cisn makers, whether be the Supreme Court or Congrs, showg lears that the natn was ready for this, but also gog out to the muny and showg people the muny that they may have privately, around the dner table, said like, eh, ’s probably OK, or maybe ’s not my favore, but I don’t want — I don’t want to have a law hurtg my neighbor. It’s fe.Wherever their place was, I don’t thk everybody realized that they were all there and that they weren’t alone, so kd of helpg, on both sis of the aisle, craft that msagg and build the groundswell of support that f far beyond a bucket of which party you were or what your polil leangs were but to this broar ncept of, love is love, and that’s herent to all of .</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg (rob portman)</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I’m announcg today a change of heart on an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about. It has to do wh gay upl’ opportuny to marry.</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">We had — at the time, members of Congrs started to e forward, not all the time, but we did have right-of-center Rob Portman, others put themselv on the le bee they believed this was a big enough al, too.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg (rob portman)</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">My son me to Jane, my wife, and I, told that he was gay, and that was not a choice, and that he that’s jt part of who he is, and he’d been that way ever sce he uld remember. And that lnched —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So you’re feelg like you’re seeg movement broadly the culture but also a ltle b on the right?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Well, yeah.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And then, of urse, June 2015, the Supreme Court cid favor of same-sex marriage. Take me to that moment when the cisn me through. Where were you?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Absolutely. So I got up early. So I’m thkg half mpaign manager mo, prs prep, you know, ready to go be the face and ordate people but also excement. I planed my outf for way too long. I thk — I thk — was a jacket.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I was about to ask.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It was a blazer over my Freedom to Marry t-shirt, which I felt like would jt be perfect bee I knew I would have to do some prs terviews and thgs like that. So I wanted to be ready. I took my girliend, who had been — she, at this pot, was basilly one of our volunteers, packg everythg.And we all went down there, and we were gathered. The crowd was massive. And we were wag. And of urse, we’d worked so closely wh the attorneys and were volved the se, so we had good ti. And was sends — when I say sends, I mean probably like actns of sends before the opns were actually released somebody texted someone. And went like, a spark dropped a South Texas dry-air drought season field.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A..</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">The whole crowd jt explod. I remember there was a tour b, one of those double-cker on that people take, and everybody ss on the top so you n take pictur. There was one of those drivg by, and all honty, I don’t thk any of the people had any ia what was happeng. But I hope they got some amazg pictur of everybody jt broke down, cryg.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It’s such a great day for , for me and my wife. I’m glad that we’re fally here, that we are no longer send-class cizens.</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And was one of jt the most electric experienc I’ve ever been a part of.And then I went to work.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">All of the Republin 2016 ntenrs are agast same-sex marriage, but the range of their rpons reflects the strong opposn among relig —This se wasn’t so much about a matter of marriage equaly. It was marriage refn.Look, if you thk about , we are at the water’s edge of the argument that mastream Christian teachg is hate speech bee today we’ve reached the pot our society where if you do not support same-sex marriage you are labeled a homophobe and a hater.Marriage as an stutn between a man and a woman was tablished by God. It nnot be altered by an earthly urt. Now, the next step this, the left, Hillary Clton, are gog to wagg an all-out asslt on relig eedom.[MUSIC]Annual Gay Pri paras took on new meang on Sunday as people poured to the cy streets to celebrate the Supreme Court’s lg legalizg same-sex marriage natnwi. Over the weekend, ments on that cisn om Republin printial ndidat ranged om lls to rpect the cisn to support for an Amendment that would reverse the lg.Texas Senator Ted Cz lled illegimate and lawls. He would like —The last two days, the Supreme Court cisns have been heartbreakg. They have been the embodiment of judicial activism. They’ve been lawlsns.</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So you’ve jt experienced this credible victory. It chang the landspe of Ameri. It also chang your life. You, yourself, take advantage of this new legislatn, and you marry your partner, right?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That’s right.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">But the Republin Party out agast the cisn right away.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">They did.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Did you thk, at that pot, though, that the G.O.P. would eventually e around?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I feel like the G.O.P. issued whatever statement felt like need to issue that moment. The cisn had been ma, and I thk most elected officials wh the Republin Party, wh the exceptn of a few, wanted to move on past . And that’s most of how I took their statement. And I also knew the nversatns that I had behd the scen.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So the way I thk about the years that followed is a perd of time where the G.O.P. didn’t so much accept gay rights or embrace this cultural change, but kd of reached this pot of — I thk the word I’m lookg for I gus is acquicence maybe.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">But they do start to turn stead to look at trans rights, and that be the next cultural battleground. I’m thkg of the bathroom bills, that sort of thg.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Oh, yeah.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">A ltle over a month ago, North Carola enacted the so-lled Bathroom Law, which crics were quick to ll discrimatn agast transgenr people. It wasn’t. It was a rpect for privacy. It was an expectatn of privacy that dividuals have, pecially our youth have. When they go to a locker room, a shower, or a rtroom, they expect only people of their genr to be there that shower —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And this perd, you bee the head of the Log Cab Republins —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That’s right.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">— which historilly has been, sentially, the L.G.B. wg of the party. I’m sayg L.G.B. liberately. And I wonr, at this pot, when this issue started to emerge, how you, as a group, were thkg about trans rights.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Sure. So I thk there’s a uple thgs here, and I still feel like they’re very tertg. Even though some of them are paful to me, I thk they’re tertg. Wh the Obergefell cisn and marriage equaly, I believe there were a lot of people — and I will jt say, among Log Cab, wr large, so gay Republins the Republin Party — I thk there were a lot of people who sort of felt like, OK, we won. We got that. We’re done.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">We reached the mountatop.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Next? We’re done. Do we even need to keep dog this? Now, for me, what I thought was really important is — as I noted, I thk dividual liberty is so cril and re to everythg that I do, and I thk you n take that same prciple and apply to so many other areas.That would be women’s rights, racial issu, and, of urse, rights for the trans muny, the same way that when I, as the Republin workg for marriage, had a unique role and a unique voice wh both the L.G.B.T. muny to ph back on them sometim and say, wa a mute, you’ve gone too far. This is what policy actually works to bear the nservative prcipl on that si. Then also a role to be played wh the Conservative muny to te people on, OK, you may have been tght this. Here’s a different way to look at that, trag and tn.So I thought we uld do a lot of work to te people on, you know — you mentned bathroom bills. I had a hard time llg a dad who was worried about his child safety a bathroom a bigot bee he was worried about his child’s safety a bathroom. But we do have to make sure he knows the full picture of what’s happeng and do better tn so that he n protect his child and know that a trans person the bathroom wh his child is not a safety risk.There’s a different way that you uld view the anizatn, and that is that we are an extensn of the Republin Party ma up of gay dividuals, so not necsarily advotg for L.G.B.T. rights but advotg for Republin programs, and polici, and ndidat as gay dividuals.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">What I’m hearg you say, I thk, is that there’s two different terpretatns of the role of the Log Cab Republins. One is, are you a nservative first and your sexual inty is send? And the other one is lookg more at promotg issu around sexual inty wh a nservative bent. It’s about what you’re privilegg. Is that right?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That’s close to . I thk to a lot of people felt like too much too fast, unrelatable. And then beyond jt trans issu, beme about a cultural war and the ia of wokens. And everybody on the left is phg all of the thgs, so we need to stand up and ph agast them bee ’s an -them. So if that’s what they are phg, then we will ph back.Now, that’s happened for a long time, but the past several years ’s bee the norm to a much broar gree. And so all of those battl beme much bigger. I know —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">The are the Tmp years, of urse.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Y. Y, they were, and that absolutely aid .</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Hm. So there was clearly a divisn between you and some of the members. You wanted to take a directn that not only the Log Cab Republins but the Republin Party, wr large, wasn’t head .</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Y, I thk that was very clear that where I would have wanted to head wh everythg that we did was not where we were head gog to a send Tmp mpaign and electn season.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So what happened then?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So I rigned.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That mt have been hard.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It was.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Which I thk brgs to today bee recent months, of urse, we’ve seen the party troduce a wave of legislatn and iativ to lim trans rights, particularly as they relate to young people. But we’re also seeg signs that the party is once aga takg up the issue of gay rights. I’m thkg of the so-lled “Don’t Say Gay” legislatn Florida. Can you jt scribe a word what feels like?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Cshg. It’s almost like there’s been a spark stck or a door opened that tells everybody, you n be as anythg — ’s like you n say all those quiet thgs out loud that we thought we’d moved past. Now everybody’s gog back on those thgs.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And even the Log Cab Republins are sayg the quiet part out loud now. There’s somethg I’ve been totally fascated by this moment. The Log Cab Republins, the group you disagreed wh on trans issu but which exists and was found to support gay rights, is actually now supportg the “Don’t Say Gay” legislatn. And I was hopg that you’d help me unrstand why they would support somethg that the wir gay muny se as homophobic.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So I thk the bate there and where there’s — and by the way, I haven’t — I rigned several years ago, so there’s a lot of time that’s passed, and they will do what they want.But I thk there’s a group of people on, I would say, the more right-of-center si who believe that the quote, unquote “Don’t Say Gay” bill don’t apply to actually not sayg gay. It only appli to different curriculum and specific thgs that, as they would fe , are thgs that if, you know — no, I don’t thk a five-year-old needs to be told how to have sex wh a male, or female, or anythg like that. That’s ridiculo.But do create an environment that mak impossible for, say, gay teachers or gay parents to be part of that muny, and we know, historilly, how thgs like this turn out. Florida, of urse, is one of the thgs that people talk about the most, but if you look at bills related to trans dividuals and havg C.P.S. go and seize children — I know, as a home-schooled dividual back the day, you uld legimately have C.P.S. lled on you by ncerned neighbors sayg, why are the kids not school?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">What you’re talkg about is directiv plac like Texas, which basilly say that parents that give their children genr-affirmg re n be reported for child abe and possibly have their child removed om their re?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Correct, which is the oppose of everythg that I grew up and was tght, that parents should have the ultimate say this. And so seems like this disnnect. The prciple of not havg the state e and take over what a parent is dog should be somethg that every nservative is rallyg behd. But stead, we flip that on s head.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">You ed the word cshg to scribe how you feel about this new raft of legislatn, and I’m thkg about the journey you and the party have been on. What do you thk about the fact that we’re startg to see signs some stat that the party is terted rollg back marriage equaly self and that they would do this by takg the kd of state-by-state approach that the party has taken wh issu like abortn? I mean, how do that feel to you?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That’s disgtg. We’ve already done this. I n look at two ways. I n look at om my emotnal standpot, where I thk that’s horribly wrong, and the only word for really is cshg. It feels that way. But then also polilly stupid, like we are jt drivg wedg for the sake of fundraisg jt to stir thgs up, which is gog to make ntually and ntually harr to reach any reasonable solutn.More and more Amerins on both sis of the aisle feel that our untry is head the wrong directn. There’s always gog to be strong polar oppos that exist. I get that. But there’s a whole lot of people who would actually like to see reach some posive change, and that’s not gog to happen when we go back and keep re-fightg battl that were already won, battl that took a lot of work, a lot of angst, a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears, lerally.There’s other big battl ahead of . It’s gog to be tough, and we’re ntually leavg people out. If that’s where the Republin Party is head, that’s not somethg that I’m part of. But that don’t mean that I have a better place the Democrat Party.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah, I wanted to ask you that bee I’m hearg you real time really stggle wh this. You don’t feel like you have a place the Democratic Party, but the Republin Party do seem to be head a directn that you’re not aligned wh.It mak me wonr if you thk the party, though, will have space for people like you the future. Do you thk a young Jerri Ann g up the nservative world but startg to regnize this realy about her sexualy would ever see a place for herself this party?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">No, I don’t thk young Jerri Ann would have any place here at all. I thk I have the benef or maybe the Republin Party has the benef of my years of work that maybe make me stick around a ltle b more rather than beg that young, ialistic child who would have looked at this and said, mm, no.I am willg to jt keep fightg sometim, maybe stupidly. Maybe I’m always for a lost e. I would say that my loyalty is to my prciple. That’s unwaverg. I’ll keep fightg for that.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Jerri Ann, thank you very much.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Thank you.“First Person” is a productn of New York Tim Opn. We’ll be back next Thursday wh a new episo. Today’s episo was produced by Courtney Ste, Derek Arthur and Cristal Duhaime. It was eded by Lisa Tob and Kaari Pk wh help om Stephanie Joyce. Engeerg by Isaac Jon. Origal mic by Isaac Jon, Pat McCker and Carole Sabourd, fact-checkg by Mary Marge Locker.The rt of the “First Person” team clus Christa Djossa, Olivia Natt and Jason Pagano. Special Thanks to Krista Samulewski, Shannon Bta, Kate Sclair, Jefey Miranda, Pla Szuchman, Irene Noguchi, Patrick Healy and Katie Kgsbury.</dd></dl></div></div></div></div><div style="posn:absolute;width:0;height:0;visibily:hidn;display:none"></div><hear class="css-1vwfk9f" data-breakpot=""><div style="width:100%" data-ttid="flt-layout"><div style="background-image:url()" class="css-18qqsen e1llfg0"><div class="css-1hmsypo e1llfg2"><div class="css-131hid3 e1llfg3"><div class="css-1uhi299 e1llfg1"></div><div class="css-1tloyb6"><div class="css-1kltdsh ehra6vc0"><a href=" class="css-2ne0py"><img alt="First Person logo" src=">First Person</a></div></div><div class="css-1r0dpua e1llfg4"><div class="css-1gu519p edye5kn0"><div><h1 class="css-1xbyom1 edye5kn2">She’s Gay and a Republin. Is There a Place for Her the G.O.P.?</h1><h2 class="css-rlih edye5kn3">Wh the recent Republin rollbacks on L.G.B.T.Q. rights, Jerri Ann Henry wonrs whether she has a future the party.</h2></div><button type="button" class="css-w62hzm" aria-haspopup="te" aria-label="Show Aud Transcript"><div class="css-1vd84sn"><svg xmlns=" width="24" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 20" fill="#F8F8F8"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M0 0H24V20H0V0ZM3 7H21V9H3V7ZM21 11H3V13H21V11ZM3 15H21V17H3V15ZM11 3H3V5H11V3Z" fill="#F8F8F8"></path></svg>Transcript</div></button></div><div class="css-1g7y0i5 e1drnplw0"><button tabx="100" class="css-1rtlxy" type="button" aria-label="close"><svg width="60" height="60" viewBox="0 0 60 60" fill="none"><circle cx="30" cy="30" r="30" fill="whe" fill-opacy="0.9"></circle><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M38.4844 20.1006L39.8986 21.5148L21.5138 39.8996L20.0996 38.4854L38.4844 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M21.5156 20.1006L20.1014 21.5148L38.4862 39.8996L39.9004 38.4854L21.5156 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path></svg></button><div class="css-rdbib0 e1drnplw1"></div><div class="css-18ow4sz e1drnplw2"><div aria-labelledby="modal-tle" role="regn"><hear class="css-1bzlfz"><div class="css-mln36k" id="modal-tle">transcript</div><button type="button" class="css-1igvuto"><div class="css-f40pzg"></div>Back to First Person</button><div class="css-f6lhej" data-ttid="transcript-playback-ntrols"><div class="css-1ialerq"><button tabx="99" type="button" class="css-1t9gw" aria-label="play"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M8 13.7683V6L14.5 9.88415L8 13.7683Z" fill="var(--lor-ntent-sendary,#363636)"></path><circle cx="10" cy="10" r="9.25" stroke="var(--lor-stroke-primary,#121212)" stroke-width="1.5"></circle></svg></button><div class="css-1701swk"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 40 36" id="el_0kpS9qL_S"><tle>bars

are there gay republicans

22 Dec 2024

Inially, there were accatns that Ziegler, as a gay Democrat, was biased toward Bin, but now some Republins say his inty shows he's fair and reliable sayg the IRS was hampered the vtigatn.

WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?
SHE’S GAY AND A REPUBLIN. IS THERE A PLACE FOR HER THE G.O.P.?
FIRST OPENLY GAY REPUBLIN ELECTED TO HOE WON LI SEAT WH ‘MON SENSE’ MSAGE
COLUMN: THK ‘GAY REPUBLIN’ IS A NTRADICTN? THK AGA
MEET THE GAY REPUBLIN WHO HELPED FEAT EVERY ANTI-LGBTQ BILL WYOMG
“WE FAILED”: GAY REPUBLINS WHO FOUGHT FOR ACCEPTANCE TEXAS GOP SEE LTLE PROGRS

WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?

* are there gay republicans *

In orr to better unrstand the relatnship between sexual mory and polil inti, we examed five ditors that scribe the relatnship people have wh their lbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) inty and their nnectn wh the LGBT muny. In his closed-door posn last month, Ziegler told lawmakers that he is gay, and phed back agast the notn om some right-wg figur that his sexual orientatn fluenc his polics or his job.

SHE’S GAY AND A REPUBLIN. IS THERE A PLACE FOR HER THE G.O.P.?

Sce Dan Zwonzer first joed the Wyomg Hoe 2005, at least six bills targetg gay and transgenr people have been feated. * are there gay republicans *

“People have said, bee I’m gay and that I am workg as the se agent on this vtigatn, that I mt be a far-left liberal, perfectly placed to f some agenda.

” Cox and Polis are eager to set off on an odd uple roadshow, the former Mormon missnary om ral Utah and gay multilnaire om Boulr.

FIRST OPENLY GAY REPUBLIN ELECTED TO HOE WON LI SEAT WH ‘MON SENSE’ MSAGE

Some Republins once said Joseph Ziegler, the Internal Revenue Service agent who ttified before Congrs Wednday about possible terference the vtigatn of Hunter Bin, was biased Bin’s favor bee he’s a gay man and a Democrat.

“One of them is a gay Democrat who’s married to a man. The report clud a photo of Joseph Ziegler and his hband, Newsweek not, pl the assertn that the hband was nnected “at least socially” to Demetre Daskalakis, a gay physician who has worked the New York Cy health partment and the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn, and later was appoted by Joe Bin as puty ordator of the rponse to the mpox outbreak.

COLUMN: THK ‘GAY REPUBLIN’ IS A NTRADICTN? THK AGA

One signal — Jtice Clarence Thomas wrote a ncurrg opn that, alongsi abortn, lgs protectg same-sex relatnships and marriage should also be Ann Henry n remember a moment jt a few years ago when she felt there might be a possibily that the Republin uld actually move forward on gay rights.

MEET THE GAY REPUBLIN WHO HELPED FEAT EVERY ANTI-LGBTQ BILL WYOMG

And wh a half e —lulu garcia-navarroI image that that environment there weren’t a lot out gay and lbian people around you.

I thk there was a gay male uple our neighborhood that everybody jt sort of referred to as “The Boys” and didn’t want to say what they were. But we don’t do garcia-navarroDo you remember when you might have first heard the word gay or lbian, what you thought about those words and people who are associated wh them?

The word lbian — I thk I had — maybe more than the word gay, the word lbian was maybe almost ed as a rogatory term. Whether she plays for our team, the gay ’t the bisexuals have their own team? And we’re all stg around talkg about datg and whatnot, and one of my iends who was gay and out said somethg.

“WE FAILED”: GAY REPUBLINS WHO FOUGHT FOR ACCEPTANCE TEXAS GOP SEE LTLE PROGRS

You said there were two ann henryThe send story was, I was on an email thread wh a ton of people, and they were batg — there was a ton of people, nsultants and otherwise, Republin staffers at many different levels on a number of different projects, talkg back and forth about how to navigate some tough polil issu related to gay dividuals.

BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM ARE THERE GAY REPUBLICANS

bars</tle><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_65hRV2Qwn" class="css-1fxvzwo" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_ILVvi2tqx" class="css-1wnday1" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC"><rect x="34" width="6" height="36" id="el_qw_T_tngXw"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_p_9Pm85Ac" class="css-fwki7z" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_WxG3R40yd" class="css-t3i5e6" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU"><rect x="22.67" width="6" height="36" id="el_lf9GrROk6j"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_kYNRGDfcw" class="css-t9te0w" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_3c3bzSjOJ" class="css-1r5375t" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw"><rect x="11.33" width="6" height="36" id="el_-iueO8klO0"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_y_fKcpSxn" class="css-qknaag" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_R6bNB6_Ys" class="css-1vd04" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC"><rect width="6" height="36" id="el_dS5TKNZZ5w"></rect></g></g></g></svg></div><div><div class="css-1t7yl1y">0:00/44:05</div><div class="css-og85jy">-44:05</div></div></div></div></hear><div class="css-uzyn7p"><div class="css-1vxyw">transcript<h2 class="css-9wqu2x">She’s Gay and a Republin. Is There a Place for Her the G.O.P.?</h2><h4 class="css-qsd3hm">Wh the recent Republin rollbacks on L.G.B.T.Q. rights, Jerri Ann Henry wonrs whether she has a future the party.</h4><time dateTime="2022-06-30T09:00:10.000Z" class="css-1e605">2022-06-30T05:00:10-04:00</time></div><dl class="css-p98d0w"><dt class="css-xx7kwh"></dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">[MUSIC]</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Sudnly, everythg has changed Ameri overnight. Rights that seemed like settled law are up for bate. Now that Roe’s been overturned by the Supreme Court’s nservative majory, the qutn is, what next? One signal — Jtice Clarence Thomas wrote a ncurrg opn that, alongsi abortn, lgs protectg same-sex relatnships and marriage should also be rensired.Jerri Ann Henry n remember a moment jt a few years ago when she felt there might be a possibily that the Republin uld actually move forward on gay rights. She’s the former head of the Log Cab Republins, and for her, the Supreme Court’s protectn of marriage equaly had been a personal and profsnal victory. From New York Tim Opn, I’m Lulu Garcia-Navarro, and this is “First Person.” Today, Jerri Ann Henry and the Republin rollback of L.G.B.T.Q. rights.We’re gog to get started. Here we go.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">OK.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I really like your name, Jerri Ann. Is there a story there?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I don’t know that ’s a long story, but there is a reason. My parents were always very adamant that a name uld be very fg, and I know that’s not unique to them. Everybody feels that.But they spent a lot of time, maybe too much time, seemed like, sometim, wh all of but prayg over and lookg at the meang of different nam. So Jerri means appoted by God, and then Ann means prayer and fah. So I always grew up hearg that my name meant that I was appoted by God to pray and be strong.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So you grew up Texas what sounds like que a relig fay. I know you were home-schooled. Were your parents also polilly active?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Oh, very, very. There’s so many people who — polilly active may mean that your parents donate a lot or a parent ran for office. We always grew up wh the ep belief — and was jt burned to our bra early on that our actns and what we did each day uld have a direct role changg law, changg who was elected to office.My mom ed to always say that you didn’t get to pla about the ndidat or the party platform if you didn’t show up at the precct meetgs to set the planks. So we — I remember, lerally, young enough that I had to hold my parents’ hands, walkg door to door for — I uldn’t even tell you now what ndidate was but cy uncil or somethg like that. We were always very volved.But that also meant at home we spent a lot of time — over dner, my father would gather around and we would talk about polil issu of the day and go through not jt — sometim big-picture policy issu but also look at what was happeng at a natnal level.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I would sist that is impossible to mata Amerin civilizatn wh 12-year-olds havg babi, 15-year-olds killg each other, 17-year-olds dyg of AIDS, and 18-year-olds gettg diplomas they n’t even read.But this is a crisis of our entire civilizatn. And wh a half e —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I image that that environment there weren’t a lot out gay and lbian people around you. Am I right?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">One thoand percent. I thk there was a gay male uple our neighborhood that everybody jt sort of referred to as “The Boys” and didn’t want to say what they were. And I’m not sure I really knew what was myself.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">“The Boys“?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">“The Boys.”</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Meang they were together?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Two boys that lived together. We don’t really —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">But wasn’t explaed?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Right. I don’t even thk that my bra knew how to terpret at that time anythg sexual for sure. I don’t thk that ever crossed my md. But the ia of, oh, ’s two men, and they’re a fay. But we don’t do that.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Do you remember when you might have first heard the word gay or lbian, what you thought about those words and people who are associated wh them?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah. I don’t know that I uld tell you the first time I heard the words, but I know that all of my early associatns wh them were super negative. The word lbian — I thk I had — maybe more than the word gay, the word lbian was maybe almost ed as a rogatory term.I grew up — I was always a ltle b of a tomboy and didn’t f , and I thk I always had this small fear of, what if I was a lbian? Bee — oh my gosh — all the rogatory, bad thgs would then be me.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So when did you start to regnize for yourself that you liked women?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">While I was llege there were que a few different tim where I sort of was like, oh, crap, that’s happeng. But I thk at that pot, I still jt sort of put a box as, OK, but I’m not gog to let that happen. Let me put a box, put on a shelf, and ignore . And I will then overpensate and always make sure that I have a boyiend, that I ph harr to make that not a thg.And wasn’t until after I graduated om llege that I really started to jt e to grips.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Was there a moment?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">There was. You want this story?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">If you don’t md.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">OK. It was one of my first jobs after I graduated om llege. And I never had a girliend. I never dated a woman. But there was a woman that I worked wh that I was like, eh, that’s probably — I’m not an idt. I know what I’m feelg. But I never let really creep and bee too ser a thg.And then I walked to this meetg, and was jt me, and her, and a whole bunch of people that we had to prent a whole sli ck to. We’d been preppg for for weeks. I knew my part. She knew her part. This was gog to be great. We were gog to csh , w this client, all the thgs.For whatever reason, maybe to schmooze the client, she wore a pretty low-cut outf that day, and I was stg across the table om her. And you uld have asked me my name. I don’t thk I uld have told you my name. I’m not sure I uld have told you anythg on any of the slis that I lerally had wrten myself.And I fally had to exce myself bee I was so fltered, and I went to the bathroom, and cried, and looked the mirror, and I ma myself — was so paful, I thk, at the time, but I ma myself look the mirror and say the words, “you are a lbian.”And that word, lbian, had so many negative nnotatns and so much pa that that’s what moved me to tears. I didn’t want to have to say that word and associate wh myself.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So sounds like was really paful to say, but was also eeg?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It was. I had to get to that pot. And once I got to that pot and forced myself to take the actn of lookg myself the mirror the eye and sayg, yeah, this is who you are, then I uld start to take a breath and thk like, OK, what do that mean?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And what did mean? You’ve been fightg that part of yourself that was attracted to women, and then sudnly ’s unniable. But you’re still really stgglg wh . How much do you thk that stggle had to do wh your upbrgg and your polics?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I mean, I thk had everythg to do wh that. This didn’t f the visn that I had of what I wanted for myself. This meant not a picket fence. This meant not movg back to Dallas, Texas and beg the perfect wife of a member of ngrs who fought for all the nservative valu.So that was a challenge to let that break apart and realize that wasn’t gog to ever happen. And I will say I didn’t e to quickly. I had that moment, but was still years of fightg over that. And I uldn’t ppot the moment, but probably around like 2010, 2011 I started thkg — I was like, what if this is te? I don’t have to tell anybody, but what if I let myself, jt for myself, believe that this is te?And I’m gog to tell you somethg that’s like the most cliche thg ever, but I was like, OK, so if I was a lbian, what do that mean? I don’t know any lbians. I don’t know anythg about them. So I watched “The L Word.”</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Talkg, lghg, lovg, breathg, fightg, fuckg, cryg, drkg, lyg —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Which is like, a re of passage for every sgle lbian the world, pecially of my generatn. We all had to watch at some pot. And I was like, oh.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Dana, I’m imprsed. You’re to someone, and you want to know whether or not they’re down.She’s down?Whether she plays for our team, the gay team.Don’t the bisexuals have their own team?</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Now, fely I’m not — I didn’t f to the liftyl of any of those women.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Look at the sho. High-heeled sandals.Wh tapered jeans. Would you wear high-heeled sandals —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I was Washgton, D.C. beg a polil wonk and a nerd, but jt actually lookg at what a life as a lbian uld be like. What would be like to have another woman my life that I loved? Would that be possible?So there was a year or so of jt me, my head, learng that.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Rearchg.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah, rearchg and explorg, cryg over some of , hatg some of , lovg some of . Then I remember at some pot beg like, maybe I should change my wardrobe a ltle. What?I thk was a ltle after this, but — oh, what is her name? One of the leads of me out. And I was like, aha. I knew there was a reason I was shoppg at The cloth matched.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So you’re watchg “The L Word,” and you’re drsg and , and you’re g to accept yourself and who you are. Tell me about how that f to your Republin inty and when you actually cid that you would be public about who and what you were your profsnal life?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah, well there’s probably — like there’s two moments, I thk, one slightly more personal and then one way more public. So there had been — by this time, I’d had a few years go by workg wh Republin polics, and of urse, if — I don’t know how much time you’ve spent — I know you’ve been D.C. plenty, but there’s sort of this culture around Christmas parti Washgton, D.C. You’ve got to get ved to all of them. You’ve got to get on all the lists.And I was still like one of those young, hungry staffers tryg to get noticed by everybody and go to everythg. And at some pot, what I thought was probably a really smart polil strategist bra that I didn’t have but thought I had, I cid that a good way to start g out was not to jt make an announcement but to sort of backhand mentn to people and then be like, oh, you didn’t know? Huh. I thought I told you. Oh, well. Now you do.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And you were gog to do this the Christmas party route. Is that —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Well, I wasn’t planng to do the Christmas party route, but I had planned — I’d gone to like four parti the eveng, and I was at like an after-after party at Shelly’s cigar bar. And we’re all stg around talkg about datg and whatnot, and one of my iends who was gay and out said somethg. And I was like, oh, yeah. I was like, well, me, too. And she’s like, wa, did I know that? And I was like, huh, you mt have. Surely you uldn’t have not?And she was like, huh, I don’t thk I did know that, but we should get ffee next week and talk about . And I thk that started a lot of the mor l. So I don’t thk that was a good polil strategy, but my bra at the time thought was.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So what’s the send story? You said there were two stori.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">The send story was, I was on an email thread wh a ton of people, and they were batg — there was a ton of people, nsultants and otherwise, Republin staffers at many different levels on a number of different projects, talkg back and forth about how to navigate some tough polil issu related to gay dividuals.Fally, I jt kept watchg people go back and forth and back and forth, and wasn’t even necsarily hateful rhetoric or anythg wrong. I was jt like, oh, my gosh. Nobody knows what they’re talkg about. Everybody had an opn about, oh, well, we n’t say this bee the gays would thk that. Or what about the gays here? And was like this cliche “the gays,” “the gays,” “the gays,” jt very broad stereotyp.And I jt replied to all, and I was like as a lbian who n wear high heels but also manage power tools, I thk you guys are all a ltle b off.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">You did reply all?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I did reply all.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">How many people were on that list?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">There were probably a uple of people on that list.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">All Republin operativ? None of them are prumably openly gay? That’s que a g out.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It was. At that pot, I had started privately to tell two or three close iends here and there, and some of the people that I had told were on that list and immediately started textg and llg. And they were like — they were eakg out. They were like, do you realize you h reply all? And I said, I did, and that was on purpose. And I’ll take .</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">What was the rponse?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I’m sure there was a lot of buzz behd the scen. There were many people that I knew that I worked wh that — they may have accepted me and loved me personally but did not support homosexualy for relig reasons or whatever, and I knew that. And was sort of a, let’s agree to disagree. And so I was surround by that. I get .But they were overwhelmgly supportive. I got a lot of thgs that now, hdsight, I realize were maybe a ltle cliche, but I don’t flt anybody for that. I thk, if you’ve never had somebody e out to you, you don’t necsarily the exact words to say.I ma a pot immediately after that to go to all my boss and supervisors and make sure to tell each of them, and I thk each of them told me was OK.And by the fourth person, I was like, I know ’s OK. I’m not askg you permissn, which I thk got a lgh. They were like, we know. We’re jt — so they were all fe. Nobody md. In fact, the polil backlash that I probably had strsed about for a long time absolutely did not happen.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Around this time, ’s 2011. It’s right before the 2012 electn, which is, of urse, Obama vers Mt Romney. So at this pot, Romney was phg a nstutnal amendment that would block same-sex marriage.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I have the same view on marriage that I had when I was ernor and that I’ve exprsed many tim. I believe marriage is a relatnship between a man and a woman. And that’s my own preference. I know other people have differg views. This is a very tenr and sensive topic, as are many social issu, but I have the same view that I’ve had, well, sce nng for office.</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And he was opposed to the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” the ary. This is a moment where the Republin Party is still really phg back agast gay rights. I wonr, as you nsired whether would be possible to be out wh the reer you had chosen, how you sort of unrstood that dichotomy of the posn, though, polilly on gay rights?Bee you had had this genuely lovely experience of acceptance amongst your lleagu, and yet at the same time, there’s this platform that seems to be very much opposn to your new inty.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Sure. So I thk at that time wasn’t jt Republins, or Romney, or anybody phg back. I thk most people were. Obama was not for marriage eher at that time.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Wh rpect to the issue of whether gays and lbians should be able to get married, I stggle wh this. At this pot, what I’ve said is that my basele is a strong civil unn that provis them the protectns and the legal rights that married upl have, and I thk that’s the right thg to do. But I regnize that, om their perspective, is not enough. And I thk —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So I didn’t feel threatened or that I wouldn’t have a place wh the party I’d been workg for. I felt that was very much — opposn was driven by polil practily, not by actual dissent.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I gus what I’m askg is if you had any plited feelgs, that the people are willg to accept you as an dividual but they’re ntug to fight agast your rights?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I thk plited would even be too bold. I would say I was aware that thgs need to change, but I have never, ever my whole entire life thought that everythg — that every ndidate I supported was perfect or that we had a perfect platform or stance. Everythg always tak work and improvement.So me g out and realizg my own sexualy jt got me to the place to say like, OK, there’s the next battle. We’ll work on that. And very much aware that on my si of the aisle I had a lot more work to do.And was tertg. As a nservative, didn’t really give me pse bee I learned so early on and still hold as my own belief, dividual liberty is so herent to what mak, I thk, Ameri different and what we should be supportg and should be furtherg.So much of what I saw as issue was not jt bee of my personal tert as a gay Amerin but bee I felt was ntrary to that belief. It was pickg and choosg who got certa rights and liberti rather than regnizg the same herent value and rights for everyone.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So how did that play out, practilly speakg?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah. So I started workg wh young nservativ for the eedom to marry. I started volunteerg go on prs junkets and trips to different early primary stat.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Jog now is Jerri Ann Henry, mpaign manager for Young Conservativ for the Freedom to Marry. Jerri Ann, how’s gog? I don’t hear any Republin printial mpaigners g your talkg pots yet.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg (jerri ann henry)</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Well, they’re not g them yet, but we’re nfint that they will e around. A lot of what we’re talkg about is really foced on cln so that those who have — regardls of what opn people have, they have a place on this issue, they have a place the Republin Party. And I thk —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And so you’re now at the center of movg the needle on L.G.B.T.Q. issu for Republins.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And gay marriage is the ma thg on the agenda. You’re headg the Young Conservativ for the Freedom to Marry. Are you also workg across the aisle? Bee obvly there was a huge ph by the Democrats for —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Absolutely.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">— for marriage equaly.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah, of urse. So bee of that work, I did work closely wh all the different L.G.B.T.Q. groups. Of urse, I thk had a slightly unique perspective g om that right-of-center si and unrstandg how some msagg might not ronate as well.So there was sort of a two-part mpaign, one showg lears and cisn makers, whether be the Supreme Court or Congrs, showg lears that the natn was ready for this, but also gog out to the muny and showg people the muny that they may have privately, around the dner table, said like, eh, ’s probably OK, or maybe ’s not my favore, but I don’t want — I don’t want to have a law hurtg my neighbor. It’s fe.Wherever their place was, I don’t thk everybody realized that they were all there and that they weren’t alone, so kd of helpg, on both sis of the aisle, craft that msagg and build the groundswell of support that f far beyond a bucket of which party you were or what your polil leangs were but to this broar ncept of, love is love, and that’s herent to all of .</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg (rob portman)</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I’m announcg today a change of heart on an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about. It has to do wh gay upl’ opportuny to marry.</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">We had — at the time, members of Congrs started to e forward, not all the time, but we did have right-of-center Rob Portman, others put themselv on the le bee they believed this was a big enough al, too.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg (rob portman)</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">My son me to Jane, my wife, and I, told that he was gay, and that was not a choice, and that he that’s jt part of who he is, and he’d been that way ever sce he uld remember. And that lnched —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So you’re feelg like you’re seeg movement broadly the culture but also a ltle b on the right?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Well, yeah.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And then, of urse, June 2015, the Supreme Court cid favor of same-sex marriage. Take me to that moment when the cisn me through. Where were you?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Absolutely. So I got up early. So I’m thkg half mpaign manager mo, prs prep, you know, ready to go be the face and ordate people but also excement. I planed my outf for way too long. I thk — I thk — was a jacket.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I was about to ask.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It was a blazer over my Freedom to Marry t-shirt, which I felt like would jt be perfect bee I knew I would have to do some prs terviews and thgs like that. So I wanted to be ready. I took my girliend, who had been — she, at this pot, was basilly one of our volunteers, packg everythg.And we all went down there, and we were gathered. The crowd was massive. And we were wag. And of urse, we’d worked so closely wh the attorneys and were volved the se, so we had good ti. And was sends — when I say sends, I mean probably like actns of sends before the opns were actually released somebody texted someone. And went like, a spark dropped a South Texas dry-air drought season field.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A..</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">The whole crowd jt explod. I remember there was a tour b, one of those double-cker on that people take, and everybody ss on the top so you n take pictur. There was one of those drivg by, and all honty, I don’t thk any of the people had any ia what was happeng. But I hope they got some amazg pictur of everybody jt broke down, cryg.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It’s such a great day for , for me and my wife. I’m glad that we’re fally here, that we are no longer send-class cizens.</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And was one of jt the most electric experienc I’ve ever been a part of.And then I went to work.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">All of the Republin 2016 ntenrs are agast same-sex marriage, but the range of their rpons reflects the strong opposn among relig —This se wasn’t so much about a matter of marriage equaly. It was marriage refn.Look, if you thk about , we are at the water’s edge of the argument that mastream Christian teachg is hate speech bee today we’ve reached the pot our society where if you do not support same-sex marriage you are labeled a homophobe and a hater.Marriage as an stutn between a man and a woman was tablished by God. It nnot be altered by an earthly urt. Now, the next step this, the left, Hillary Clton, are gog to wagg an all-out asslt on relig eedom.[MUSIC]Annual Gay Pri paras took on new meang on Sunday as people poured to the cy streets to celebrate the Supreme Court’s lg legalizg same-sex marriage natnwi. Over the weekend, ments on that cisn om Republin printial ndidat ranged om lls to rpect the cisn to support for an Amendment that would reverse the lg.Texas Senator Ted Cz lled illegimate and lawls. He would like —The last two days, the Supreme Court cisns have been heartbreakg. They have been the embodiment of judicial activism. They’ve been lawlsns.</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So you’ve jt experienced this credible victory. It chang the landspe of Ameri. It also chang your life. You, yourself, take advantage of this new legislatn, and you marry your partner, right?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That’s right.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">But the Republin Party out agast the cisn right away.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">They did.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Did you thk, at that pot, though, that the G.O.P. would eventually e around?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">I feel like the G.O.P. issued whatever statement felt like need to issue that moment. The cisn had been ma, and I thk most elected officials wh the Republin Party, wh the exceptn of a few, wanted to move on past . And that’s most of how I took their statement. And I also knew the nversatns that I had behd the scen.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So the way I thk about the years that followed is a perd of time where the G.O.P. didn’t so much accept gay rights or embrace this cultural change, but kd of reached this pot of — I thk the word I’m lookg for I gus is acquicence maybe.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">But they do start to turn stead to look at trans rights, and that be the next cultural battleground. I’m thkg of the bathroom bills, that sort of thg.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Oh, yeah.</dd><dl class="css-1jysr6y"><dt class="css-xx7kwh">archived rerdg</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">A ltle over a month ago, North Carola enacted the so-lled Bathroom Law, which crics were quick to ll discrimatn agast transgenr people. It wasn’t. It was a rpect for privacy. It was an expectatn of privacy that dividuals have, pecially our youth have. When they go to a locker room, a shower, or a rtroom, they expect only people of their genr to be there that shower —</dd></dl><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And this perd, you bee the head of the Log Cab Republins —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That’s right.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">— which historilly has been, sentially, the L.G.B. wg of the party. I’m sayg L.G.B. liberately. And I wonr, at this pot, when this issue started to emerge, how you, as a group, were thkg about trans rights.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Sure. So I thk there’s a uple thgs here, and I still feel like they’re very tertg. Even though some of them are paful to me, I thk they’re tertg. Wh the Obergefell cisn and marriage equaly, I believe there were a lot of people — and I will jt say, among Log Cab, wr large, so gay Republins the Republin Party — I thk there were a lot of people who sort of felt like, OK, we won. We got that. We’re done.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">We reached the mountatop.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Next? We’re done. Do we even need to keep dog this? Now, for me, what I thought was really important is — as I noted, I thk dividual liberty is so cril and re to everythg that I do, and I thk you n take that same prciple and apply to so many other areas.That would be women’s rights, racial issu, and, of urse, rights for the trans muny, the same way that when I, as the Republin workg for marriage, had a unique role and a unique voice wh both the L.G.B.T. muny to ph back on them sometim and say, wa a mute, you’ve gone too far. This is what policy actually works to bear the nservative prcipl on that si. Then also a role to be played wh the Conservative muny to te people on, OK, you may have been tght this. Here’s a different way to look at that, trag and tn.So I thought we uld do a lot of work to te people on, you know — you mentned bathroom bills. I had a hard time llg a dad who was worried about his child safety a bathroom a bigot bee he was worried about his child’s safety a bathroom. But we do have to make sure he knows the full picture of what’s happeng and do better tn so that he n protect his child and know that a trans person the bathroom wh his child is not a safety risk.There’s a different way that you uld view the anizatn, and that is that we are an extensn of the Republin Party ma up of gay dividuals, so not necsarily advotg for L.G.B.T. rights but advotg for Republin programs, and polici, and ndidat as gay dividuals.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">What I’m hearg you say, I thk, is that there’s two different terpretatns of the role of the Log Cab Republins. One is, are you a nservative first and your sexual inty is send? And the other one is lookg more at promotg issu around sexual inty wh a nservative bent. It’s about what you’re privilegg. Is that right?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That’s close to . I thk to a lot of people felt like too much too fast, unrelatable. And then beyond jt trans issu, beme about a cultural war and the ia of wokens. And everybody on the left is phg all of the thgs, so we need to stand up and ph agast them bee ’s an -them. So if that’s what they are phg, then we will ph back.Now, that’s happened for a long time, but the past several years ’s bee the norm to a much broar gree. And so all of those battl beme much bigger. I know —</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">The are the Tmp years, of urse.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Y. Y, they were, and that absolutely aid .</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Hm. So there was clearly a divisn between you and some of the members. You wanted to take a directn that not only the Log Cab Republins but the Republin Party, wr large, wasn’t head .</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Y, I thk that was very clear that where I would have wanted to head wh everythg that we did was not where we were head gog to a send Tmp mpaign and electn season.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So what happened then?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So I rigned.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That mt have been hard.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">It was.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Which I thk brgs to today bee recent months, of urse, we’ve seen the party troduce a wave of legislatn and iativ to lim trans rights, particularly as they relate to young people. But we’re also seeg signs that the party is once aga takg up the issue of gay rights. I’m thkg of the so-lled “Don’t Say Gay” legislatn Florida. Can you jt scribe a word what feels like?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Cshg. It’s almost like there’s been a spark stck or a door opened that tells everybody, you n be as anythg — ’s like you n say all those quiet thgs out loud that we thought we’d moved past. Now everybody’s gog back on those thgs.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">And even the Log Cab Republins are sayg the quiet part out loud now. There’s somethg I’ve been totally fascated by this moment. The Log Cab Republins, the group you disagreed wh on trans issu but which exists and was found to support gay rights, is actually now supportg the “Don’t Say Gay” legislatn. And I was hopg that you’d help me unrstand why they would support somethg that the wir gay muny se as homophobic.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">So I thk the bate there and where there’s — and by the way, I haven’t — I rigned several years ago, so there’s a lot of time that’s passed, and they will do what they want.But I thk there’s a group of people on, I would say, the more right-of-center si who believe that the quote, unquote “Don’t Say Gay” bill don’t apply to actually not sayg gay. It only appli to different curriculum and specific thgs that, as they would fe , are thgs that if, you know — no, I don’t thk a five-year-old needs to be told how to have sex wh a male, or female, or anythg like that. That’s ridiculo.But do create an environment that mak impossible for, say, gay teachers or gay parents to be part of that muny, and we know, historilly, how thgs like this turn out. Florida, of urse, is one of the thgs that people talk about the most, but if you look at bills related to trans dividuals and havg C.P.S. go and seize children — I know, as a home-schooled dividual back the day, you uld legimately have C.P.S. lled on you by ncerned neighbors sayg, why are the kids not school?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">What you’re talkg about is directiv plac like Texas, which basilly say that parents that give their children genr-affirmg re n be reported for child abe and possibly have their child removed om their re?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Correct, which is the oppose of everythg that I grew up and was tght, that parents should have the ultimate say this. And so seems like this disnnect. The prciple of not havg the state e and take over what a parent is dog should be somethg that every nservative is rallyg behd. But stead, we flip that on s head.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">You ed the word cshg to scribe how you feel about this new raft of legislatn, and I’m thkg about the journey you and the party have been on. What do you thk about the fact that we’re startg to see signs some stat that the party is terted rollg back marriage equaly self and that they would do this by takg the kd of state-by-state approach that the party has taken wh issu like abortn? I mean, how do that feel to you?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">That’s disgtg. We’ve already done this. I n look at two ways. I n look at om my emotnal standpot, where I thk that’s horribly wrong, and the only word for really is cshg. It feels that way. But then also polilly stupid, like we are jt drivg wedg for the sake of fundraisg jt to stir thgs up, which is gog to make ntually and ntually harr to reach any reasonable solutn.More and more Amerins on both sis of the aisle feel that our untry is head the wrong directn. There’s always gog to be strong polar oppos that exist. I get that. But there’s a whole lot of people who would actually like to see reach some posive change, and that’s not gog to happen when we go back and keep re-fightg battl that were already won, battl that took a lot of work, a lot of angst, a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears, lerally.There’s other big battl ahead of . It’s gog to be tough, and we’re ntually leavg people out. If that’s where the Republin Party is head, that’s not somethg that I’m part of. But that don’t mean that I have a better place the Democrat Party.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Yeah, I wanted to ask you that bee I’m hearg you real time really stggle wh this. You don’t feel like you have a place the Democratic Party, but the Republin Party do seem to be head a directn that you’re not aligned wh.It mak me wonr if you thk the party, though, will have space for people like you the future. Do you thk a young Jerri Ann g up the nservative world but startg to regnize this realy about her sexualy would ever see a place for herself this party?</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">No, I don’t thk young Jerri Ann would have any place here at all. I thk I have the benef or maybe the Republin Party has the benef of my years of work that maybe make me stick around a ltle b more rather than beg that young, ialistic child who would have looked at this and said, mm, no.I am willg to jt keep fightg sometim, maybe stupidly. Maybe I’m always for a lost e. I would say that my loyalty is to my prciple. That’s unwaverg. I’ll keep fightg for that.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">lulu garcia-navarro</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Jerri Ann, thank you very much.</dd><dt class="css-xx7kwh">jerri ann henry</dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l">Thank you.“First Person” is a productn of New York Tim Opn. We’ll be back next Thursday wh a new episo. Today’s episo was produced by Courtney Ste, Derek Arthur and Cristal Duhaime. It was eded by Lisa Tob and Kaari Pk wh help om Stephanie Joyce. Engeerg by Isaac Jon. Origal mic by Isaac Jon, Pat McCker and Carole Sabourd, fact-checkg by Mary Marge Locker.The rt of the “First Person” team clus Christa Djossa, Olivia Natt and Jason Pagano. Special Thanks to Krista Samulewski, Shannon Bta, Kate Sclair, Jefey Miranda, Pla Szuchman, Irene Noguchi, Patrick Healy and Katie Kgsbury.</dd></dl></div></div></div></div><div style="posn:absolute;width:0;height:0;visibily:hidn;display:none"></div><hear class="css-1vwfk9f" data-breakpot=""><div style="width:100%" data-ttid="flt-layout"><div style="background-image:url()" class="css-18qqsen e1llfg0"><div class="css-1hmsypo e1llfg2"><div class="css-131hid3 e1llfg3"><div class="css-1uhi299 e1llfg1"></div><div class="css-1tloyb6"><div class="css-1kltdsh ehra6vc0"><a href=" class="css-2ne0py"><img alt="First Person logo" src=">First Person</a></div></div><div class="css-1r0dpua e1llfg4"><div class="css-1gu519p edye5kn0"><div><h1 class="css-1xbyom1 edye5kn2">She’s Gay and a Republin. Is There a Place for Her the G.O.P.?</h1><h2 class="css-rlih edye5kn3">Wh the recent Republin rollbacks on L.G.B.T.Q. rights, Jerri Ann Henry wonrs whether she has a future the party.</h2></div><button type="button" class="css-w62hzm" aria-haspopup="te" aria-label="Show Aud Transcript"><div class="css-1vd84sn"><svg xmlns=" width="24" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 20" fill="#F8F8F8"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M0 0H24V20H0V0ZM3 7H21V9H3V7ZM21 11H3V13H21V11ZM3 15H21V17H3V15ZM11 3H3V5H11V3Z" fill="#F8F8F8"></path></svg>Transcript</div></button></div><div class="css-1g7y0i5 e1drnplw0"><button tabx="100" class="css-1rtlxy" type="button" aria-label="close"><svg width="60" height="60" viewBox="0 0 60 60" fill="none"><circle cx="30" cy="30" r="30" fill="whe" fill-opacy="0.9"></circle><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M38.4844 20.1006L39.8986 21.5148L21.5138 39.8996L20.0996 38.4854L38.4844 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M21.5156 20.1006L20.1014 21.5148L38.4862 39.8996L39.9004 38.4854L21.5156 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path></svg></button><div class="css-rdbib0 e1drnplw1"></div><div class="css-18ow4sz e1drnplw2"><div aria-labelledby="modal-tle" role="regn"><hear class="css-1bzlfz"><div class="css-mln36k" id="modal-tle">transcript</div><button type="button" class="css-1igvuto"><div class="css-f40pzg"></div>Back to First Person</button><div class="css-f6lhej" data-ttid="transcript-playback-ntrols"><div class="css-1ialerq"><button tabx="99" type="button" class="css-1t9gw" aria-label="play"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M8 13.7683V6L14.5 9.88415L8 13.7683Z" fill="var(--lor-ntent-sendary,#363636)"></path><circle cx="10" cy="10" r="9.25" stroke="var(--lor-stroke-primary,#121212)" stroke-width="1.5"></circle></svg></button><div class="css-1701swk"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 40 36" id="el_0kpS9qL_S"><tle>bars .

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Contents:

WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?

SHE’S GAY AND A REPUBLIN. IS THERE A PLACE FOR HER THE G.O.P.?

FIRST OPENLY GAY REPUBLIN ELECTED TO HOE WON LI SEAT WH ‘MON SENSE’ MSAGE

COLUMN: THK ‘GAY REPUBLIN’ IS A NTRADICTN? THK AGA

MEET THE GAY REPUBLIN WHO HELPED FEAT EVERY ANTI-LGBTQ BILL WYOMG

“WE FAILED”: GAY REPUBLINS WHO FOUGHT FOR ACCEPTANCE TEXAS GOP SEE LTLE PROGRS

BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM ARE THERE GAY REPUBLICANS

Recent Posts

Tags

Contents:

WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?

SHE’S GAY AND A REPUBLIN. IS THERE A PLACE FOR HER THE G.O.P.?

FIRST OPENLY GAY REPUBLIN ELECTED TO HOE WON LI SEAT WH ‘MON SENSE’ MSAGE

COLUMN: THK ‘GAY REPUBLIN’ IS A NTRADICTN? THK AGA

MEET THE GAY REPUBLIN WHO HELPED FEAT EVERY ANTI-LGBTQ BILL WYOMG

“WE FAILED”: GAY REPUBLINS WHO FOUGHT FOR ACCEPTANCE TEXAS GOP SEE LTLE PROGRS

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* ARE THERE GAY REPUBLICANS

BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM ARE THERE GAY REPUBLICANS