Brish Conservativ lead charge for gay marriage - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• CONSERVATIV VOTE TO END OFFICIAL OPPOSN TO GAY MARRIAGE
• PROMENT GAY REPUBLINS HELPED SMOOTH THE WAY FOR MARRIAGE BILL
• BRISH CONSERVATIV LEAD CHARGE FOR GAY MARRIAGE

CONSERVATIV VOTE TO END OFFICIAL OPPOSN TO GAY MARRIAGE

There are gay nservativ out there. Liberal stat began difyg same-sex marriage to law, and more gay and lbian upl gaed accs to the stutn.

The followg year, Oh Senator Rob Portman beme the first stg GOP Senator to announced support for same-sex marriage legalizatn, sharg that his son was gay. “They’ll say somethg like, ‘I personally don’t support gay marriage, but ’s settled law, so we’re not gog to addrs that. Moran says he rpond that he needs to go to gay and lbian voters the fall and tell them that the Republin Party has their back, and if the GOP vote unt for this bill is low, mak that msagg substantially more difficult.

There were openly gay officials workg at the hight levels of the Tmp admistratn. And Congrs, the gay rights movement has found alli up and g Republin stars like Rep.

PROMENT GAY REPUBLINS HELPED SMOOTH THE WAY FOR MARRIAGE BILL

There is more energy the GOP for help for gay and transgenr issu than a lot of issu Bin r about, ” said Tyler Deaton, a Republin nsultant and senr adviser to the Amerin Uny Fund, which works to advance LGBTQ rights.

Bh’s 2004 printial n, apologized for the anti-same-sex marriage rhetoric of that mpaign and for his role fightg marriage equaly, while announcg that he was gay. Hedge fund billnaire and Republin donor Pl Sger quietly donated to pro-gay rights and formed the Amerin Uny PAC and Amerin Uny Fund, which fights for LGBTQ and relig eedom.

The real breakthrough, gay Republin operativ say, me wh the nomatn of Donald Tmp. Though evangelils flocked to his ndidacy, nservative gay rights activists also saw an opportuny. A smopolan md bs person, Tmp did not prrize LGBTQ issu durg his mpaign and, fact, ma overt appeals to gay voters, though not by pledgg support for laws to protect them.

BRISH CONSERVATIV LEAD CHARGE FOR GAY MARRIAGE

“For the first time we got to walk to the race wh a ndidate we didn’t have to apologize for or expla away his reluctance to embrace the gay muny. Probably Reagan was the last ndidate where we were like ‘this ndidate has gay iends, ’” said Charl Moran, spokperson for Log Cab Republins, a LGBTQ GOP group. Gay rights activists and Republins acknowledge there is still much work to be done wh the GOP.

Gay rights advot the party said Republins missed an opportuny to change the platform’s text 2020.

His admistratn mted to endg the HIV/AIDS epimic wh 10 years and phed to crimalize homosexualy abroad.