LGBT POV

We know that not all straight Republicans marched in lockstep with Religious Right grassroots favorite Sarah Palin – whose pick as GOP presidential contender John McCain’s running mate gave a huge financial and emotional boost to the Protect Marriage/ Yes on 8 campaign. Last April, McCain’s daughter Meghan and chief strategist Steve Schmidt officially announced their support for same marriage equality.

Where were they when it mattered, you might ask? When the No on Prop 8 campaign needed mainstream Republican support to pull those independents and libertarians.

Well, in fact, there was mainstream Republican support for No on Prop 8 – organized in large part by Log Cabin Republican-sponsored Republicans Against 8. In fact, the front page of their website features former California Congressman and U.S. Senate nominee Tom Campbell – now a candidate for California governor.

In an op-ed published by Reason Magazine, Campbell said:

“It’s for us to decide. Now, let’s make the right decision. And that right decision, in my view, is to allow same-sex marriage in California.
Republicans believe deeply that government should be limited. Government has no business making distinctions between people based on their personal lives. That’s why, as a Californian and a Republican who has held elective office at the federal and state levels, I will be voting No on Proposition 8.”

Republicans Against 8 was launched in August 2008 to work parallel to the No on Prop 8 campaign and reach out “to persuadable and undecided Republican voters with the message that opposing Proposition 8 is the conservative thing to do” – campaign manager Scott Olin Schmidt told me.

“Republicans Against 8 believes that Proposition 8 violates the core conservative principles of limited government, personal responsibility and individual liberty.

The right to marriage is a deeply personal choice–not one that should be left to the long arm of big government to say when, whom and whether on can marry.”

A political consultant, Schmidt told me on Sept. 24, 2008 that he was skeptical of some polls during the “Summer of Love” that showed Prop 8 going down to defeat.

“Three polls in the last month have all come to the same conclusion, which tell us we can win in November. However 40 days is a lot of time, and we have not seen what the other side is going to do yet, and whether their message is persuasive with voters. We need to be prepared because otherwise, our own complacency will be our biggest enemy.”

After Prop 8 passed, some critics of the No on Prop 8 campaign complained that the campaign had not effectively used Democratic candidate Barack Obama’s opposition to Prop 8 or that of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – who said he was against Prop 8 during the Log Cabin Republican’s convention in April 2008.

Schmidt and Republicans Against 8 used Schwarzenegger in ads they produced targeting persuadable GOP voters and comparing Schwarzenegger’s stance with that of former California Gov. Ronald Reagan’s stance against the Brigg’s Initiative:

Another ad – “Freedom is a Republican Value” – noted all the significant social changes initiated by Republican leaders.

But the video seen instantly when it made news – but then seemed to fade away – was the tearful Sept. 17, 2007 news conference held by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders who said he was reversing his previous position on gay marriage after realizing that anything less than full marriage rights would be demeaning to his lesbian daughter.

I don’t know if anyone advocating for the repeal of Prop 8 has contacted any of these Republicans to help out.