BOSTON (AP) — To some, Patrick Guerriero is the ultimate contradiction: a gay activist working within a political party that embraces many ardently anti-gay positions.

But to this former mayor of a suburban Boston town, who went to Washington to lead the pro-gay Log Cabin Republicans a year ago, that’s exactly the point.

In an era when Republicans control the White House, Congress, and the executive branch in 30 states, Guerriero said it’s “an absolute necessity” that gays and lesbians play an active role in the GOP.

“To abandon completely one party because they are not perfect on these issues right now would basically delay equality for decades,” said Guerriero, 35.

“If you can show me a model for realizing full equality for gay and lesbian Americans ... without Republican support, I’m interested in seeing it. If you work within an institution, you change it.”

His role as a leading gay Republican comes at a time when his home state’s highest court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to the benefits of marriage — further stoking the national debate on the issue.

At stake, he said, is nothing less than the future of the Republican Party, which he believes would be torn apart if anti-gay lawmakers are successful in passing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

“A fight for a constitutional amendment would create a civil war within the Republican Party and I believe would ignite a cultural war around the country,” Guerriero said.

Guerriero once spent his days focusing on potholes, snow removal and school construction in Melrose, a suburb about 10 miles north of Boston. These days, he works on changing a party that has historically been openly hostile to his cause.

Both Democrats and fellow Republicans have criticized the group for issuing empty threats and continuing to support GOP candidates who oppose gay rights.

“They have been seen by many people as willing to trade civil rights for lower taxes,” said Michael Alvear, who wrote Men Are Pigs But We Love Bacon, a collection of his columns from gay newspapers. “Any thinking person understands the necessity of the Log Cabin Republicans, but the only way they can have a role is if they grow a spine.”

Alvear and others, including openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, believe Guerriero has shown signs this year of steering the organization in a different direction.

“He inherited a group that was essentially just shilling for the Republican Party,” Frank said. “But under Patrick, they seem to be saying, ‘We’ll support you, but it’s not a gimme.’”

Like a growing number of gay and lesbian people around the country, Guerriero said, he chose the Republican Party because he shares its conservative philosophy on many issues.

“There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans who are conservative on taxes, foreign policy, government accountability, free trade and who also happen to be gay or lesbian,” Guerriero said.

“To ask all of those folks to give up their principled beliefs because the Republican Party as a whole isn’t where it should be would be a great disservice to them.”

Conservative Republicans question, however, why people who disagree with them on such a basic issue want to be part of the same party.

“It’s like someone who lives in Iceland and doesn’t like cold. You wonder why they do it,” said Glenn Stanton, a senior analyst at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Guerriero joined the Log Cabin Republicans, which takes its name from the humble beginnings of Abraham Lincoln, in January for what he thought would be a quiet year of coalition building.

Instead, he became a regular on the talking-head circuit on CNN and Fox News as the go-to gay Republican, asked to weigh in on the nearly constant developments in the movement — from the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June striking down a Texas ban on gay sex to the recent the gay-marriage ruling in his home state.

He’s counseled the Bush administration to withhold its endorsement from the constitutional amendment and to avoid making this a huge issue in next year’s presidential campaign.

In a recent television interview, President Bush said he could support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

“Certainly, he isn’t where I would like him to be,” Guerriero said. “But his dialogue around this issue is the same type of dialogue that a lot of Americans are going through right now.”