Let’s talk about abusive relationships for a moment. The kind in which an abusive father verbally assaults his children and acts as if they don’t exist — at least until it comes time to count them up to get a welfare check or tax deduction. Then the poor kids make up excuses for why their daddy hurts them, and will defend him even though they are battered and bruised.

Now let’s talk about the Log Cabin Republicans. Notice any similarities?

According to their website, the Log Cabin Republicans want to demonstrate through education that Republicans who are openly gay can, “in the spirit of solidarity and integrity, contribute substantially to the building of [their] party” and the results of these efforts will not only secure full equality for gays but also strengthen the Republican party.

It sounds good on paper, but we’ve got news for all of you Log Cabin Republicans out there. It’s not working.

Seriously, when was the last time you heard a major elected Republican [i.e. President Bush] say something good about the GLBT community? It certainly wasn’t in the State of the Union Address last week when President Bush said, “Activist judges, however, have begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will of the people and their elected representatives. On an issue of such great consequence, the people’s voice must be heard. If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage.”

And don’t bother trying to defend Bush’s next comment, “The outcome of this debate is important — and so is the way we conduct it. The same moral tradition that defines marriage also teaches that each individual has dignity and value in God’s sight.”

That little comment right there summarizes your abusive relationship. The President can sit there and tell the nation how important it is to deny gays and lesbians these basic civil rights and then throw in that they have to respect us while they do it. It’s the political equivalent of that daddy saying, “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you” right before he breaks out the belt and bends you over his knee… only to do it again the next time he feels like he needs to make an example out of you to reassure his right wing fanatics that he’s doing what they say.

We don’t know which is worse, the fact that Bush keeps doing it to you or the fact that you keep taking it from him.

The idea of working within the system to create change is a noble one, but you can’t create change by showing up, mixing with a crowd, looking like everyone else and not speaking up to say, “Hey, that guy’s wrong” when someone takes a pot shot at gays. It would be like a group of African-Americans getting dressed up in white sheets and going to a KKK rally just to stand around while the bubbas spewed hate speech all around them. With their KKK drag on they may fit in real well and they may not be discriminated against, but if they went back to the African-American community and called doing that “creating change from within” they would get laughed right out of town. You can’t create change when you’re just standing there without a voice.

Right now the Log Cabin Republicans are a marginalized part of the GLBT community trying to gain some respect. However, they will never earn it as long as they persist in making excuses for why leaders like President Bush continue to treat us as second-class citizens in this country.

In response to President Bush’s State of the Union address last week, Log Cabin executive director Patrick Guerriero said in a press release, “The mission of Log Cabin is greater than one President or one issue. Last night’s speech shows us how much work remains in our effort to build a more inclusive GOP. To be the majority party, the GOP must be built on a foundation of freedom, fairness and equality — for all Americans.”

If you want to earn our respect, take those words to heart, stand up to President Bush and get out of this abusive relationship. If he insists that he has to support an amendment to the constitution because “activist judges” force him to, don’t make up excuses for him. He’s made his decision and you will have to make yours. Take a stand when it comes time to decide if your organization is going to endorse Bush for the 2004 presidential election.

As it stands now, an endorsement for Bush is an endorsement for discrimination. It’s an endorsement for an abusive relationship, and it’s no way to earn anyone’s respect.