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Texas GOP Bans Log Cabin Republicans

Party Spokesman Robert Black Compares Delegates to KKK, Child Molestors

June 8, 1998

(WASHINGTON, DC) – The Republican Party of Texas has prohibited the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas, represented by over 50 openly gay, elected GOP delegates and alternates, from having an official presence at the state GOP convention in Fort Worth this weekend, and has publicly compared the organization to the Ku Klux Klan and to child molestors in a series of scathing official public statements.

"The Republican Party is not going to allow individuals like the Log Cabins or the KKK or any other hate group in direct conflict withour philosophy a forum to spread their hateful message," said Texas GOP spokesman Robert Black to the Associated Press on June 6. In a Dallas Morning News article on June 4, Black also compared Log Cabin Republicans to the North American Man/Boy Love Association, a pedophile organization.

"We are Republicans. We played by the rules, got elected as delegates in fair elections, and now we are being kept out," said Steve Labinski, president of Log Cabin Republicans Texas and a convention delegate.

"You can't call yourself a big-tent party and discriminate against people at the same time," said Richard Tafel, executive director of the national Log Cabin Republicans in Washington, D.C. "Furthermore, as a Christian minister, I am offended that our organization is being accused of spewing hate against people of faith. It's completely dishonest. We can argue as to whether the Texas Republican Party speaks for God, but there is no question that only one side in this is spreading hatred that that is Robert Black and the Texas GOP."

"What is it going to take for good Republicans to wake up and confront what is happening to their party?" Tafel said.

The action by the state party also called into question the leadership of Governor George W. Bush (R-TX), who will receive the nomination of the party at the convention. Bush is touted as a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2000 who could unite conservatives and moderates in the party, but has refused to comment on the Log Cabin ban and the official public statements of Black and others about the group of openly gay delegates and alternates going to Fort Worth.

In response to the Texas GOP action, Log Cabin Republicans Texas will hold a rally at the Fort Worth Water Gardens on Saturday, June 13, at noon, in support of an inclusive Republican Party.