Fifty years ago next year, Log Cabin Republicans was founded on a simple conviction: that gay Americans who believe in limited government, individual liberty, and equality deserve equal protection under the law and a voice inside the Republican Party. From the start, Log Cabin Republicans grounded its advocacy in constitutional principles — equal protection, limited government, and individual freedom.
In 2015, the Log Cabin Republicans Board of Directors voted to add the “T” under the umbrella of our mission — out of a belief that all adults should be allowed to pursue their own happiness, free of government interference, as long as it did not impede on the inalienable rights of others.
At the time, we did not believe that we would find ourselves where we are today. The transgender movement has ceased focusing on adults at all — nearly all of their efforts and those of their aligned special interest groups focus on minors. They push schools to teach radical gender ideology; they want biological men in women’s sports regardless of the consequences; perhaps most offensively, they support gender reassignment treatments for minors, often without the knowledge or consent of the parents, knowing full well these treatments are mostly irreversible.
We have come a long way from the founding of our organization. We have fought for the right to legally marry who we love, serve our country and our communities openly and proudly, and to enjoy the same inalienable rights afforded to all law-abiding Americans — and we succeeded. However, the new era of gender identity politics is not the movement we supported and fought for. Gay men and women are losing public support across the country, and support for gay marriage and other once-widely accepted rights is eroding. Why? Because many voters today weren’t alive or cognizant of the politics of gay marriage winding its way through the courts and gaining ground in public opinion. Their view of the gay community is based on today’s radical transgender activists with their unnecessary and discomfiting focus on America’s youth.
That is why, after significant discussion with our membership, our Board of Directors voted to refine Log Cabin Republicans’ national advocacy focus to concentrate specifically on issues of sexual orientation and conservative values — in other words, we are an LGB advocacy organization, as our founders envisioned and as our moral center calls us to be.
This decision does not change who can belong to Log Cabin Republicans. Membership remains open to all conservatives. We welcome all of our allies in this mission and as participants in our organization. Our chapters will continue to welcome all allies and will operate in ways that best serve their membership.
This decision reaffirms our core mission.
Issues of sexual orientation — marriage, adoption, military service, nondiscrimination rooted in equal treatment, and religious liberty protections applied fairly — are grounded in constitutional clarity. They align directly with the Republican commitment to limited government and equal protection under the law.
When we remain focused on those principles, we win.
That is the strategy that guaranteed us our rights. And that is the strategy we are focused on for the future. Returning to our roots is a recommitment to the disciplined advocacy that has gotten us this far. We were founded on principle, and we move forward with clarity, strength, and the confidence that conservative values — properly applied — protect the liberty of every American.