Log Cabin Republicans are crying foul. Should the Smith amendment be considered?

[DemKR]

Poll question: Log Cabin Republicans are crying foul. Should the Smith amendment be considered?

I wanted to post a tidbit that I found circling the internet tonight and will try to debunk the LCR spin.

The gay Republican group says, "Democrats in the U.S. Senate are blocking important pro-gay legislation offered by Republican Senator Gordon Smith from Oregon. The Domestic Partner Health Benefits Equity Act will allow self-employed individuals to deduct the cost of health coverage for their domestic partners."

Well, first thing's first. The Democrats are not trying to "block" The Domestic Partner Health Benefits Equity Act. Baucus and Reid however, oppose the way Smith is trying to go about this.

It's clear that Gordon Smith is worried about his 2008 re-election bid and how his two-time vote for a federal marriage amendment that would have essentially banned what this act entails (hypocrisy alert).

The point is, LCR is either spinning things their way or is grossly misinformed. Baucus and Reid intend to bring the act up very soon, but--Smith is trying to make it part of a minimum wage bill, likely so he can take the credit for it and try to fool people into thinking he has a pro-gay rights voting record.

I tend to agree with Max Baucus on this one. I don't think this act has any place in a minimum wage bill--it needs to be a clean bill. I don't think Gordon Smith speaks for me as a gay person and Log Cabin Republicans certainly do not either.

I am new to DU and am happy to be posting in the GLBT forum. I'd like to know what you think about the Smith amendment.

[bdrube]

1. Log Cabin Republicans Need to Wake Up

If the Christo-Fascists ever DO take over, they'll be the
first ones rounded up.

[Rebellious Republican]

2. Is it not an oxymoron to use gay and republican in the same context?

I wonder how Mary Cheney feels about gay marriage, if there is no such thing, then would not her child be illegitimate? I wonder how she feels about stem cell research, is not in vitro fertilization playing God as well. I wonder how the pastor of the United Methodist church that Dick Cheney attends, feels about gay relationships and children being born out of wedlock by a same sex couple?

[Glorfindel]

3. Welcome to DU!!!

I think the Smith amendment has nothing to do with the minimum wage and should be considered separately. Also, I think the Log Cabin Repukes are pathetic, deluded, self-loathing, and useless.

[Tyo]

4. Poor LCRs

They will grasp at anything that might indicate that the Rethugs are changing their attitude toward us. You'd think that having been kicked in the balls by their party as many times as they have that they'd get a clue. Unfortunately there is no correlation between being gay and being smart.

As for Sen Smith, my understanding is that he votes a straight Bush party line until election time is on the horizon and then he quick becomes a moderate.

[MadBiologist]

5. I am a functionalist

I dont care how we get equal rights at this point. I don't care if fully legalizing gay marriage takes place as a rider to the federal budget at this point. As far as I am concerned, the electorate does not have a legitimate right to vote on my constitutionally guaranteed rights anyway (any of them), so I dont care how duplicitous a congressman has to be in order to get a single step closer to me being something better than a second class citizen.

[Tyo]

6. I'm with you on legalizing marriage equality

But that's not what Sen Smith is proposing.