Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbySeptember 20th, 2010
The Log Cabin Republicans have announced a slate of awardsthat they plan on handing out at their National Dinner on Wednesday. Among those to be honored is Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), for providing inspiration for the name of Box Turtle Bulletin.
Okay, not quite. LCR will award him the Barry Goldwater Award “which recognizes leaders in the Republican Party who have served their nation with distinction in the model of the late Senator Barry Goldwater.” Sen. Goldwater, who was famoulsy supportive of his gay grandson, famously denounced the 1993 “Don’t ASk, Don’t Tell” policy, saying “You don’t need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.” Cornyn, on the other hand, is famously un-Goldwaterlike in his opposition to overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Sharing Goldwater Award with Cornin will be Representative Pete Sessions (R-Dallas), Chairman of the Republican National Congressional Committee. He holds a similarly un-Goldwaterlike position on DADT. “I think it’s a slap in the face to the members of the military to be driven down a road that is driven by a political agenda from the left in this country rather than a wise policy,” he said on the House Floor last May.
The Senate will conduct an important cloture vote tomorrow on the Defense Appropriations Bill, which contains language which would begin the process of repealing DADT. Sen. Cornyn will almost certainly vote against cloture. He and Sessions will then receive their awards on Wednesday. Sen. Goldwater will roll over in his grave shortly afterwords.
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Grant
September 20th, 2010
Just when you think LCR is heading in the right (correct) direction, they revert back to being tools. Sad. I do appreciate their efforts to get DADT thrown out, which makes this awards ceremony all the more ironic (moronic?).
Mark F.
September 20th, 2010
I often have some difference with Jim, but this really is outrageous. I don’t favor 100% purity tests, but if a Republican can’t even support the end of government discrimination against gays (even libertarian leaning Republican Ron Paul supported the DADT repeal), they certainly don’t deserve an award from this group. And yes, this award dishonors Goldwater.
Lindoro Almaviva
September 20th, 2010
wait, you mean to ell me this is not satire? This is for real? I kept reading and my jaw kept opening wider, so I just assumed it HAD to be satire.
Lucrece
September 20th, 2010
They endorsed McCain and Palin despite their openly anti-gay record. They spun Palin like a tolerant pro-gay superstar.
LCR lost credibility as a gay org to me long ago. Pretty much like EQ CA and HRC and Task Force, they’ve proven themselves to be partisan hacks before the interests of the community they claim to serve.
Other Fred in the UK
September 21st, 2010
Just wondering if LCR are hoping that by giving them this award, it will force Cornyn and Sessions to live up to Goldwater’s name as it will likely cause the press to make comparisons between them and Goldwater in the future.
I agree, however, that it degrades the name of Goldwater.
Timothy Kincaid
September 21st, 2010
As I see it, this is one of those “come headline my fundraiser and I’ll give you a plaque” situations.
Oddly enough, this award probably does more for LCR’s credibility within the party than it does for Cornyn in any way. If he actually sticks this thing on a wall somewhere visible in his office, it validates LCR.
And it doesn’t hurt for future lobbying efforts, either.
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