The Log Cabin Republicans and Trump: Who is the LGBTQ+ friendly conservative group?
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Former First Lady Melania Trump is set to host a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans at Trump Tower in New York on July 8, despite the group’s complicated history with her husband.
The Log Cabin Republicans describe themselves as the “nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBTQ+ conservatives and allies.” In 2016, they declined to endorse former President Donald Trump.
But in the 2020 election, the Log Cabin Republicans endorsed him, reversing their previous stance. The executive director of the group, Jerri Ann Henry, resigned shortly after.
Henry was one of the organization’s leaders who left in protest of the endorsement. Others included LCR board member and former New Hampshire GOP chair Jennifer Horn, who couldn’t justify her endorsement of Trump for president to her children.
Who are the Log Cabin Republicans?
The Log Cabin Republicans is an organization representing LGBTQ+ Republicans and straight allies. The group advocates for LGBTQ+ Americans.
Their website says that they are “fighting to build a stronger, more inclusive Republican Party” and “have chosen to transform the GOP from the inside.”
The organization says its name refers to former President Abraham Lincoln, who was born in a log cabin and was a member of the Republican Party. At the time, the Republican Party was defined by its support for a national banking system, railroads, and high taxes, as well as its opposition to the expansion of slavery.
The organization was formed in the late 1970s in response to the “Briggs Initiative,” a statewide ballot initiative proposed by then-Republican state Sen. John Briggs that would prevent gay and lesbian people from teaching in schools. Then former California Gov. Ronald Reagan spoke out against the initiative, which subsequently failed. In the wake, gay Republicans formed the Log Cabin Republicans to educate and lobby the Republican party on LGBTQ+ issues.
This year, they have released their first round of endorsed candidates, including current members of the U.S. House, Reps. Young Kim, R-California, Kat Cammack, R-Florida, and Tom Kean Jr., R-New Jersey, as well as challengers like Russell Prescott, who is running in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District against Rep. Chris Pappas, D-New Hampshire.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Who are the Log Cabin Republicans? What LGBTQ+ group thinks of Trump.
