[Email with a letter from the Austin American-Statesman] Page: 1 of 2
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Date: Monday, June 8, 1998 8:35:15 AM
From:
Subj:
To:
Austin American-Statesman, June 6, 1998
on ress Ave., U ~rT'8767
Fax: 512-445-3679; E-MAIL: letters @statesman.com
Gay Republicans: Party hurts itself by excluding us
Texas GOP refuses to give Log Cabin Republicans exhibit space at
convention
by Juan B. Elizondo Jr. (Associated Press)
A group of gay and lesbian Republicans blasted their party Friday for
refusing their request for exhibit space at the upcoming state GOP
convention.
"We're not asking for special rights. We're Republicans asking for the
same opportunity to be heard that other Republicans have," said Steve
Labinski, president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas.
"I believe the party's decision will not sit well with the fair-minded
Republicans across this state," he said.
Party spokesman Robert Black said what doesn't sit well with most
Republicans is the Lob Cabins group's attack on family values.
"The Republican Party is a big-tent organization," Black said. "However,
the RepublicanPartis not going to allow individuals like the Log Cabins
or the KKK or any other hate group that are in direct conflict with our
philosophy a forum to spread their hateful message.
We don't allow pedoph , transvestites or cross-dressers, either,"
Black said. -~_ _ _
Black said members of the Log Cabin Republicans are extremists hateful
toward people of faith.
Labinski, an elected delegate to the Convention (sic) in Fort Worth next
Friday and Saturday, said his group is not hateful.
Members of the gay and lesbian organization last year sued the party
after it was denied exhibit and advertising space at the 1997 state
convention. The Texas Supreme Court ruled against the group, saying the
GOP is a private organization.
Labinski said he is a Republican because he believes in most of the
party's positions. But he said religious conservatives have taken control
of party administration, making it hostile toward people of differing
6/8/98 America Online : CCFRANCIS Page 1
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Elizondo, Juan B., Jr. [Email with a letter from the Austin American-Statesman], letter, June 6, 1998; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc504981/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.