Monday's Iowa caucus results have scrambled the Republican presidential contest into a three-way race among candidates known for anti-gay views – Texas Senator Ted Cruz, businessman Donald Trump, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
Cruz, the winner of the caucuses, is the harshest. A tea party darling, Cruz has built his political life on demonizing people, including the LGBT community. In currying support from Christian evangelicals, Cruz derided last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide and criticized President Barack Obama's executive orders that, among other things, prevents discrimination against LGBT people in employment by federal contractors and expands hospital visitation policies.
Rubio, whose surprisingly strong third-place finish boosted his momentum heading into Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, is perhaps the GOP's brightest prospect. He's Cuban-American, young, and is the possible face of the next generation. But his homophobic beliefs are no way to expand the party. He, too, has pledged to repeal Obama's executive orders, and is against same-sex couples' ability to adopt because children shouldn't "be part of a social experiment," according to a position paper from the Human Rights Campaign.
As for Trump, he'll say anything, even contradicting himself to win over voters. As the New York Times reported this week, "There is something in his message for almost everyone." Let's just say for LGBTs, there's nothing positive in Trump's statements. He disagrees with the Supreme Court's marriage decision and has said he would appoint high court justices committed to overturning the ruling.
These three candidates will likely be battling it out in primaries and caucuses for months to come. Now that the field is shrinking, and possibly even more after next week, it's time for debate moderators to start asking tougher questions regarding domestic issues, including LGBT rights. It's not enough to ask just about marriage equality. We need to understand where this animus toward us comes from. Surely there are employment issues for the LGBT people working in Trump's casinos. Florida has a large and active LGBT community and gay enclaves, such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Key West, yet it lacks state protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. As for Texas, well, we know there are pockets of forward-leaning people, but state laws do not protect LGBT employees anywhere. Houston voters reinforced that last fall when they rejected an inclusive anti-discrimination ordinance.
Abetting these candidates and the party's homophobia is Log Cabin Republicans, who this week let loose on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, saying she was late to issues like supporting same-sex marriage. Well, yes she was, as were a lot of other people. The point is that she supports marriage equality now. But really, how can Log Cabin criticize Clinton when all of the GOP candidates are against marriage equality? Marriage is a conservative social construct, and since the Supreme Court decision, more and more moderate Republicans have come to support their LGBT families, neighbors, and co-workers. Yet the party's presidential candidates want us to go back to the days of gay raids and firings.
Log Cabin's work in state and local GOP parties is important, but it has lost credibility at the national level because it doesn't call out the presidential candidates on their anti-gay platforms. It should be working with these campaigns, but that's a tall order when the candidate are running to the far right to get the support – and votes – of conservative Christians.
Much progress has been achieved on LGBT rights over the past 20 years, yet community members, along with Muslims and immigrants, continue to be singled out and bullied from the Republican presidential candidates. And most of those who show up for these rallies actively play along, or shout back more insults. The GOP playbook hasn't changed in decades – stoke hatred of minorities in order to divide rather that unite the party as a valid strategy for victory.