Gay Arlington voter leaves GOP, saying they ‘don’t believe I have basic human rights’
William Busby doesn’t know what to do on Primary Election Day.
Normally, the decade-long devout Republican would head to the polls and vote in the GOP primary.
But the 27-year-old gay man said he can no longer do that.
Busby has decided to leave the Republican Party because of the recent vote that prevents the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBT group, from having a booth at the state’s GOP convention this year.
“I’m just done,” the Arlington man said. “It has worn me out.
“I’m tired of denying myself and tired of working for (Republicans) who don’t believe I have basic human rights.”
One of the members of the State Republican Executive Committee that took the vote said it wasn’t meant to exclude gay Republicans. The request, which should have been approved in committee before heading to the whole body, didn’t follow proper procedures and party rules.
That’s why many agreed to table the request, said Warren Norred, an Arlington attorney and SREC member.
“The SREC members recognize that there are plenty of homosexual Republicans, and I don’t know any SREC member who does not welcome their participation in the party.”
Some Republicans who spoke to the committee didn’t agree. One even said that the “homosexual political movement is seeking to create moral anarchy.”
Busby said he believes the Republican Party initially made him feel included. But that has changed through the years.
He has been upset with anti-gay stances taken through the years by the Republican Party, such as opposition to gay marriage and proposals for reparative therapy.
But the SREC decision to table the Log Cabin Republicans’ request for a booth at the state convention was the final straw for him.
“I tried really hard over the last 10 years to advance Republican principles across the state,” Busby said. “But the party is moving backward in terms of acceptance and inclusion.”
He’s not the only Republican to feel this way.
At least one precinct chair in Harris County resigned his post for the same reason Busby is leaving the party, said Marco Antonio Roberts, secretary of the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas.
“People leave the party for all kinds of reasons, sometimes over (President) Trump and over all kinds of things,” Roberts said. “I wish they wouldn’t do that. In the end, the only way we make changes in the party is by being involved.”
The Republican Party’s state convention will be in Houston in May. The Texas Democratic Convention will be in San Antonio in June.
Convention booths
State party political conventions are held every other year.
During each Republican state convention, dozens of booths are set up in an exhibit hall promoting everything from elected officials such as Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to the legalization of marijuana. Small souvenirs often are given out, such as nail files, water bottles, ChapStick, even reading glasses.
For years, the Log Cabin Republicans have requested a booth. Each time, the request has not been granted.
“It always turns out the same way,” Busby said.
GOP officials have said they were upholding a longstanding policy that doesn’t allow booths by those who advocate for positions dramatically different from the party platform. The platform — an outline of GOP beliefs that candidates are not required to follow — is written and voted on by convention delegates.
Republican leaders say this year’s proposal to let the Log Cabin Republicans have a booth wasn’t properly shepherded through the committee process before it was taken to the overall SREC. So members tabled the request. Another motion was made unsuccessfully to allow the group to serve as a coalition, or auxiliary group, which would let them have a booth.
Norred noted that some on the committee had an open mind about letting the group have a booth. But there was miscommunication about the vote and how the group would be categorized.
“It is incorrect to ... say that the SREC voted to exclude anyone,” he said. “The vote was to deny discussion about an underdeveloped request.”
But some Republicans were outspoken about their opposition to the Log Cabin Republicans.
State Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, told members that LGBT groups promoted “unnatural sex.” And he said group members “don’t have the basic belief in the God of the Bible that we are founded on.”
And Steven Hotze sent an open letter to the SREC saying that “the radical, ungody homosexual political movement is seeking to create moral anarchy and insanity in our society.” The group shouldn’t be approved as an auxiliary of the party “because they are part of the radical, homosexual political movement,” he stated.
U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, advocated on behalf of the Log Cabin Republicans, saying they should get a table because they “have worked tirelessly for conservative causes and candidates” in Houston.
And in a year such as this, when every vote may count, Crenshaw noted that “we need to embrace all that support our conservative policy and principles.”
Texas Democrats were quick to weigh in on the SREC vote.
“Hate has no place in Texas,” former state Rep. Glen Maxey, D-Austin, said in a statement at the time. “Texas Republicans’ decision to reject the Log Cabin Republicans is yet another example of how extremism and prejudice have come to define the Republican Party. It is dead wrong and the Texas Republicans’ decision today only reinforces their idea that all people aren’t created equal. “
‘This is how you have a say’
Busby said he will still support some Republican candidates, but he will no longer blindly follow and support any political party.
That’s in part because the Republican Party’s stance against homosexual marriage and homosexuality has become too much for him.
The party platform through the years has weighed in on homosexuality, from calling for reparative therapy to turn gay Texans away from “their homosexual lifestyle” to opposing homosexual marriage and any “criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values.”
“This is really bothering me,” Busby said. “I’ve spent a lot of time and a lot of years hearing from people that they appreciate the work I do, but they don’t approve of my lifestyle.”
Landon Estay, a 37-year-old Republican who lives in The Woodlands and served as a member of the 2016 Electoral College, said he is among those disappointed in the SREC’s decision about the Log Cabin booth.
“We should be the big tent party,” he said. “Maybe we are against gay marriage. That doesn’t mean we have to exclude them. They are out there fighting for many of the Republican priorities we all believe in.”
He said he isn’t surprised Busby decided to leave the party.
“Why would you stay somewhere you are not wanted?” Estay asked. “I know others who are gay who also aren’t sticking around.”
But Roberts said the only way to bring about change is to stay and fight for it.
“Things are much better than the vote may make it appear,” he said. “There are many Republicans in Texas ... that are supportive of Texas Log Cabin Republicans and understand the importance of making the party a big tent party under Reagan’s vision.”
Beyond that, he said, young Republicans who are joining the party, for instance, have more progressive beliefs than some older Republicans.
“It’s a matter of time, as more and more of the new generation take positions in the Republican Party,” Roberts said. “Within 10 years, this will change.
“I hope it will change well before then.”
But Busby, who through the years has served as a precinct chair and an area leader for the Republican Party, said he’s tired of waiting for change that has not yet come.
“I am a man of faith. I regularly participate in worship,” he said. “I just can’t stand any more.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 9:05 AM.
