A conservative’s opinion
By Marco A. Roberts, Chairman
Texas Conservative Liberty Forum
Exclusively For the DALLAS VOICE
On Aug. 20, a little less than a month ago, the Log Cabin Republicans made a remarkable announcement: After 11 years of having made an explicit decision to include the “T” in their mission to represent “LGBT” conservatives, they are now making an explicit decision to not include trans people in their representation of the “LGB.”
Now, I have long been opposed to the use of the identity acronym in any kind of conservative or Republican activism. I think it contradicts conservative views about the politics of identity, and they are generally opposed by Republicans and conservatives. When people ask me if I am “pro-LGBT,” I say, “No. I am pro-liberty and equal justice under the law for everyone.”
When I first became president of the Houston chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans in 2016, and, later, the state chairman for the Texas Log Cabin Republicans (LCR Texas dissolved in 2023), I made a point to change our language and to talk about rights and equality “regardless of sexual orientation” or “gender identity” or personal beliefs or views of sex and sexuality. The point was to make clear that liberty and principle went both ways, and benefit everyone.
The effect of this language change was to direct all policy discussions and debates to principles of governance, and of legal rights as they applied to everyone, instead of just gay or trans people. We didn’t ask people to be “pro-gay” or “pro-trans”; we asked them to be principled and fair. And I will say that this approach was successful because, after 30 years of failed efforts by gay Republicans and allies, the Republican Party of Texas, as a direct result of our discussions and debates, removed the anti-gay language that had been in the party platform for all those decades.
And, for the first time ever, openly gay Republicans were serving on the official platform committee of the party (2018, 2020 and 2022), and were elected as Texas delegates to the Republican National Convention starting in 2020.
However, it had been made very clear to me and other LCR Texas leaders as early as 2017 by the national LCR board, under the direction of its then-chairman Sarah Longwell, that our approach needed to be specifically focused on “LGBT” and that nothing but an unambiguous “full-throttled” and “pro-LGBT” defense would do. For the record, LCR Texas largely ignored that counsel until my departure from LCR in May 2022.
Fast-forward four years later, and it appears LCR has done a 180-degree turn. And I still think they’re getting it wrong.
You see, once you’ve adopted the specific alphabet approach, and made a point of including trans people in it, you can’t then just turn around and make a point of specifically ditching them, and, worse, blaming them by saying that “radical transgender activists” are the cause for the lack of support for gay and lesbian people today, as LCR President Ross Hemminger did in a column in Townhall.com explaining the reasons for LCR’s change.
I understand this is not what he intended to say, but he is saying partly that because all transgender people are associated with “radical transgender activists,” we’re going to have to exclude them all.
It is very hard not to see this coming across as “anti-trans” and as lumping conservative trans people together with the “radicals” by association. This is exactly the same thing that religious conservatives have always done to gay conservatives.
As a longtime openly gay conservative, I do understand the resentment many gays feel — even some moderately liberal ones — against being lumped by the media and some LGBT advocacy groups into implied support for issues that they didn’t vote on or agree to. But that is not the fault of any trans person who did not agree to those issues either.
My advice remains the same as before: Change your language more toward the policies and issues that advance freedom and justice for all, and away from who you’re advancing them for.
When I last wrote for these pages, in the wake of the re-election of Donald Trump and the return of the Senate to Republican control, I made two specific forecasts on questions that were top of mind for a lot of gay and trans people: 1. There would be no significant movement on issues affecting gay people and marriage rights would remain “safe and sound,” and 2. Decline in support for gender identity over biology in sports and privacy concerns would lead to some critical bills passing addressing gender identity in law and, in particular, for providing assistance to de-transitoners.
These have turned out to be correct. Nothing has changed regarding marriage rights, and, at the state level, we did see several critical bills regarding gender identity pass in the Texas Legislature last year, and in particular we did have a bill pass providing medical insurance coverage for de-transitoners (the Texas Conservative Liberty Forum did lobby for that insurance bill).
Let me now make a new forecast based on these recent developments: If LCR thinks that this is going to open doors for gay Republicans within the Republican Party that are closed today, it won’t — at least not at any significant way and certainly not in Texas. On general acceptance of gay Republicans in Republican circles, it may help a little on the margins — but again, only on the margins. Conservative gay Republicans in conservative dress and attire, and with conservative manners, have been around for decades and known to Republicans. And extreme, wild and flamboyant gay activists have also been around for decades and will continue to be seen by Republicans.
The particular loss here, though, is that the issues of the day are on the questions of gender identity versus sexual biology and how our society and legal system are to answer those questions on rights and fairness. LCR had a unique position to weigh in on these questions. It will be very hard for it to do so now having taken the step it has as explicitly as it has.
From the Democratic side
By Jeff Strater
Democratic National Committeeman and
Former President, Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus
Exclusively For the DALLAS VOICE
Log Cabin Republicans are walking away from transgender Americans. Why now?
I keep thinking about transgender Americans serving in our military. Imagine dedicating years of your life to serving your country, building a career and making the sacrifices that military service demands, only to face being forced out because you are transgender.
Then, at precisely that moment, an organization that has included transgender Americans in its advocacy announces that you are no longer part of its mission.
What does Log Cabin Republicans say to a transgender service member? “Sorry, you’re no longer part of our mission?” Why wouldn’t you stand up and fight for them?
That was one of my first thoughts when I learned that the national Log Cabin Republicans had voted to end its advocacy for transgender people and redefine itself as an “LGB advocacy organization.”
Mostly, though, I was sad and disappointed. It’s 2026, and after all these years of working together, why would you walk away now, when transgender Americans are facing such intense political attacks?
Log Cabin Republicans have been in a unique position to push back against the hysteria and false narratives about transgender people coming from within its own party. Instead, it has decided to step away from the fight.
I also wonder what Log Cabin thinks it will gain. Does it really believe gay and lesbian Republicans will find greater acceptance within the Republican Party if they distance themselves from transgender people?
And where does that lead? Is Log Cabin going to be an organization for the “perfect gays,” the ones with the big weddings, cute houses, good jobs and 2.5 children?
Once you start deciding that some people in our community are too controversial or politically inconvenient to defend, where do you draw that line the next time?
More than 20 years ago, when my now-husband and I were still fairly new boyfriends, I took him to a panel discussion led by transgender activists. Apparently, that was my idea of date night. I already had a good understanding of transgender issues and had worked alongside transgender people, but hearing people talk personally about their lives and experiences affected me in a different way. It ignited a passion for transgender equality that has stayed with me.
My life has been enriched by the transgender people and activists I’ve worked with in politics, the equality movement and other parts of my life. All these years later, my husband and I still talk about that evening and the impact it had on both of us.
That experience also taught me something about how attitudes change. We’ve seen it throughout the LGBTQ+ community. As more of us have been able to live openly and authentically, our families, neighbors and coworkers have gotten to know us for who we really are. For LGBTQ+ people, that helped dispel the idea that there was some mysterious “gay agenda.” What people discovered was pretty ordinary: We wanted a job and economic security, a place to live, food on the table, families and the opportunity to live our lives.
And that remains true today. When people get to know transgender people — not as a political issue or the subject of the latest controversy, but as people — fear and misunderstanding begin to give way to understanding. We get to know one another. We listen to each other’s stories.
We’ve tried leaving transgender people behind before, and I remember how awful it was. In 2007, I had spent several nights standing at the corner of Throckmorton and Cedar Springs with a clipboard and a stack of ENDA postcards, asking people to fill them out and send them to their members of Congress in support of a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act. So, when transgender protections were stripped from ENDA after supporters concluded there weren’t enough votes to pass an inclusive bill, I felt personally deflated.
But what affected me even more was learning just how deeply that decision had hurt transgender people who had been standing and fighting alongside us all along. They felt betrayed, and I understood why. More than 300 organizations ultimately opposed the stripped-down bill because it left gender identity out. And after putting our community through all of that, we didn’t win anyway. The bill passed the House but never became law.
I thought we learned something from that experience: Leaving people behind might look like the easier political path at the time, but it hurts people, divides our community and offers no guarantee that those doing the abandoning will receive greater acceptance in return.
We are stronger together. That doesn’t mean every LGBTQ+ person has to agree on every issue or every public policy question. We certainly never have. But when members of our community are being singled out and turned into political targets, that is not the time to walk away from one another.
Log Cabin Republicans should reverse this decision. They should use their place within the Republican Party to educate people, challenge false narratives and give more Americans the opportunity to get to know transgender people and hear their stories.
They should continue fighting for the entire community, especially when that fight is difficult.
I keep coming back to the transgender service members who put on the uniform and dedicated part of their lives to serving our country. At a time when they may be losing their careers and livelihoods, I can’t imagine looking at fellow members of our community and saying, “You’re on your own.”
We are a community. Why would we ever stop fighting for one another?