National organization decharters LCR-Dallas, creates new local chapter; Schlein announces formation of ‘Metroplex Republicans’
Tammye Nash | Senior Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com
Saying that the leadership of Log Cabin Republicans of Dallas, especially longtime chapter president Rob Schlein, have “engaged in a consistent pattern of behavior that detracts from the mission of our organization,” national Log Cabin Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper announced this week that the previous Dallas chapter has been de-chartered, and a new chapter created.
“After all due consideration and efforts at reconciliation, the [LCR national] board of directors have decided to begin anew, ensuring that our mission of fighting for freedom can be at its strongest in Dallas and across the country,” Cooper said in a statement released late Wednesday, Oct. 12.
Clarke said that a new Dallas chapter has already been chartered and will be led by Thomas Purdy as president and a new board.
Schlein said Thursday, Oct. 13, that he “didn’t see it coming at all. I knew yesterday that something was cooking, and I got the official word this morning.”
Schlein said he believes “the Dallas chapter was kicked out after inviting [GOProud co-founders] Chris Barron and Jimmy LaSalvia to speak at our [upcoming] Grand Old Party.
“We will continue to work on behalf of gay conservatives in Dallas, and the Grand Old Party dinner will go on,” Schlein added. “We are looking forward to putting on a great event with Chris Barron and Jimmy LaSalvia as our guest speakers.”
Barron and LaSalvia, former Log Cabin staffers, started GOProud in early 2009 after leaving Log Cabin because they considered it too centrist.
By last Thursday, Schlein had announced the creation of Metroplex Republicans in an email, saying that he and others in the original Log Cabin Dallas had already been considering disaffiliating with the national organization because of its more centrist views.
He said those members had been prepared to ask the national board for a hearing to “air our grievances” when the national board “pre-empted us” by dechartering the chapter. “A clear majority of our local board wanted a resolution that would keep us under the LCR umbrella. That said, it takes two to tango,” Schlein said.
He criticized the national board for “hand-selecting” Purdy as president of the new chapter rather than waiting “two months for elections.” And he noted that the local group had started some 30 years ago as “Metroplex Republicans” before affiliating with Log Cabin in 1995.
“This should be seen as an opportunity to grow as we can reach more Republicans in Dallas,” Schlein said. “Our club will continue to welcome those Republicans of all varieties, including gay, straight, black, Hispanic, Asian.”
Purdy, who was on the board of the now-dechartered Log Cabin Dallas chapter, on Wednesday said that the national LCR board felt Schlein had been “leading the Dallas chapter in a direction not congruent with the direction of Log Cabin Republicans as a whole and the national Log Cabin board felt there were no more options in terms of rectifying that incongruency.”
He said the national board felt that Schlein had refused to adhere to the national organization’s bylaws and follow its direction: “Essentially, the national board of directors has decided to switch out the leadership of the Dallas chapter, and the only means they had of doing that was to decharter the chapter.”
Purdy said “a handful of members” from the previous chapter “chose to pursue a new charter.”
Purdy said his first order of business as president of the newly chartered Dallas LCR chapter will be to “regroup with a new board” and then “draw up some strategic imperatives. … Our main objective for existing is to really foster a more inclusive environment within the Republican Party. That’s where we will focus our efforts.”
While Cooper pointed to “a consistent pattern of behavior” that led to Schlein’s ouster, Schlein said Thursday he believes “the catalyst for dechartering us” was his decision to invite Barron and LaSalvia to speak at the Grand Old Party.
He said “personal rivalries” between the national leaders of Log Cabin and GOProud led the national LCR board to move against him.
Schlein said, “I think it is sad, a real shame, that the two groups that represent gay conservatives can’t work together just because they attack the issues from different perspectives.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 14, 2011.
Utterly amazing article. History repeats itself. Back in the early 1990’s Log Cabin Dallas was taken over by what was then deemed as “ultra radical conservatives”. In a historic decision, Dallas “moderates” demanded that LCR National recognize a second club in Dallas. The moderates broke away and formed the Turtle Creek LCR of Dallas, who had always controlled most of the local funding for LCR. The Turtle Creek chapter , along with the Dallas LCR chapter would later work together to host the 1998 LCR National Convention in Dallas.
Though not a judgement call about Mr. Schlein, it is just a historical point of interest that the current National LCR Board would once again find the current Dallas chapter too radical even for them! Perhaps it is a last breath of the moderates in the national gay Log Cabin Republican movement trying to make sure that they still matter. Personally, I would contend that the traditional gay Republican – socially liberal and fiscally conservative- is not welcome in the GOP anymore. The Republican Party now is more like the Tea Party. Futhermore, the right wing gay GOP Proud movement that Mr. Schlein. embraces are trying to fit in with them as evident by having the ultra-conservatives and purely partisans speak at his local dinner. I would assert that the right wing GOP Proud Republicans are not gay proud first, but partisan Republican proud. first. I am not complaining about Mr. Schlein’s direction. I say “live and let live”. Let the Republicans fight amoung themselves. I’m OK. Today, I am a Democrat.
The Log Cabin Republicans were insane to affiliate with the Republican party in the first place.
One of the party’s single biggest issues is anti-gay activism – so for gays to affiliate with the Republicans would be like a Jew or a Muslim trying to be active in the Catholic church.
Two gay Republican groups in Dallas? Does this mean they’ll need to find a second phone booth for their meetings?
I have gay friends who attend and donate to churches that regularly preach that gays are going to Hell. Just don’t get that. Gay conservatives who give money and time to the Republican Party? Just don’t get that. As GLBTQ people, we have all been disparaged enough without paying people to do it to us yet again.
Concerned, you state that “I would contend that the traditional gay Republican – socially liberal and fiscally conservative- is not welcome in the GOP anymore.” Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the distinct impression that the “traditional gay Republican” has NEVER been welcome in the GOP (although that never seemed to prevent the GOP from accepting money or votes from a “traditional gay Republican”). And just in case you think I am one of those liberal, venom-spewing Democrats who think we should always have the last word, I *have* in the past voted for a Republican candidate. Once. Many years ago.
Ouch…….right wing bitch slap.
Pardon me while I dance the Schadenfreude Polka.
How does any gay man or woman justify supporting the Republican party with all the hate that they promote towards gays?
Wow! Too conservative for the Log Cabins!!!
How I hate myself, let me count the ways! To thine own bank account be true.
Schlein is a self-hating fascist weirdo. This is a good example of GOP imploding!
So, you little bitchy queens who refuse to allow anyone to think differently than you are all ok with being on the leftist liberal Democratic Party plantation as well? Ok, we, who think for ourselves don’t need to hear any more from you!
Spock, based on your post there’s no reason to believe you do any thinking whatsoever!
As for Schlein, when even Log Cabin distances itself from you, you should just go crawl under a rock.
LCR=Emotional S&M
Its amazing…
I posted a comment about this “Slime”.. And since they allow him to write a column, they protect him by deleting it.
I’ll try again.
Since “Slime” supports those who set out to strip an forbid gay rights in any capacity, he’s against us to. Therefore, boycott his business :
DAN’S BIG & TALL
7275 Envoy Ct
DALLAS, TX 75247
As a long time LCR member I have to say that for fundamentalist bigot that I have had to deal with over the years there are at least four “tolerant and accepting” lefty gay haters.
The comments here just echo that fact.
Hope you counted yourself in that math “BoBo” LCR = Lacks Common Reasoning
Thanks for confirming my point. Your intolerance is par for the course.
I don’t understand why in the gay community we cannot respect differences in political apporach. It seems there is as much work to do in the democratic party, as in the republican party. I may be a minority opinion, but I would never try to hurt someone’s business in our local community simply because I disagree with LCR and and a new group spinoff. As gay people we are not all alike. We think differently, some of us are creative, some of us are not. Some of us are great talkers, and some of us are more quiet and reserved. We all come from different backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences. To me there is room at the table for everyone. It seems like the more we try and change policy from different angles, over time it helps change minds and bring about equality. Some people choose a different path, but I don’t see how attacking them makes for progress or a better GLBT community in Dallas. To me the diversity is what makes for a great democracy.
The only reason a gay man would ever be a republican is to try to be something he’ll never truly be. PATHETIC. Gotta love a homosexual that does everything in his (limited) power to keep the gay community in an inferior position.
What’s pathetic is someone who refuses to acknowledge that a gay man would desire less government and more liberty.
What really keeps the gay community in an inferior position is mindlessly giving money and votes to someone (Barak Obama) who who has the same hateful view towards marriage equality as Fred Phelps.
Sorry, I missed that….all I can hear is Fox News in the background…
I don’t really know if Dallas is anything like Chicago. I can only speak for Chicagoans and Illinoisans in general.
We are really very happy that the Illinois Log Cabin Republican organization was tasked with lobbying the Illinois Civil Union Bill, which is now the law in Illinois. Why? Because when the bill’s Democrat sponsor came to me years ago telling me that he only needed 8 Republican votes to pass the bill into law, we sprung into action and lobbied all Republican members of the Illinois Legislature. Everyone we spoke to in the Republican Caucus was receptive and courteous. We ended up instead getting 12 Republican Illinois legislators who would be willing to vote to allow same sex civil unions as the law in Illinois.
However, the legislation’s sponsor was surprised to find out then that he simply couldn’t get his own party to support and back the bill with votes. He had to do a whole lot more work over the next 3 years to get support for the Illinois Civil Union Bill than we did on our side of the aisle.
Finally, Representative Greg Harris, the sponsor of the Illinois Civil Union Act, was able to get a couple more votes for the bill and it passed into law last year by one vote – A REPUBLICAN VOTE!
Parenthetically, we didn’t get any help from the national Log Cabin organization either, but at least they didn’t take away our charter for helping to make same-sex civil unions the law of Illinois or for inviting folks they didn’t agree with in Washington to our meetings.
So, please gentlemen and ladies, don’t preach to me about who’s more tolerant of people with a differing political ideology. We in Illinois know very well who our real friends are. They are the people who put words to action and not just rhetoric!
We in Texas know who our real friends are, too. And they are not the Republicans.
Bobo from Tx
I hear what your saying about marriage I do but let’s face it, out of the people who can win the white house Obama’s the only one who wouldn’t stop you from having a marriage. He may not like it but he won’t stop you. I don’t understand how to vote for a republican, how do I over look the anti gay stuff and vote for them. I don’t want to fight just help me understand.
2012 is more important then 2008, this one is about hold on to what we have. In NH the republicans are going to vote and try and remove marriage from the state. How does a first time 18 year old gay kid vote for the GOP?
who really cares what 5 self hating gays think. Why is this news?