LeftOut
by Daryl Moore

DISCIPLES FOR DUBYA

The gay Republican Texas Twelve still seek that place at the GOP table

I think they called themselves the Texas Twelve. I call them “The Disciples for Dubya.” The twelve gay men met with then-Governor Bush in 2000, when he was making his first run for president. Dubya was trying to prove he was a compassionate conservative. Gay friendly. Hip. Comfortable with queers. Dubya in the middle. Six fags on both sides. What a picture. The last gay supper.

The Texas Twelve were all a-twitter, getting a real-live meeting with a potential president. They coalesced around Dubya, Log Cabin credentials in hand, so excited that a Republican would give them an audience. Bush left the meeting with the Texas Twelve saying something about being a “better man” for having met with them. Better than what? Whatever.

Convinced they had a Republican ally who would give them a place at the table if elected, the Texas Twelve went forth and proselytized on Dubya’s behalf, assuring their fellow gay Republicans that Dubya was, indeed, a Republican messiah. Dubya would lead them from the wilderness of the vast, gay-less Republican Party, and into the promised land, where gay Republicans were as welcome as straight ones.

With their help, Dubya almost won the election. Shortly after his coronation, as proof of his genuine gay friendliness, Dubya appointed an openly gay man—Scott Evertz—to be his official AIDS czar. Imagine, a gay pro-life Catholic who thought that the Boy Scouts should be able to exclude fags was actually put in charge of AIDS. A gay AIDS czar. How novel!

But Evertz blew it. He started talking about condom use and quickly got himself assigned to a lower position with the Department Health and Human Services. Dubya, after all, is a big abstinence promoter. And if you’re abstinent, like all good fags should be, you really don’t need condoms.

Dubya’s enlightenment on gay issues wasn’t very enlightened anyway. And it wasn’t long at all before Dubya began giving federal judgeships to straight white men who compared homosexuality to pedophilia and incest. Now Dubya has come out fighting to save straight marriage from homosexuals who want to spend their lives together. So much for the Texas Twelve and their making Dubya a better man.

Now, the betrayed Texas Twelve are so distraught they’ve joined up with other gay Republicans who are openly condemning the president’s election-year proposal for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. They’re even running commercials to let their master know that this time they really mean it. Dubya had better get right with God, or those gay Republicans are gonna throw their support to his opponent.

I think the Texas Twelve are bluffing. They’re not really ready to give up on Dubya. In spite of Dubya's ridiculous record on gay and lesbian issues, the Texas Twelve are cautiously optimistic that Dubya will see the light and bring them back for a second meeting before he starts his second term. They’re still hopeful that Dubya will throw them a bone—something, anything to rally them and their fellow gay troops to go forth and march on behalf of their gay-unfriendly president.

What the Texas Twelve don’t understand is that their first meeting with Dubya was also their last. It really was the last gay supper as far as Dubya is concerned. Dubya has decided he doesn’t really need gays and lesbians to get reelected. Hell, he doesn’t even have to have the most votes to win. He’s already proven that.

And, while the Disciples for Dubya might think that their threats of throwing their support to John Kerry will scare Dubya into backing down on this constitutional amendment thing, they’re wasting their time. Dubya is not backing down. He has staked his reelection on galvanizing his base. And gays and lesbians aren’t it. There is no place at Dubya’s table for a gay disciple.

Writing from the liberal side, Houston attorney Daryl Moore has a general practice and is board certified in civil and appellate law.

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