Gays Are Allowed To Be Republicans

I don't know if I'm getting conservative in my old age or what, but it seems like each new Gay Outrage of the Week makes less and less sense to me. To wit: peeps are upset about the fact that the owner of Manhunt (link NSFW) is a McCain contributor. "Log in, get off, get betrayed," fumes Joe, in a play on Manhunt's slogan.

OK. Let me be as clear as I possibly can here: THE OWNER OF MANHUNT IS ALLOWED TO BE A REPUBLICAN. As he himself pointed out, neither McCain nor Obama supports gay marriage. And it's not like Mr. Manhunt gave money to Romney or Huckabee, who are both unambiguous gay-haters.

I think what this whole situation illustrates is that what bothers some of us gays more than anything else is the mere existence of Log Cabin Republicans in the first place. For most of us, they seem to be an elusive species, rarely seen in the wild, even though there are plenty of non-liberal gays out there.

When we find out that a successful, wealthy - and sex-site owning gay, no less - is a member of the GOP, on top of our normal why-would-you-be-a-Republican-if-you're-gay reaction, there is this irrational but real sense of betrayal. "How could HE of all people give money to THEM?" we wonder. But I don't think it's all that shocking, and I don't think it, on its own, merits canceling a membership. The fact that Manhunt totally sucks and is destroying gay culture is a far more compelling reason to cancel one's membership.

(One small disclaimer: I'm all for informed consumerism. If you don't like what the people you're buying stuff from are doing with their money, by all means, don't give them your money anymore. Just don't expect everyone else to agree with you or do the same.)