By DMITRY RASHNITSOV
While republicans are rejoicing all over the country that the rain of bumbling, stumbling Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Steele is finally over, conservative gays and lesbians should realize that new RNC Chair Reince Priebus is certainly not a friend of Dorothy.
In an interview with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an antisame sex marriage group, Priebus clearly states that he is opposed to any type of marriage equality rights.
“Marriage is a gift form god and the sanctity of marriage ot (sic) to be protected,” Priebus said.“Marriage should be between one man and one woman. I believe the Defense of Marriage Act is important. As Chairmen of the RNC, our platform is strong in that area is strong – the Republican Party has hit on all cylinders in that issue.”
Priebus helped to make sure that a constitutional amendment passed in Wisconsin in 2007 when he was the chairmen of that state’s RNC.
“Overwhelmingly, a majority of states have already passed these amendments because that’s what people want,” Priebus said.
In the interview, Priebus discussed the repercussions he feels would happen if marriage was legalized for gays and lesbians.
“The harm is children are better off with a mom and a dad, and while I certainly admire single parents, I know its tough,” Priebus said. “I have two kids and both my wife and I provide different nurturing to our children. That was god’s intent.”
The Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican coalition who filed a lawsuit against the United States government over the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy, has tepidly thrown their support behind Priebus.
“As Chairman Priebus stated, ‘we must come together over common interests. We must unite,’” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans executive director. “I look forward to continuing our successful partnership with the Republican National Committee, and urge Chairman Priebus to continue the Committee’s strong record of coalition-building which was an important part of GOP success in 2010. Inclusion wins and our party is strongest when we embrace a big tent philosophy centered on the core principles that unite us as Republicans. It is onward and upward to win back the White House.”
According to NOM President Maggie Gallagher, 80 percent of Republicans strongly support the current definition of that marriage should stay between one man and one woman.
Priebus said as RNC chairman, he will fight against liberal judges who try to make same-sex marriage legal.
“Our bigger challenge is our courts are out of control,” Priebus said. “We have judges that are legislating. That’s not what the founders of this country intended, that’s not what god intended, that’s not what I believe or intend to let them do.”
Christopher R. Barron, chairman of the GOProud Board, said he is excited to see what Priebus will offer to the Republican Party.
“The election of Reince Priebus marks a changing of the guard,” Barron said. “Finally we will have an RNC Chair who understands that his or her role is to raise money and build party infrastructure, not to sell books, hire friends and family, and pontificate on policy.”
Priebus’s predecessor, Michael Steele had been a lot more open when it came to LGBT rights, even holding an RNC after hours function once at a lesbian bondage club and charging the RNC donors for the expenses.
Steel believed that same-sex marriage rights were an issue for individual states to handle, and he also publicly stated that he believed that people were born gay and lesbian and it was not something they could control, a position that is on the outside of the typical conservative’s scope of brain function.
