‘Log Cabin Republicans’ Show Strength in Northern Virginia GOP
Northern Virginia Sun Weekly, June 29, 2000
By Adam Fike, Staff Writer
Last week, the Log Cabin Republican Club of Northern Virginia held a private meeting
with Virginia Senate candidate George Allen. The next day, 75 people showed up for a
meeting with U.S. Sen. John Warner.
In April, the local organization sent delegates to a Texas meeting with Republican
presidential candidate George W. Bush. Only three years old, the local group is emerging
as the commonwealth’s leading organization of gay and lesbian Republicans. A third of
the organization’s 40 members live in Arlington, where they’ve found a
comfortable spot to influence politics. "One thing we always say is, look at what
we’ve been able to do in Arlington," spokesman Jeff Miller said. "Our
reception in Arlington has been great; that’s not the case in the rest of the
country," said Miller, an Arlington resident. The group held Mike Lane’s first
big fundraiser when he ran for the County Board in 1998.
"Since then they’ve continued to do exceptionally well," said Lane, who
now is head of the Arlington Republican Committee. Instead of becoming a special interest
group focused on debating their own issues, the organization maintains an influential
footing by keeping the priority of supporting their party at the forefront, Lane said.
"They know the way the inside game of politics is played," he said. This
includes the basic "grunt work" of forming phone banks, literature drops and
raising funds, he said.
"All the stuff that politics is all about," Lane said. One goal of the Log
Cabin Republicans is to work with candidates who may be tolerant themselves, but are
uncomfortable communicating about gay and lesbian issues, Miller said.
"One thing they don’t always do is phrase things particularly well," he
said.
In the past, Democrats moved forward more quickly in accepting gay and lesbian issues,
Miller said.
"Our goal is to make the Republican Party make similar steps," he said. A
recent issue supported by the group was legislation that would have reduced penalties
under Virginia’s "crimes against nature"/sodomy law. The Old Dominion is
one of 16 states which still such a law on the books, Miller said.
Introduced by Del. Karen Darner D-49th, the bill made headway by passing the House of
Delegates, though it stalled in a Senate committee. "Which was a great
surprise," Miller acknowledged.
The organization maintains a Web site at http://welcome.to/lcrnova.
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