If there were such a law, it wouldn't stop the gay cabal: it didn't in Texas, where there was such a law.
Rebecca Bledsoe caught a gay-and-lesbian cabal in the act of breaking Texas state law forbidding the placement of children with homosexuals.
She was set upon by the gay cartel and fired out of her job. There is a gay cabal, formerly led by "the Austin 12", close to the center of Texas government, which was then run by Lt. Governor (now Governor) Rick Perry and then-Governor George Bush. Bush later mounted a big outreach effort, under the influence of gay political friends in his inner circle, during the 2000 campaign.
"Charles Francis, A New Kid On The Block" (2003 Article) Charles Francis, the founding chairman of the Republican Unity Coalition (RUC), is a relatively new name in gay political circles, but he is rapidly becoming a major player in Washington, D.C.
In his latest triumph, Francis managed to bring Mary Cheney, the Second Family's daughter and a former gay and lesbian outreach operative for the Coors brewery, out of the shadows of Colorado and on to the RUC advisory board. This was Cheney's first venture into the political spotlight since her father took office in January 2001. Francis made overtures to her during the past year, but "she is fiercely independent," he told me in an interview, and she did not respond. Later, she e-mailed Francis, offering her help. Meeting in Denver, the two talked about some of her ideas, which included working hard for gay and lesbian equality as well as reaching out to gay voters for the GOP.
Cheney is only the latest in a series of high-profile Republicans whom Francis has recruited to help him turn around the image of the GOP.
After he had read about former Sen. Alan Simpson's (R-Wyo.) appearance at the candlelight vigil at the U.S. Capitol following Matthew Shepard's murder, Francis called Simpson and asked him to emcee the RUC's inaugural breakfast. Later, he got Simpson to chair RUC's advisory board.
Earlier this year, after reading pro-gay comments by Ford in a column by lesbian journalist Deb Price, Francis called his old friend Trammell Crow, a Texas real estate mogul and a friend of Ford, to help contact the ex-president. He also got Simpson to help him draft a letter to Ford, to which Simpson added a personal note.
And Francis got wealthy former Congressman Michael Huffington (R-Calif.) to offer the RUC $100,000 if other donors would match that amount.
Each time Francis achieves such a coup for RUC, he gets covered in such first-rank outlets as _The Wall Street Journal_ and _The Washington Post_.
With such a star-studded cast of board members, RUC has begun to get into the political money game. The group has raised some $225,000 for Republican candidates for the 2002 election a start toward a goal of $1 million.
The aim of Francis and the RUC is to promote a Republican "big tent" in which homosexuality is a "non-issue." RUC's guiding principles, adopted last year in Cody, Wyoming, strike a delicate balance between a libertarian or conservative stance and an uncompromising pro-gay position: "Neither victim nor villain, we seek no special privilege, but we deplore being penalized." While other gay groups focus on legislation, RUC does not engage in lobbying. Instead, Francis uses fundraising and very good PR to pursue the group's goal.
Francis views the RUC as complementary to, not in competition with, Log Cabin Republicans (LCR). "They are the grass roots, we are the grass tops," he says. For Francis, grass tops means using contacts in the inner political circles of Texas and Washington to get high-profile folks like Cheney, Ford, Simpson, and Huffington to aid the cause.
Francis' relationship with the president which is a major asset for his RUC activities has it roots in Texas, before Bush was governor. Francis' brother Jim chaired Bush's 1994 gubernatorial campaign, when he defeated incumbent Ann Richards (D).
But it was the Bush presidential campaign that prompted Francis' first major political act setting up a meeting of a dozen gay and lesbian Republicans with Bush in Austin. Then Francis organized three well-attended receptions for the campaign, with TV's sharp Republican spinner Mary Matalin touting the Bush-Cheney ticket and proclaiming the gospel that homophobia had no place in the Republican Party.
During Bush's inaugural week, Francis organized a well-attended breakfast and announced the formation of the RUC "to institutionalize what we had learned" in the campaign. He felt "it should be gay-straight, not just gay. We live in the real world, with straights as friends and family."
Though Francis is relatively new to politics, he is not new to achievement. When he was growing up in Dallas, he worked his way up to Eagle Scout, no small accomplishment. After graduating from the University of Virginia, Francis came to Washington to work with the public relations firm of Bob Gray, a fixture in 1980s Washington who also served a stint in the Reagan White House.
For the next 20 years, Francis worked in public relations and public affairs consulting in Washington. "All that time," he says, "I was openly gay, but focused on my own career," with little or no participation in gay political activity. When Bush decided to run for president, Francis says he realized "I could be helpful, for Bush and for the [gay] community like so many gay people have before."
Francis is doing an impressive job helping forge a gay-friendly image for the White House. But the GOP's right-wing homophobes are still alive and well. Antigay activist Peter LaBarbera of the Concerned Women of America's Culture and Family Institute contends that the RUC "will not unify the Republican Party, but tear it apart." And despite RUC's impressive advisory board, most are _former_ members of Congress. Today's Republican kings on the Hill House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, and most of their power-wielding colleagues are still occupying a very small tent. Charles Francis has his work cut out for him.
_Hastings Wyman publishes Southern Political Report, a nonpartisan biweekly political newsletter. He can be reached care of this publication or at HWymanSPR@aol.com._
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