Posted on 10/09/2005 11:59:37 AM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
For a lot of sexual, ethnic and religious minorities, politics is fairly easy: Clinton, good. Bush, bad. Democrats, good. Republicans, bad. Religious Republicans, really bad.
Mathew Tsien says he isn’t a gay Republican in spite of his Chinese and Democratic background, but precisely because of it. (Photo by Jay Barry) But things are nor that cut and dried for Matthew Tsien.
Tsien is bisexual. And of Chinese descent. But he’s also a Republican. A conservative Republican. In fact, he’s a religious conservative Republican.
Republican are welcoming, gays are not Tsien currently serves as vice president for development of the Florida Gold Coast Log Cabin Republicans, the gay wing of the Republican party.
“We’re just as much a part of the Republican base as the women’s clubs or the young Republicans,” he insists. “We’re chartered by the state party. We’re treated like everyone else.”
Well, the Republicans treat him like everyone else, he says.
“We get more hostility from the gay community than from fellow Republicans,” he says.“Republicans are glad we’re here. Republicans are a very diverse group. It’s gays that wish we didn’t exist.”
In fact, he says, “It’s a whole lot easier to be gay in the Republican party than to be Republican in the gay community. But everyone forgets that 25 percent of gays — one million gay people — voted for Bush.”
Raised a Democrat by his schoolteacher mom in Louisville, Kentucky, “we were very poor,” Tsien relates. “It was a broken home, and my brother was mentally retarded and had cerebral palsy. But my mom was from the World War II generation and very patriotic.”
Unquestioning patriotism, the influence of his University of Maryland economics professor father, and a stint in the Air Force put Tsien “at odds with liberalism in the 70s. As an Asian American, I supported the U.S. attempt to liberate Southeast Asia from communism.”
What Tsien describes as “the Democratic party’s hatred and anti-Americanism” eventually drove him “out of the Democratic party.”
Taking the Republican message to gays As a newly-minted Republican, Tsien found success with various conservative organizations. During the 80’s and 90’s, he was with Citizens for America, the National Taxpayer’s Union, Citizens Against Government Waste and other conservative public policy groups, working in support of the Reagan agenda.
He was also a lobbyist and a writer for conservative causes and publications.
Now relocated to South Florida, Tsien is more interested in advocating the Republican message to the gay community than the gay message to the Republican party.
The approximately 20 active members of the local Log Cabin Republicans meet monthly to spread the gospel of aggressive foreign policy and unbridled capitalist economics.
“Not all gays are turned on by left wing politics,” he says. “Conservative economics, tax cuts and growing the private sector are policies that appeal to that portion of the gay community that believes you can start your own business and climb the ladder. My Republican role models are in the Fortune 500, not the Christian Coalition. The Fortune 500 companies don’t care about your eccentricities, just whether you can do your job and make money.”
Unfortunately, he says, the gay community isn’t as tolerant.
“It’s sad that the gay community has adopted the left wing agenda of class warfare. They assume they can’t make it because of their gay-ness.”
Unconventional gay politics Politically, there’s no doubt that Tsien takes positions unconventional in most of the gay and lesbian community.
On gay marriage, Tsien is “personally hesitant. With marriage comes divorce. Aren’t we all interested in asset protection?”
He blames the “reckless left” in the gay community for anti-gay bias from society at large.
“Our publications tend to be more pornographic than straight publications. They’re full of ads for prostitutes and obscene material. In our media we glorify anonymous innumerable sex partners. We don’t come across as serious people. It’s all about wild sex until you die. We come across to the straight world as sexually immature.”
Tsien speaks with some personal experience on the subject of marriage. From 2002 to 2004, he was married to a woman, a fact he doesn’t always volunteer.
“Gay culture in general can’t deal with a man having sex with a woman,” he says.
Libertarian and Christian As a former Air Force executive officer (think Radar O’Reilly from M.A.S.H.), Tsien favors repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. But he is quick to remind the gay community that “‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ was imposed by Clinton.”
On Iraq, Tsien says he “fully supports our troops and our president. I’m 100% supportive of the war. I’m sure Iraq had WMD and we just haven’t found them yet.”
Regarding the right to privacy, a key issue in Supreme Court nominations, and the basis for judicial review of anti-sodomy laws, Tsien says, “I’m not an intellectual, but I’m afraid an unbridled right to privacy would permit child molesters and domestic violence.”
Tsien describes himself as a libertarian on social issues.
He “doesn’t like the war on drugs and the incarceration rates” and would prefer leaving drug enforcement to “urinalysis by private sector employers.”
But on abortion, his religious beliefs have lead him to a pro-life position.
“I’m a Christian, which is not popular in the gay community,” he says sarcastically.
Perhaps surprisingly, Tsien opposes extending the protections of civil rights legislation to the gay community.
“I don’t want to see gays suing everybody for no reason. Minorities can get evil. Some will make up stories to say someone is anti-Semitic or racist. Remember when those black kids burnt down churches and made it look like a white man did it?”
However, Tsien is proud of his service on civil rights boards such as the Organization of Chinese Americans and the Asian-American Council.
Tsien is used to gay people disagreeing with his political positions. But, he says, that isn’t going to stop him from being heard.
In fact, he says, “It’s a whole lot easier to be gay in the Republican party than to be Republican in the gay community. But everyone forgets that 25 percent of gays — one million gay people — voted for Bush.”
Interesting comment:
"In fact, he says, “It’s a whole lot easier to be gay in the Republican party than to be Republican in the gay community. But everyone forgets that 25 percent of gays — one million gay people — voted for Bush.” "
... there's a lesson about tolerance in there, just not sure what it is.
Tsien isn;t conservative and doesn't get it.
ID politics he's playing is the oppositie of what it's about.
I posted specifically because of the quote I pulled from the article. Gays are less tollerant than Republicans.
I don't care what consenting adults do in their bedroom, as long as they keep it there. I probably have more in common, politically, with Tsien than I do with the GOP anymore these days.
At least they vote the right way.
If there is one thing I have learned at FreeRepublic, it is that conservatism is relative.
This Tsien sounds like an ok fellow. And he's spot on with his comments about intolerant homosexual militant activists, and about the pornographic perception of that community.
I don't care what consenting adults do in their bedroom, as long as they keep it there. It's the idea of forcing me to accept or praise what they do, or trying to brainwash kids that pisses me off. I don't have to like it, and I have the right to have reservations about its morality. But if he keeps quiet about what he does, I'll keep quiet about what I think about what he does so long as it only affects consenting adults.
This guy sounds totally ok to me. Others are free to disagree. But the fundamental point is that, from many perspectives, we are a very tolerant bunch. We just take hard lines when people cross the line.
That is without doubt an accurate assessment. Republicans are more tolerant just not more celebrant. I'm not a big supporter of log cabin Republicans no more than I'd be a supporter of a group labeling themselves as Republican porn stars. I prefer to evaluate people without having that person's sexual proclivities made evident. I think the Log Cabin Republicans are no different than other Gay groups in that they must cling to their orientation as some kind of badge of identification and aren't satisfied to be just another Republican. It is good to see that not all homosexuals make all their political decisions based upon the way they choose to mimic sex.
I'm with ya on this.
Libertarian = Big Social Liberal, so that makes complete sense to me that Tsien made that statement.
As a longtime Republican establishment activist and state party member, I can categorically state that we are NOT glad they are here. They are a counterproductive force and a major distraction at the worst possible times. They routinely endorse democrats to make a point.
No siree. Hit the road jack, we don't want you if you are going to wave your perverse sex habits around as your identity and your raison d'etre.
This guy is welcome all day long in my Republican Party!
News Release
For Immediate Release
September 8, 2004
Log Cabin Republicans Vote to Withhold Endorsement from President Bush
National Board Announces Log Cabin Will Focus on Supporting Inclusive Republican Candidates for U.S. House and Senate
(Washington, DC)—Log Cabin Republicans are withholding their endorsement from President Bush for 2004. "Log Cabin's National Board has voted to withhold a Presidential endorsement and shift our financial and political resources to defeating the radical right and supporting inclusive Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives," said Log Cabin Board Chairman William Brownson of Ohio. The Log Cabin Board of Directors voted 22 to 2 not to endorse the President's re-election.
http://www.logcabin.org/logcabin/press_090804.html
Carolyn
Bisexual, geez. Just go gay, dude, and don't bring your diseases home to some poor woman. Amanda Blake might be alive today if not for bisexuality.
Your demeanonor and attitude tell us a lot about why the Republican Party was dying during your time.
Please realize one thing. You are a democrat.
I don't care if the guy is purple, has four heads, and believes his goldfish can talk to him---it's good that he votes Republican!!!
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