Gay Republican Leader Calls Texas GOP “Crazy People”
The chair of the Texas Log Cabin Republicans resigned after blasting "crazy people" for approving an anti-LGBTQ platform at the state GOP convention.
The acting chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas has resigned after telling a local news station that the state GOP convention was attended by a bunch of “crazy people.”
“These are just crazy people,” Michael Cargill, the owner of an Austin gun store and president of the Log Cabin Republicans’ Austin chapter, told Austin-based NBC affiliate KXAN on Sunday after attendees approved platform planks attacking the LGBTQ community. “It’s a small minority of people that are being un-Christian-like and spewing this hateful language.”
In addition to Cargill, Log Cabin Republicans of Texas Secretary and LCR Austin Vice President David Garza, and LCR San Antonio President Mimi Planas also resigned from the state board. The Austin and San Antonio chapters will continue to operate independently but will not send representatives to the Texas board, according to Cargill.
Cargill said his resignation stemmed from a “path of divisiveness” and “lack of respect,” rather than trying to promote inclusion. He criticized LCR officials from outside Texas for “bully tactics, lack of cohesion, and unwillingness to work with all chapter and state LCR leaders.”
“I see D.C. and California LCR members inexplicably interceding in Texas affairs and trying to pointlessly bully the Texas GOP, which has done nothing but pushed the black & brown leadership away,” Cargill told KXAN.
“I will continue to be President of LCR Austin, where we have a great working relationship with the GOP leadership at the Texas Capitol,” Cargill wrote in his resignation letter. “I will continue to lead the charge for all of our constitutional rights and focus on what is important to our chapter.”
The Texas GOP convention recently grabbed headlines for adopting a platform that calls homosexuality an “abnormal lifestyle choice” that should be discouraged. The platform opposes legal recognition of any same-sex relationship, laws that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, and penalties for people who oppose homosexuality due to their religious beliefs.
The platform calls gender dysphoria “a genuine and extremely rare mental health condition,” and opposes “all efforts to validate transgender identity,” calling for a ban on gender-affirming health care treatments for anyone under the age of 21, legislation that would allow so-called de-transitioners” to sue the doctors and therapists that affirmed their gender identity or helped them transition.
The party platform also advocates for the right of therapists to engage in conversion therapy on minors, and trumpets the right of parents to make their own decisions for how to raise their children — except in cases where parents affirm a trans youth’s gender identity.
Officials and the state convention also refused to set allow the Log Cabin Republicans to set up a booth at the convention, which would have allowed the organization to educate convention-goers about the organization, its values, and political priorities.
Chris Halbohn, the president of the Houston chapter of LCR, said the decision to exclude the group from the tabling area, and the approval of language hostile to the LGBTQ community, disappointing.
“Log Cabin Republicans have repeatedly demonstrated our commitment to individual liberty, limited government, fiscal responsibility, and a strong national defense,” Halbohn said in a statement to KXAN immediately following the convention. “…We will never stop advancing the niche voice of LGBT conservatives in this country. And we’ll never stop growing our party’s tent to ensure its success for years to come.”
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