One of my many correspondents, who runs a swell blog of her own, is trying to set up a chapter of Log Cabin in Charlotte, North Carolina and asked that I give y’all a headsup about their meeting with LCR National Field Director Jeff Cook who’ll be down in the Tar Heel State on Friday. This post gives the details and discusses their efforts to set up a chapter.

I wanted to announce that GayPatriot and GayPatriotWest will both be attending the 2005 Log Cabin Republicans Convention in New Orleans from March 31-April 3.
In the interest of full disclosure, we both paid the $325 registration fee out of our own pockets. We will both be reporting on our impressions of the meeting and I understand from folks at Log Cabin that there will be high speed internet access… so liveblogging may occur!

First, I apologize for the delay in rolling out the parts of my Feb. 4th interview with Log Cabin Republican chief Patrick Guerriero. I’ve been quite busy in my ‘real job’ the past few weeks. So as a reminder, here are the links to the first two parts of the interview.
Part One
Part Two
And now, Part Three….
GayPatriot: I would be slaughtered if I didn?t ask this question ? do you now regret spending the million dollars on the ad campaign against President Bush a year ago?
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This comes from a GayPatriot correspondent in the snowy state of Maine. (We are everywhere! *evil laugh* Heh.)
Anyway, I thought this was some good information that the GP reader agreed I could pass along to y’all.

A couple weekends ago Jeff Cook, the national field director for Log Cabin, was in town to discuss the launch of a Maine chapter. I was one of just four people to show up! (On the bright side, I?ve heard there are about 30 or so interested people.)
Part of our discussion focused on our concerns that LCR was too liberal, with all (four) of us agreeing that LCR should have endorsed Bush last year. Jeff told us that LCR?s support for Social Security reform has really helped mend ties with the White House, and they?ve had regular meetings. Then Jeff talked about the upcoming convention, and when he mentioned that Chris Matthews was going to be there, I pointed out that he?s a Democrat. Jeff said that Chris would only be facilitating a discussion (in his famous Hardball style), and not really giving a speech, which is why he?s in. (I know you had mentioned it on your blog, so I just wanted to pass on to you a reply right from LCR.)
The meeting left me optimistic about LCR?s current direction, and I?m seriously considering getting involved with the new Maine chapter. And if worst comes to worst, and it turns too liberal on me, at least I can resign in protest! Anyway, love the blog; I check it several times a day. Keep it up!

For over thirty years, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has been the most important conservative gathering in Washington. In 1974, then-California Governor Ronald Reagan addressed the first large CPAC gathering. Every year, the conference honors the Gipper with a Ronald Reagan banquet.
Organized by the American Conservative Union (ACU), the conference attracts leading conservative activists and policy makers from across the nation. This year, speakers included the Vice President, presidential advisor Karl Rove, Virginia Senator George Allen and Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell. And this year for the “first time”, according to ABC NEWS, “a gay rights group has been officially recognized by the nation’s annual gathering of conservative activists.” The Log Cabin Republicans paid $3,000 to co-sponsor the event.
Finally, a sign that this organization is attempting to make its case to the conservative movement. Good job, Log Cabin.
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On behalf of the blog, I have reserved a table at the March 28 Dinner of the Log Cabin Republicans of Los Angeles at the Wyndam Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood. Ben Stein, one of my favorite Hollywood writers, will be speaking.
If you’d like to join me at the this event, please send an e-mail to hold a place: GayPatriotWest@aol.com. Tickets are $50 a piece ($10 less than if you reserved directly through Log Cabin/LA).
-Dan (aka GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

As the amount of hate mail that GP and I receive has increased of late, I wondered what, if anything, Log Cabin has done to take issue with the mean-spirited anti-Republican comments in the gay media. While so many hate us for supporting President Bush, last night as I worked on my piece, Republican Parents of Lesbians, I realized once again how mixed this Administration’s record on gay is.
And yet while the record is mixed, the impression we get from our gay peers, from the gay media and even from the largest gay Republican group with a full-time office in Washington is that President Bush and his Administration are extremely anti-gay. To be sure, he — and some of his appointees — have done several troubling things. He has backed the Federal Marriage Amendment. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings singled out for criticism one episode (of a PBS television program her department funded) featuring a same-sex couples.
That said, the Clinton Administration also had a mixed record on gays and yet gay activists go ga-ga over the man. Just like his successor, Bill Clinton did some very troubling things. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) refused to rescind its endorsement of that Democrat in 1996 when, in the dead of the night, he signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law.
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As I go back and listen to my interview with Patrick, it is turning out to fit in nice small vignettes on different topics. Just as a reminder, this was the first installment.
And now here is Part Two, “The Three Phases”…(Interview took place on Friday, February 4).
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Hey…. I broke this story a couple weeks ago!!!! *grin*
I also understand a number of Congressional staffers have already been contacted by this firm to organize a lunch with Log Cabin leadership.
Click “Read More” for full Log Cabin press release…
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As I mentioned here Friday afternoon, earlier that morning I sat down for an hour with Patrick Guerriero, Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans. Due to the format and space constraints of this blog, I am going to publish the interview over the course of the next few days grouped by the topics we covered.
As many of the GayPatriot blog readers know, I have been a very harsh critic of Patrick and Log Cabin. Primarily for their decisions to run a $1M ad campaign challenging President Bush?s stance on gay marriage and their ?non-endorsement? of him last year. I also have been critical for Log Cabin not taking, in my view, a more public position of opposition to the outing campaign by Michael Rogers. Patrick addressed all three topics in the interview, but I wanted to start the series by first publishing his opening comments to me when we met for the first time.
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