Republican and Lesbian, and Fighting for Acceptance of Both Identities

Kathryn Lehman was once an advocate of banning same-sexd marriages. In the 1990’s, she helped write a law that would ban federal recognition of same-sex marriages. Now, Lehman identifies herself as gay. She support a law called “Freedom to Marry,” which would overturn the law that she helped write, called the Defense of Marriage Act. Lehman is a Republican and she intends to break the stereotype that relegates all gays and lesbians as Democrats. Although gay Republicans can be found regularly, Republican lesbians are much more uncommonly known. These members of the Republican party consider themselves Republican for their beliefs in conservatism in government and economic policies. Some gay Republicans fear that they have lost younger generations to the Democratic party because of President Obama’s open embrace of gay marriage. Lehman expresses no remorse for backing the Defense of Marriage Act because she did not consider herself gay during that time period. Many women in the Republican party come out later in life, not because of political ideology, but because of religious, moral, or family values. Some Republican lesbian women even question the validity of same-sex marriages. Republicans have found it increasingly hard to attract younger generations. Overall, gay Republicans face many of the same and additional problems in comparison to straight Republicans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/us/politics/lesbian-republicans-long-a-rare-political-breed-raise-their-profiles.html?ref=politics