By Karen Ocamb

Vice President Dick Cheney might be the controversial hot topic of many kitchen table discussions and cable news shouting matches, but Log Cabin Republicans appreciated that the holder of the second highest office in the land took time out to honor retiring openly gay Arizona GOP Congressmember Jim Kolbe at their national convention in Washington, D.C., April 29. Also speaking via videotape was House Speaker Dennis Hastert who also acknowledged Kolbe's 22 years in Congress.

"The vice president was well received," Jeff Bissiri, director of Log Cabin California, told IN on May 1. "He spoke about knowing Jim and respecting him and the great work he'd done in Congress. It was an honor to be addressed by the vice president of the United States."

Bissiri noted that there was no discomfort with Hastert, despite the fact that the speaker supports the anti-gay amendment to the U.S. Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages. "The Federal Marriage Amendment is not the only issue we address. Log Cabin works on a whole range of issues and at times we may disagree," Bissiri said. For instance, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, who has often taken anti-gay positions, has been working with Log Cabin on the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act. Coburn attended the April 27 opening night reception. "He was perfectly at ease and welcomed us to Washington," Bissiri said. Sen. Lincoln Chafe (R-R.I.) and Congressmembers Mary Bono (R-Calif.), Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), and Catherine Harris (R-Fla.) were also at the reception.

West Hollywood blogger BoiFromTroy (Scott Olin Schmidt) reported "both Cheney and Hastert mentioned Kolbe's role in promoting a fix to Social Security -- the congressman was a champion of it long before the president paid attention. In fact, Bush's Social Security proposal was not far from the bipartisan plan Kolbe had put together with Texas Democrat Chuck Stenholm. As a gay man, Kolbe crafted a Social Security reform plan which treated gays and lesbians as equal citizens -- something that the status quo does not -- but he did not champion reform as a "gay rights" issue -- he focused on the policy objectives of relieving the nation of its unfunded liabilities for future generations."

Making news at Log Cabin's largest convention ever with 400 people in attendance was former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri who spoke out forcefully against the Federal Marriage Amendment. Perhaps at some point in history, there was a constitutional amendment proposed that was "sillier than this one, but I don't know of one," The Associated Press reported Danforth as saying. "The basic concept of the Republican Party is to interpret the Constitution narrowly, not expansively, so that legislatures, and especially state legislatures, can work out over a period of time the social issues in our country."

Bissiri said the convention kicked off a year-long celebration of the 30th anniversary of Log Cabin, which got its start in California. For more information, go to www.logcabin.org.