Cabin republicans. A conservative group founded in the 1970s. They were promoting lgbt inequality in the party. Who i log cabin republicans. They are gay conservatives who advocate for freedom in the republic imparted. Actually have an organizing below this level. They are really totally small groups. I think they are important for two reasons. Is first as you may imagine that they faced a lot of challenges over the years. This gave rise to conservatism and they see the two things is interlinked. Which would have been possible what other goals and strategies . Educationala society. They will essentially take advantage of them. They will do their own thing altogether. They do a lot of work behind the scenes. One of the things i thought that as you mayting was guess they faced a lot of challenges over the years. It is worth noting that i do think there is a party that is sympathetic to them. I heard a story about and davis. There was a big crackdown. He became a state senator. The log cabin republicans of california lobbied in support against him. That later got vetoed by the governor. He came full circle based on this confrontation. Classless of the challenges they face . Badly outnumbered by the party. At the turn of the 20th century. They had about 13,000 members. There are churches and california that have sent people to the international organization. Candidatesveloping who will Say Something in support of l2 bte polity. We will have to choose a log cabin republicans. Of thelate 80s some california since i talk to say it is painful and expelled them from it. They are kind of on the outside looking in. With democratic activists . They do sometimes. There are a couple of times they joined up with democrats. How do they decide on the name log cabin republicans . It was because he is a blanket. Is the the low cabin soft conservatism is the same thing. Of them intermittently talked about lincoln as a abolitionist. It is in favor of christ that is much. They also talked about his staunch individual. Always do they work with the Republican Party . They go to conferences. If they are invited. Lot of meetings there how have their views changed over time . They have a pretty good in terms of the cindy eight go culture. They have window in part due to the it if allcute six or seven president ial elections. Do they still exist . Absolutely. Has the membership and growing or shrinking over time . Weapon that is interesting about them is that they are a group of voters who would very much like to be republican voters. Of fivend that one out are conservative or very conservative. So what happens is in the late 70s every time there is a homophobic activist there is a influx and members who want to push back and rescue the gop from homophobia. Over time they tend to get frustrated during the aids crisis and the drug wars and they start to drop out. Is this next time there there is a week. At least until 2004. Is it centralized in any particular part of the country today . Chapters inhey have 26 states. They tend to form in places that sizable odbc populations. Chicago, theyway, tended to look well in those places that are friendly. Clubs are in california. What led you to this research . Question, the first chance of there has been is ongoing debate. About the future of the Republican Party. How can the Republican Party reach out to voters. How can they reach gave voters. In theme up a lot election. I was reading about that. Then there is growing literature conservatives, that show the interactions between the new conservatives and places that have feminism. Reading that. Withually went to college the executive director of the log cabin republicans. As i was reading things he was looking at facebook and someone asked me to write a essay about history. How do you conduct this kind of research . One of the things that exists is that it is very recent. A lot of people are still around. I did a fair number of oral histories. Also their records were donated minnesota. Ersity of also one thing i have noticed is that just about every magazine does a article about how there can be gay republicans there are dozens and dozens of different stories out there. They areere ways that similar or different from other political activists . And think they have a lot in common with groups that believe in education. I think they are fundamentally different just on the virtue of being gay conservatives. They combine a very interesting ways. Thank you for speaking with us. You are watching American History tv 48 hours of programming on American History oh weekend every weekend on cspan3. Cspan,s on twitter on keep up with the latest history news. Tonight on q and a. In a country in a absolute monarchy with the distribution they couldcorruption get in so much trouble. She talks about her time in prison after challenging the saudi government ban on drivers. With her book daring to drive. You never see a woman driving in the street. Women cant drive. We want to change this and that movement is going on. Us the right to drive is more activism. We showed that we are able and capable. By doing this act of civil disobedience. At 8 00 p. M. Eastern. This weekend on the presidency a former boston globe journalist talked about their book the road to camelot. The road to jfks campaign. Here is a preview. One of the dangers of isething like the president that it is one way of looking at the campaign. It is a scenario, he went to milwaukee and said nixon is a nut job. Or he went somewhere else. Or he would to new york and there were all of these people on broadway and everybody would applaud him and then they would vote with the narrative. We took the approach heavily influenced in my case that the president ial campaign is a series of benchmarks. It is a series of decisions about the country. Then they play out. That ofg to focus on in his benchmarks. I think that is what is a little unusual about the approach we took and white that took almost five years. Program ate entire midnight eastern. American history tv, only in cspan3. Words aht on after syndicated columnist on her book. Resisting trump politics and the world we need. She is interviewed by the cofounder of go pink. On q could tell us about how the stage was set for trial. Activism is very much a bipartisan process. It is not just about politics. The table was set for him in so many ways that he just needed to show up. We were already treating election like reality tv shows. Landscapehave a media that was much more interested in interpersonal drama within the candidates the issues. We are a had the democrats using the tools of public branding themselves. President obama was a wonderful brand. He used great marketing techniques. There is that behind the claim that he was leading this deep change and transformation that there was not enough change to that is why people voted. Watch tonight on 9 00 p. M. Eastern