Equality within the party. This interview is about 10 minutes. Who are the log cabin republicans . They are a group of gay conservatives who advocate or lgbt people in the Republican Party. They formed an organization in the early 1990s. They have been organizing in california since the late 1970s. They are a relatively small group, but they are important for two reasons. , as gayt is that republicans, they face a lot of challenges over the years. They have been working for almost 40 years. There is something that i find interesting. The other thing is, base see gay ashts and conservativism mutually reinforcing. They are not just gay and republican, they see those two things as interlinked, which would not have been possible without a rise in the 1960s and 1970s and the gay right movement gayrights movement. What are their golden strategies . They are in educational organization. They believe in a twopart strategy. Y argue that if lgbt voters are only democrat, then democrats will take advantage of them and ignore them and the Republican Party will do its own thing altogether. They work really hard to convince Republican Voters and policymakers for lgbt equality and convince lgbt voters to vote republican. They do a lot of work behind the scenes. One of the things i have found interesting is that, when you read about them in the newspaper, or wherever, they have a position that is usually in line with the Republican Party. Every kind of republican that exists is in the log cabin republican. There are a lot of disagreements behind the scenes i have to come together to create a united front for the lgbt voters. What have been some of their successes . Clayton they have faced a lot of challenges over the years. It is worth noting that i do think there is a wing and a party that is sympathetic to them. Camerecently, john kasich out and supported samesex marriage and said he did not want to overturn the recent Court Rulings on it. Most of our history came early on. There was a wing in the early 1980s, specifically in california. I interviewed a guy who is very active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He told me a story about ed davis, who used to be the police chief of los angeles and he used to close the gay bars. He became a state senator and the log cabin republicans of california lobbied him to support a gayrights bill, an antidiscrimination bill that later got vetoed by the governor, but it came full circle. What are some of the hurdles they have faced . Clayton they are vastly outnumbered by the homophobic wing of the party. At the turn of the 20th century the 21st century rather. They had about 21,000 members. There were churches in california that had more people than the entire National Organization. There are often candidates like say giuliani who will something in support of lgbt a quality, but when they have to choose between religious rights or log cabin republicans, they choose religious right. In the late 1980s, some of the log cabin republicans in california told me how it was painful that they took over the Party Machinery and expelled them from it and they have been on the outside of the party looking in until recently. Do they work with democratic gayrights activist gayrights activists question mark activists . A complicatedhave relationship with democrats, but there have been a couple of times they have wound up with democrats. Particularly on the aids issues. Democrats and republicans in the 1980s were doing fundraising and Public Awareness campaigns. How did they decide on the name . Clayton it is because of a abeoln, the log cabin is lincoln. It goes back to how they think conservatism and as intertwining as one of the same. A lot of them talk about abe lincoln as an abolitionist, a favor of rights. He is a wartime president , they also talk about his stock individualism staunch individualism. In what ways do they work within the Republican Party. . Clayton they go to conferences. Sometimes they set up booths, if they are invited. Meetings tot of talk to people, letter writing campaigns. A number of them, particularly in the 1980s, ran for office. They would be the lone republican in the democratic district. The respect of other republicans by running in this uphill battle. That is another way they reached out to people. How has their strategies changed over time . Clayton they have been pretty consistent in terms of the education. I said earlier they line up with the Larger Mission of the gop, in part because they want to demonstrate they are loyal Republican Voters and other republicans can see them as part of the team. Since they became a National Organization in the early 1990s, which involved six or seven president ial elections, they refused to endorse the republican candidate in at least three of them including donald trump. Do they still exist . Clayton absolutely. Has their membership in growing or shrinking over time . Clayton one thing that is interesting is that there is a group of lgbt voters who would very much like to be Republican Voters. In 2012, a survey found that one gay votersesbian and described themselves as conservative or very conservative. 1970s,e late 70s every time there is an upsurge in religious conservative activism, there is an influx of new members who want to push back and rescue the gop from homophobia. Over time they get frustrated, leg during the aids crisis and 10 to drop out. There is ane episode there is a new wave. 13,000,e hovered around at least until 2004 when i stopped doing research. Is is centralized to any particular part of the country today . Clayton they have chapters in formates, and they tend to placeseast historically with sizable lgbt populations. L. A. , chicago, dallas and they do well in places that are both lgbt friendly and have conservative politics. The biggest clubs are in southern california. What led you to this Resource Research . Clayton number issues. The first is, there has been an ongoing debate about the future of the Republican Party and can theabout how Republican Party reach out to nonwhite voters, women and dave voters. Gay it came up a lot in the 2016 election. There is growing literature among historians among women his women conservatives, africa africanamerican conservatives that show the connection between the new rise of conservatism and feminism. , was reading that academically then i went to college with the current executive director of the log cabin republican. Was reading these things, he was posting things on facebook. Someone asked me to write an essay about recent political historys so i said, why not the log cabin republicans. How do you conduct this research . Clayton one thing that makes it easier is, it is very recent. A lot of people are still around. Or ofair number of oral history of people who were in the club. Their records were donated to the university of minnesota. One thing i have noticed is on every magazine and newspaper they do an article that is something like, how can there be gay republicans . There is a Human Interest story about gay republicans. It gives you background information. Ways that theyy are similar or different from other political activist groups . Clayton i think they have a lot they have a lot to do with groups that believe in education. Conservatives are things we dont usually think of going together. They actually combine in interesting ways. Clayton howard, thank you for speaking with us. You are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. To join the conversation, like us on facebook. In july, 1967, 5 days of writing erupted in detroit sparked by a police raid on illegal bar and fueled by longsimmering tensions over racism and segrio