Survey: Young Republicans Increasingly Anti-LGBT

While support for LGBT rights has been increasing across almost all demographics, one group stands out for its decreasing support of LGBT rights: Republicans under 30 years of age. While no specific cause for the growing homophobia among younger Republicans was identified, one theory is that the ranks of young Republicans is shrinking with even 54% of evangelical Christians now supporting LGBT non-discrimination protections.  Indeed, overall, the percentage of Americans identifying as Republican has declined. The New York Times looks at the survey findings which suggests that the GOP is increasingly out of step with the majority Americans when it comes to LGBT rights and acceptance.  Here are excerpts (which also suggest that the lower one's level of education, the more anti-LGBT one is likely to be):

Support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights has increased or remained steady among Mormons, Muslims, political independents, Southerners, seniors and a number of other demographic groups in the United States since 2015, a new survey found. One notable outlier: young Republicans. Between 2015 and 2018, support for laws aimed at protecting L.G.B.T. individuals from discrimination fell by nearly 10 percentage points among Republicans under the age of 30. This was one of the key findings from a survey of more than 40,000 Americans’ views on L.G.B.T. issues that the Public Religion Research Institute released Tuesday.

The majority of young Republicans surveyed — around 63 percent — continued to support such measures. But given that 74 percent were in favor in 2015, the shift was striking, . . . “It was one of the largest and most significant drops that we saw,” Dr. Jones said.

[O]ne hypothesis he offered was that the ranks of young Republicans are thinning, with more socially liberal individuals opting to identify as independent. “The Republican Party is becoming more ideologically pure,” he suggested.

Sixty-two percent of Americans continue to support same-sex marriage, the survey found. But among all racial and ethnic groups surveyed, individuals identifying as Asian-Pacific Islander Americans demonstrated the highest level of support for both same-sex marriage (75 percent) and for laws that would protect L.G.B.T. people from discrimination in jobs, public accommodations and housing (73 percent, four percentage points more than Americans over all).

These figures could be partly explained by another finding: Researchers spotted a strong correlation between participants’ educational level and support of L.G.B.T. rights. Over all, Asian-Pacific Islander Americans were far more likely than other Americans surveyed to hold either a four-year college degree or a postgraduate degree, Dr. Jones said.

[A]nalysts found majority support for anti-discrimination measures for L.G.B.T. people from every major religious group. The strongest support came from Unitarian Universalists (90 percent), Jews (80 percent) and Hindus (79 percent). Seventy percent of Mormons, 60 percent of Muslims and 54 percent of white evangelical Protestants were also in favor.

Rubio Grilled By College Republican On Climate And Energy Policy

Like most of the GOP presidential contender field, Marco Rubio has shown no reluctance to embrace ignorance, prostitute himself to Christofascists, and reverse prior sane positions in order to win the votes of the ugliest elements of the GOP base.  The problem is that younger Republicans - like more and more Americans - are rejecting the governmental policies of advocated by the Koch brothers that allow the pillaging of the earth and treatment of workers as disposable garbage.   And they also are less slavish in the devotion to far right religious dogma.  Marco Rubio got a taste of this at an Iowa town hall last week.  Think Progress has these details:

When Dan Herrera asked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) about the environment at a town hall meeting in Iowa last week, it almost seemed like a set-up. 

After all, environmental groups have been known to plant their advocates among the crowds of Republican candidates’ events across the country, attempting to pressure them on issues like clean air and climate change. And Herrera’s question was framed the way any good environmentalist would ask it — first, an appeal to Rubio’s Catholic faith, and then, a direct question about specific policy.

“Pope Francis in the past couple days said a lot about the environment,” the 20-year-old Herrera said, smiling into the brightly lit stage where Rubio stood. “What environmental policies, if any, will you implement if you’re president?”

As it turned out, Herrera was not a member of 350.org or NextGen Climate Action, but a member of the Augustana College Republicans. Located at Augustana College just across the Missisippi River, the group was is dedicated “to promoting the ideals and candidates of their party.”
The Republican party — at least in Washington, D.C. — has been roundly accused of being anti-environment.

But among young Republicans like Herrera, the climate tide seems to be changing.

“Look, we all live here,” Herrera told ThinkProgress after the town hall.  . . . I think that in the current pathway we’re at, that’s not going to be a possibility.”

Young Republicans like Herrera are far more likely to support government action on climate and the environment than their older counterparts. 

Before the first Republican debate, the groups Young Conservatives for Energy Reform and the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum gathered to promote their version of conservative environmentalism — “ending government subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, boosting energy efficiency, advancing renewable sources like wind and solar power and moving away from the idea that ‘drill baby, drill’ is a solution.”

Herrera’s views largely aligned with that version. “Why are we still subsidizing oil? That shouldn’t be subsidized anymore. We should be supporting air and ethanol and solar,” he said. 

“The amount of permanent jobs we can come up with in the clean energy industry is phenomenal,” he continued. “When I go to a wind farm, I see actual people working on [turbines] and talk to the designers — I see actual jobs out there. And I think that’s where the Republican solution comes in. It is very possible to stimulate the economy while continuing to produce jobs.”

Herrera criticized Rubio for not publicly accepting the science of climate change, which states that the phenomenon is caused by carbon emissions and will be catastrophic if those emissions are not reduced. Rubio has recently said he doesn’t think climate change is a problem.

Herrera thinks that presidential candidates will continue to face those kinds of questions from GOP Iowans.

“[Iowans] are so very intimately tied with the land, they’re recognizing that the climate is changing and that as a human race … we’ve been awful stewards of the land,” he said. “That should have changed years ago, but it didn’t. And we can’t change the past, so we need to act right now.”

College-Age Grandson of William F. Buckley, Jr., Comes Out

Nothing shakes up a sane, rational family's approach to gays and gay rights issues more than having a family member come out of the closet.  Note, I prefaced my statement with the words "sane and rational" which by definition excludes Christofascists, far too many of whom react by merely disowning their family member.   But those not totally obsessed with Bronze Age myths and fairy tales more often than not find themselves suddenly having to reevaluate old prejudices and beliefs.  A case in point is what is likely happening in the family of Sean Buckley, grandson of William F. Buckley, Jr., viewed by many as a founder of modern conservatism.  In a piece in The Daily Beast young Buckley makes the conservative case for marriage equality.  In addition, he relates the anguish and self-hate that many of us raised in religious homes suffer as a result of religious based ignorance and bigotry.  Here are article highlights:

If you had asked me a few years ago if I supported the freedom to marry, I’d have been one of many young Republicans at the time who’d have given you an unequivocal “no.”

As the grandson of former Conservative Party New York Sen. James L. Buckley and great-nephew of National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr., I believed that gay rights were inherently anti-conservative and anti-Catholic.

But I began to reexamine my views after acknowledging a part of myself that I’d suppressed for years—I am gay.

My family is loving and compassionate but they have been active in the fight to keep marriage limited to heterosexual couples. Because of their influence and the views expressed by so many in my religious community, I grew up with an extremely negative view of gay people.

I was taught a “hate the sin, love the sinner” approach to moral issues while always being told to respect those with whom I disagreed. But given that you can’t separate yourself from who you love, teaching someone to hate their sexual orientation inadvertently teaches them to hate themselves. For me, this led to an intense self-hatred and a reflexive rejection of anyone that resembled the part of me I was so desperately trying to fight.

A clear majority of Americans now understand that being gay is not a choice. Gradually, this understanding is also extending among conservatives. And over 60% of millennial evangelical youth now support the freedom to marry.

It was not until the dawn of the Enlightenment in the 18th century that the idea of marrying primarily for love arrived. Those who opposed this shift saw it as an affront to social order, and rejected it as a dangerous change in the definition of marriage—similar to the arguments today.

But we’ve evolved, and learned that marriage matters for other reasons. At its core the institution of marriage hinges on two individuals committing to one another in life, for life, on a bedrock of love and self-sacrifice, which results in a better environment for raising children.

Above all else, the greatest gift our parents can give us is to teach us how to love—an emotion that gives the human experience both the purpose and meaning that is so critical to a happy and healthy life. I count this as one of the greatest gifts my parents have given me, and hope to one day give the same to my kids. Conservatives are right to argue that the best environment to raise children is within a marriage. However, it has nothing to do with the gender of their parents but instead the love they have for one another.

[G]ranting the freedom to marry to all loving couples is not a shift from the central tenet of marriage, but instead a fulfillment of its most basic ideals.

Gay couples today are building families and raising children. If we as conservatives care about preserving marriage and family, we must include gay people in the equation.

I believe that individuals have the power and ability to make decisions for themselves better than any government can. For conservatives who likely agree, I ask: why does this suddenly change when it comes to whom one loves and chooses to marry? This is a fight specific to the LGBT community, but it is also a fight for the rights of individual self-determination—a cause conservatives should always be ready and willing to fight for.

As the Supreme Court prepares to consider whether all loving couples should have the freedom to marry, it is time for conservatives to recognize that just as individual liberty should not depend on a person’s gender or race, it should not depend on whom a person loves, either.

Mississippi College GOP Chairman Leaves Party Over Tea Party "Eextremists"

Former Republican Evan Alvarez

Just as the Christofascists will be the death of Christianity, so will the Tea Party ultimately be the death of the Republican Party.  In the recent GOP senate primary in Mississippi the extremism and outright lunacy of the Tea Party was on full display and some have decided that they can no longer hold their nose and remain a Republican.  It's a feeling/decision I reached quite a few years ago as I watched the GOP slide into insanity under the Christofascists.  Now, the chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans (MFCR)  has announced that he is resigning and changing his party affiliation to Democrat.  There's a point where one must either undergo a lobotomy or simply walk away from the GOP.  The Raw Story reports on this defection from the leadership of the Federation of Collge Republicans.  Here are highlights:

The chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans (MFCR) said on Monday that he had resigned, and was in the process of switching his party affiliation to Democrat because of the extremism of Tea Party members. 

In a resignation letter obtained by The Clarion-Ledger, Evan Alvarez says that the Republican Party had allowed Tea Party members too much control, “and because of that, the platform of the Republican Party has shifted too far to the right in my opinion.” 

The trouble began last month when MFCR member Kolby Busby broke the rules by using the organization’s name in campaign robocalls for tea party-backed U.S. Senate candidate Chris McDaniel. The MFCR has a strict policy of not taking sides in Republican primaries.

The MFCR Executive Board voted to move forward with the impeachment of Busby after charging him with negligence in the performance of his constitutional duties.

But the Saturday impeachment hearing turned to chaos when 35 tea party and McDaniel supporters showed up and started yelling, according to Alvarez. Eventually the mayhem forced the meeting to be postponed, even though MFCR leaders had decided to only ask for an apology from Busby.

“When I ran for Chairman in the spring, I ran to be Chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College REPUBLICANS, not the Mississippi Federation of College ‘Tea Partiers,’” Alvarez wrote in his resignation letter. “Also, I believe that the Republican Party has allowed these groups of extremist to have too much of a voice and because of that, the platform of the Republican Party has shifted too far to the right in my opinion.”

Alvarez pointed out that society would be “crippled” if the Tea Party succeeded in enacting the “drastic cuts” in federal spending that it wanted.

He also said that the “hatred and cruel words and actions of the far right extremists” would continue to hurt the party’s chances with “Women, African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities in our country.”

“I simply cannot be apart of organization that have members who support these far right extremist views, much less be the Chairman of the organization,” he concluded.

In an ad for his campaign to be chairman earlier this year, Alvarez had said that the “party must focus on unity.”

Kudos to Alvarez.  He can now join the ranks  of sane former Republicans - a segment that seems to be growing all the time. 

Is the GOP Finally Accepting the Inevitability of Gay Marriage?

Yesterday I had lunch with Wayne Coleman who had been the GOP candidate for the Virginia Senate seat vacated by Ralph Northam when he became Lt. Governor.  Coleman lost the election by less than a dozen votes and will admit that as a first time candidate he had made some missteps and had been portrayed negatively.  Having run for political office myself 20 years ago, I know all too well that they are few things more brutal and that the media and one's opponent will do all they can to destroy you.   At the time I ran for office, I was depicted as being "Christian Right" - I joked with Coleman that I guess I'd had the last laugh on that one.  Our lunch meeting was in follow up to our conversation at the HRBOR Third Thursday in March and the purpose was to (i) allow Coleman to let me get to know him and prove to me that he is no bigot, and (ii) for me to enlighten him on LGBT issues and prove to him that I am not a wild eyed bomb thrower.  I think we both accomplished our goals and I could easily see Coleman at a dinner party at our home in the future.  We both agree that the Christofascists are killing the GOP.

How does this relate to the title of this post?  Because it underscores that some in the GOP are coming to realize that not only is same sex marriage on a nationwide basis is inevitable, but that it is something that they need to support. A piece in The Daily Beast looks at the changing attitudes within the GOP outside of the Christofascist/Tea Party elements of the GOP.  Here are some excerpts:

Conventioneers at the Nevada Republican Party just did a remarkable thing. They decided Republicans should be consistent with their philosophy of more freedom and less government—so they eliminated opposition to gay marriage from their party platform.

And now there is a move to change anti-gay language in the national GOP platform. A group called Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, which includes Margaret Hoover (who is married to Daily Beast editor in chief John Avlon), Abby Huntsman, Meghan McCain, and Tyler Deaton, announced Wednesday that they are launching a $1 million campaign to eliminate harsh language and replace it with unifying framing, while still respecting differing views on marriage within the party.

The goal of the campaign is to reform the national platform. To do so, Young Conservatives are traveling to the four early primary states—New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina—this spring and summer to talk to elected and rank-and-file Republicans.

The reform-the-platform campaign is a response to the Republican National Committee Growth and Opportunity Project report (PDF) and the College Republicans report (PDF), both of which say the party has a major problem with younger voters.

Gay marriage is the last frontier of civil rights in this country. But the train is at last leaving the station.  And it’s picking up steam fast. Recent polling reveals that 61 percent of Republicans under 30 now support gay marriage. Ten federal court judges in a row have now ruled favorably on the issue, two of them appointed by Republican presidents.

Towering Republican figures such as Ted Olson, who successfully argued the recount before the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore, and former Wyoming senator Alan Simpson, who recently starred in an ad extolling the values of marriage for everyone, are helping to lead the fight, sending a strong signal that it’s time the GOP shifted gears.

Obviously, once gay marriage goes mainstream even within the GOP hate groups like Family Research Council and The Family Foundation here in Virginia will be facing major fundraising catastrophes and folks like Tony Perkins, Brian Brown and Victoria Cobb may be faced with the terrifying prospects of (i) having to get real jobs instead of peddling hate, and (ii) no longer being able to force their hate/fear based religion on others.

GOP Civil War: Wealthy GOP Donors Join Push for ENDA

I suspect that hysteria is quietly overtaking some in the Christofascist circles.  Between polls indicating that a majority of young Republicans support same sex marriage and recent federal court rulings in Utah, Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma and Virginia striking down anti-gay animus motivated bans on gay marriage, these hate and fear consumed folks must be feeling that their sick world is ending indeed.   Now compounding this Christofascist distress are reports of wealthy GOP donors joining forces with Democrats to push for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act ("ENDA").  A piece in USA Today looks at this new GOP donor effort which must be triggering large amounts of spittle flecked rants behind closed doors.  Here are excerpts: 

A deep-pocketed group of Republican donors and former GOP lawmakers is joining a gay rights coalition to push the U.S. House to vote on a bill banning workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

"America is a place where the freedom to be who you are shouldn't be a barrier to your ability to get a job and provide for your family," said Paul Singer, a billionaire hedge fund founder and big Republican donor. Singer is putting $375,000 toward the push for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. "In the workplace, employees should be judged on their merit and hard work and not on aspects that are irrelevant to their performance."

Fellow billionaire and GOP donor Seth Klarman also donated $375,000 to the campaign spearheaded by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights lobby. HRC is putting up an additional $1.3 million in the effort to get 218 House lawmakers — a majority of the chamber — on record in support of ENDA.

Already 199 House lawmakers are ENDA co-sponsors, all but six of them Democrats. The campaign will target 48 House Republicans who the coalition believes are most likely to support the bill either because they hail from more moderate or suburban districts or have more moderate voting records.

The campaign, working under an 11-member umbrella group called Americans for Workplace Opportunity, will dispatch two local organizers per congressional district to build on-the-ground support through district meetings, town halls and local editorials, among other efforts.

If the group can get 218 lawmakers on public record in support of the legislation, they say House GOP leaders, including Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, may have to rethink their decision not to vote this year.

Alabama GOP Seeks To Oust Pro-Gay College Republican Chairwoman

Proving yet again that Alabama has gone increasingly insane and reactionary compared to when I lived there 30 years ago, the Alabama GOP is seeking to oust the chairwoman of the College Republicans in that state.  Here offense? Her support for gay marriage and having the courage to state that not all Republicans agree with the dictates of the Christofascists who have taken over the party base.   The irony, of course, is that by conducting these kinds of witch hunts, the GOP is mere guaranteeing that the party's demographics will become even more centered on elderly far right Christian white voters.  Here are highlights from Yellowhammer News:

A proposed amendment to the bylaws of the Alabama Republican Party would remove from the Party’s steering committee any member who publicly supports a position contrary to the most recent GOP platform, which was adopted during the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Don Wallace of Tuscaloosa and Bonnie Sachs of Double Springs are the amendment’s sponsors. Sachs’ husband, Harold, is the most senior staffer at the Alabama Republican Party under Chairman Bill Armistead.

Party insiders say the proposed amendment was written as a direct result of comments made by current Alabama College Republicans Chairwoman Stephanie Petelos around the time the Supreme Court ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.

“We just [love] freedom and fun. That’s all. Don’t hate.” Petelos posted on her Facebook page after the Court’s decision was announced. She also encouraged her Facebook friends to “like” a page for a pro-gay marriage group called “Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry.” Petelos said she joined the group because she believes “all people deserve to be treated equally under the law.”

[T]he ALGOP bylaws committee went a step further and proposed a written agreement that instructed Petelos to never speak publicly against any part of the Party’s platform. She declined to sign it. 

The amendment will be voted on by the Alabama Republican Party executive committee at the Party’s summer meeting on Aug. 24.

As readers may recall, the "social issues" portion of the GOP Party Platform was authored in large part by hate group leader Tony Perkins and similar Christofascists.  The clear message to younger pro-gay Republicans is that they are not wanted in the party.  I hope they get the message and walk away and thus hasten the much needed death of today's GOP.

Are the Christianists Losing the Young Republicans?

An article in the New York Times must be disturbing to the hate merchants at Family Research Council, American Family Association, the National Organization for Marriage, etc., who seek to make their stridently anti-gay, anti-abortion and anti-modernity issues to top GOP priority.   Based on the article young Republicans are increasingly rejecting the Christofascists efforts to keep the GOP a quasi-religious party.  Added to the mass exit of members of the millennial generation from organized religion entirety, with these changes in the views of young Republicans the future doesn't bode well for the Tony Perkins and Maggie Gallaghers of the world.    While their message of hate, bigotry and ignorance still plays well with older voters, their audience is literally dying off.  And at some point the GOP will have to either swing back to modern reality or begin to die.  Here are some article highlights:

“Social issues are far down the priorities list, and I think that’s the trend,” Mr. Hoagland, 27, said. “That’s where it needs to go if the Republican Party is going to be successful.” 

Zoey Kotzambasis, vice president of the College Republicans at the University of Arizona, considers herself a conservative. But she supports both same-sex marriage and abortion rights. Those are not just her opinions. 

“A lot of the College Republicans I know share the same liberal-to-moderate social views,” she added. “And I think that’s changing the face of the party.” 

In a break from generations past and with an eye toward the future, many of the youngest leaders of the Republican Party are embracing views on some social issues that are at odds with traditional conservative ideology — if they mention such issues at all, according to interviews, experts and some polling. 

 Polls show that Americans under 30 are the least likely to identify as Republican, and those in the millennial generation support President Obama by a wide margin. But in an effort to win votes by capitalizing on disenchantment with the recession and its slow recovery, Republicans are placing a renewed emphasis on fiscal issues, with hopes of energizing their young people  .   .  .  

A poll this year by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that the percentage of Republicans ages 18 through 29 who favor same-sex marriage has grown to 37 percent, up from 28 percent eight years ago. 

“The students I know who are conservative are far less so on social issues than our parents,” Ms. Kotzambasis, 19, said. “People are more accepting of different lifestyles.” 

Younger Republicans are also the most likely members of the party to say that “more people of different races marrying each other” and “more women in the work force” have been changes for the better, according to a separate Pew study conducted last year. 

All of their characteristics taken together, young Republicans present a nuanced mix of political ideals that may well change the face of the party over time, experts say. “There has to be room for them or the Republican Party won’t exist, at the pace this generation is evolving,” said John Della Volpe, polling director at the Harvard Institute of Politics. 

At least two members of her College Republican group, one of whom is a lifelong friend, recently revealed that they are gay, she said. And the open discussions that ensued greatly influenced the entire club, and solidified Ms. Kotzambasis’s own view. 

“I think people have become much more at ease and comfortable about it,” she said. “Honestly, there’s about zero judgment from the people in our club, and I think that reflects the direction my generation wants to take the party in.” 

Personally, I continue to view being gay  and involved in today's GOP as something akin to being Jewish and supporting the Nazi Party or being black and supporting the KKK.  But I hope that in  time the Christofascists find themselves without a viable home in the GOP.  They need to be driven back into the political wilderness where they belong.

Young Republicans - Feeling Blue, Dwindling in Numbers

The Washington Post has a story today that looks at the disspirited mood among young Republicans who fear that November will bring a blood bath for the GOP. Moreover, the story notes how the younger generation identifies two to onee as Democrats rather than as Republicans. I cannot help but wonder if the GOP's unholy alliance with the gay-hating Christianists is not one significant cause of this race from the GOP. Surveys show the younger generation of voters support gay marriage by a significant percentage and that they are far more likely than older voters to have gay friends. Thus it is possible that while using gays as a wedge issue was a winning proposition in the past, by tying itself so tightly to the Christianist, the party may have lost the future. It would certainly be a fitting result for those who so willingly sold their souls to Daddy Dobson, et al. Hatred of others and intolerance are not positive attributes, and that is pretty much all the Christianists now bring to the table. From talking with my children - all of whom are in the under 29 age bracket, both they and their friends dislike anti-gay politicians and anti-gay churches. And they WILL get out and vote come November. Here are some story highlights:

*

David All glanced around Top of the Hill bar and saw the future of the Republican Party. It looked dim. A who's who of young conservatives had gathered, but they were few, and they were frustrated.

*

"You don't hear Barack Obama going around saying, 'I'm John F. Kennedy.' He's saying, 'I'm Barack Obama,' " All says. "There's a reason for that. He's inspiring an entire generation, and it's a generation that's trying to change the world in 160 characters or less through text messages."

*

Voters under 30 are more than twice as likely to identify themselves as Democrats, according to the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. All and his friends bravely offer bromides to fight off despair: "I think the Republican Party is staring down a very long, dark, quiet night," All says.

*

In 1992, on the heels of the Reagan Revolution, voters under 30 split their allegiance about evenly between the two major parties. But every presidential cycle since then, Democrats have gained ground. This year, according to the Post-ABC poll, 44 percent of those under 30 call themselves Democrats, and only 18 percent identify as Republicans.

*

Both parties had a tendency to shrug off the youth and young adult vote, because as a group they have been the least reliable to turn out on Election Day. But this year, record numbers have registered to vote and shown up at the polls. In the swing state of Virginia alone, 90,000 people under age 34 recently joined the voter rolls.

*

[M]any of the party's newbies are preparing for the worst. Matt Lewis, 33, is hoping a trouncing in November will force the old guard aside and give his generation a shot. . . . David All points to a page on McCain's Web site as more old-fogy branding: The candidate is extolling his regulatory policies as friendly to small business, and the accompanying photo shows an old-time Main Street barbershop in the background. The young Republican techie, who raises money online for McCain, would have used the image of a young high-tech entrepreneur instead, someone to whom teenagers could relate. Seventy percent of high school students say they want to be entrepreneurs, according to a recent Gallup poll. But," says All, "they're not talking about opening a barbershop."

Michigan Young Republican Pleads Guilty in Sex Case

What is it with these "family values" Young Republicans? They go way beyond being freaking horny and just try to take whatever they want, apparently. On the other hand, I guess they are merely following in the hypocritical foot steps of the older generation in the GOP like Florida State Representative Bob Allen who is now trying to use a "fear of black dudes" defense in his gay-sex solicitation case. Talk "family values" but do not walk the walk. Here's some highlights from the latest Young Republican debacle:

The former head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans admitted today that he sexually abused a colleague during a national convention here last summer. Michael Flory, a 32-year-old attorney from Jackson, Mich., pleaded guilty to sexual battery on the day he was to stand trial for rape. The teary-eyed college student he overpowered in a downtown hotel room gasped and dabbed her eyes as Flory replied to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Peter Corrigan's question, "Are you indeed guilty?"

"Sure - yeah," Flory said. Corrigan set sentencing for Sept. 13. Flory faces a sentence that ranges from probation to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Flory is also a licensed insurance broker; Corrigan warned him that the guilty plea places both professional licenses in jeopardy of revocation.

Flory gained some notoriety at age 18 when he gave a televised speech to the Republican National Convention in the Houston Astrodome in 1992. The Michigan Young Republicans' Web site once hailed him as "one of the rising stars of GOP politics in America" and declared that "Mike has earned a great name for himself."

Flory, the victim and other members of Michigan's delegation to the national Young Republicans convention were partying in the Warehouse District last July 6, police and prosecutors said. The victim became so intoxicated that she headed back to her hotel room. Flory escorted her. But when she lay down to sleep, he "violently forced several sex a cts upon her," Skutnik said.

For the complete article, see: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2007/07/michigan_young_republican_plea.html