A Stitch in Haste

"There's going to be a lot of people watching to see if the voters can look at my record and say, 'He's doing a good job.'" "Or, will they look at my personal life and say, 'I can't support him because of that.' If that's how they're going to vote, I may be out of a job."

--Paul Koering, a Republican State Senator in Minnesota facing a primary challenge and who openly announced his sexual orientation a few days after being the sole Republican legislator to cast a procedural vote against that state's bigot amendment. (Koering says he never hid his sexual orientation; he just never declared it so openly before.)

Is Koering being purged by the GOP?

"People of high moral values and integrity must rally and support candidates who will work to bring ethics, morals and family values back into government," [primary opponent Kevin] Goedker's father, Gene, his campaign treasurer, wrote in a fundraising letter.

More:

“This is about whether voters can trust Senator Koering. Can they trust him to keep the homosexual agenda out of our schools? Can they trust him to defend the definition of marriage?

So, apparently, if you're gay — even if you're Republican and gay — you are, at least by innuendo, opposed to "ethics, morals and family values." And who is foolish enough to believe that a homosexual can be trusted in the conservatives' War on Gays? Certainly not the conservatives. They get what many gays simply do not: You are just not welcome in the GOP.

Stated differently: To Republicans, "gay" always comes first and always trumps every other consideration. It is a litmus test, even more so than abortion or gun control ever was.

Of course, Koering might actually win the primary, and re-election. But one wonders whether the challenge would ever have been sanctioned by party leaders had Koering not been gay. Is every — any — straight Republican who voted against a bigot amendment recently now facing a serious primary challenge? (The surprisingly gay-centric primary contest involving Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee is the only one that comes to mind.)

My position is unchanged: Being an active gay Republican is prima facie evidence of self-loathing. How much more bigotry must the Republican Party throw in your face before you will get the message?

More thoughts from Pam's House Blend.

UPDATE: Koering won by a rather slim 55-45 margin.