We are One LGBT Family even When We Disagree

A Call for Log-Cabin Trans Inclusion

“We can disagree about policy without disagreeing about someone’s humanity. The history of our LGBT movement teaches us that freedom is strongest when we refuse to abandon those who stood beside us. I am asking the Log Cabin Republicans to reconsider their exclusion of the "T" —not because we must agree on all trans policy, but we must champion all our our LGBT tribe.” - Dr. Helmut Love

I want to say something about the decision by the Log Cabin Republicans to formally drop the “T” from LGBT.

I believe this decision is unloving, irresponsible, and ultimately harmful to both the gay movement and the Republican Party.

But I want to be clear about something from the beginning: I am not writing this because I want to condemn the Log Cabin Republicans. I am writing because I hope they will reconsider this decision.

Transgender people have always existed. They have been part of the broader gay liberation movement from its beginnings, and denying that is unwise.

Trans women like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera stood alongside gay men and women fighting for dignity, freedom, and the right to live authentically.

Supporting trans people does not mean rejecting biological sex or the importance of the male-female binary. In fact, acknowledging biological reality can provide greater clarity in understanding trans identity.

Supporting trans people doesn't mean advocating for men in women's sports. We should instead have a serious conversation about trans-designated individual sporting categories.

It doesn't mean imposing queer ideology on children. It means giving parents responsible information, giving children love and room to mature, and respecting parents' rights to navigate difficult questions thoughtfully.

We can protect women and protect transgender people. We can have boundaries without dehumanizing people.

And this is where I sincerely hope the Log Cabin Republicans will reconsider their position.

Politically, I also believe this decision risks making it harder for LGBT Americans to see a place for themselves within the Republican Party. A movement that wants to bring people together should be careful about sending the message that some people who once stood beside us are no longer welcome.

If our values are freedom, individual dignity, personal responsibility, and bringing people together, why deliberately cast out one of the most marginalized communities within our own history?

My Christian faith teaches me to love my neighbor as myself. Jesus welcomed people whom society rejected. As surely as he sat with tax collectors and prostitutes, he was friend with trans people in his time. That is the example I want to follow.

We must remember our gay roots—when so many institutions and faith traditions rejected us, LGBT people agreed not on the name of God, but on His nature: Love.

We must not cower to political pressure on either side. We must stand for truth, responsibility, freedom, and human dignity. And we owe it to those who came before us—and to those who will come after us—to protect the humanity of people who have less power than we do.

As much as I will fight against the political-agenda of QIALMNOP, the bastardizing of our flag, and queer Marxist ideology, I will fight to include our trans family.

As a gay father within our community, I will never forget the trans women who stood as our mothers in the earliest days of our movement, when so many young gay people were abandoned on the streets. We are connected to them by history, by struggle, and by love.

No political decision or affinity group can erase that.

So my message to the Log Cabin Republicans is not simply, “You are wrong.”

It is: Please reconsider.

We can do better than exclusion.
We can choose balance.
We can choose courage.
And above all, we can choose Love.

We are One.