Gay Democrats Call For Meeting With Bush On Supreme Court Nominee

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Gay Democrats Call For Meeting With Bush On Supreme Court Nominee

by Doreen Brandt 365Gay.com Washington Bureau

Posted: October 7, 2005 1:00 pm ET

(Washington) Gay Democrats are calling on the President to meet with LGBT leaders over the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers following a conference call Thursday between the White House and conservative Christian groups.

"The Republican Party's reliance on the corrupt counsel of anti-gay activists is poisoning American policy with toxic cronyism," said Eric Stern, Executive Director of National Stonewall Democrats.

Gay and evangelical groups are both concerned about Miers' positions - with LGBT rights groups calling for a thorough examination of the Bush insider and conservative Christians worried she may be a closet liberal.

Thursday, the Republican National Committee set up a conference call between key members of the Administration and conservative groups over mounting fears that evangelicals could desert the party in advance of midterm elections.

The call featured RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, White House Political Director Sara Taylor and others in the Administration. At the other end were James Dobson, Chuck Colson and Pat Robertson protege Jay Sekulow, among others.

During the call Taylor promised social conservatives that Miers "will make decisions not only based on what is in the Constitution, but based on what she believes strongly in."

The GOP moderators of the conference call noted Miers' support of Texas sodomy statutes and that she was the chief advisor to President Bush on the anti-marriage constitutional amendment and on judicial nominees like Janice Rogers Brown.

They also excused Miers' introduction of a resolution before the Texas Bar Association supporting same-sex adoption as the act of a "glorified mailman" who delivered the resolution while actually opposing it.

The call ended with no clear signal evangelical groups were sold on Miers.

On Wednesday, anti-gay advocate James Dobson confirmed on his national radio program that he had been in regular consultation with both President Bush and Karl Rove over the nomination of Harriet Miers.

"I can't reveal it all," Dobson told his listeners. "Because I do know things that I'm privy to that I can't describe, because of confidentiality."

Also on Wednesday the Washington Post reported on regular meetings between senior White House staffers and far right groups such as the Eagle Forum, the Family Research Council and the Free Congress Foundation.

Stonewall Democrats said that its time the Administration gave equal time to LGBT advocates.

"President Bush, Ken Mehlman, and the entire Republican Party is callously out of touch with our community," said Stern. "In almost five years in office, the Bush Administration has failed to meet with one gay family over our concerns, yet they continue to push anti-gay policy as a reward for regular meetings with anti-gay activists."

©365Gay.com 2005

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