Read on Twitter
Terrific piece from @annalouiesuss on the long history of the GOP in pro-choice politics and the loneliness of the pro-choice Republican woman. Though not explored in the article, there are a lot of parallels with the history of LGBTQ Republicans https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/the-loneliness-of-the-pro-choice-republican-woman
In the 1970s and 80s, gay Republicans especially found their closest allies to be the moderates and libertarians who supported abortion rights. Together, they argued that conservatism depended on individual autonomy for one's body, especially in regards to sexual matters.
Both argued that they wanted to keep the government out of their bedrooms and their wallets. Both resisted the growing force of religious conservatives within the party that they believed threatened traditional conservatism's defense of individual freedom.
It's not surprising that the GOP's pro-choice politicians, like William Weld, Pete Wilson, and Christine Todd Whitman, were also some of its most vocal supporters of gay rights and worked to build a stronger connection between the GOP and #LGBTQ voters.
The important difference, though, is that while pro-choice Republicans were losing ground in the party, gay Republicans held steady, even as the party pursued anti-gay politics, especially in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The perhaps shocking development is that gay Republicans have a stronger position in the GOP, especially in the Trump years, than pro-choice women do - a difference...
that has been shaped by the larger cultural transformations that have increased support for #LGBTQ rights while public opinion on abortion remains virtually unchanged.
And through the years, LGBTQ Republicans shifted on the question of abortion, aligning themselves more closely with their party than with the moderates/libertarians they once aligned with.
In the 1990s, many gay male Republicans began to question whether abortion rights were something they supported. A debate that led many lesbian Republicans to leave the party.
In 1999, Log Cabin Republicans declared they were officially "neutral" on the question of abortion, a position they have maintained to today. But other gay Republican groups, like the extreme GOProud, have been more active role in anti-abortion politics. https://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/01/28/goproud-members-take-part-in-anti-abortion-march/
And, perhaps most telling, gay Republicans are prominently featured now at the RNC and on conservative media outlets, including Fox News & Breitbart, whereas pro-choice Republicans have been all but driven from view on the national stage.
