One of the nation's most prominent openly gay elected Republicans has left the party. David Catania, a member of the city council in Washington, D.C., changed his registration to Independent Sept. 29.
'On a personal level, this is extremely painful and difficult because for many years the members of this party have been like a family to me, especially here in the District,' Catania said in a released statement.
'It's a difficult choice but one I feel I have no choice to make. The time has long since passed for me to stop believing that by working within the Party I can be an agent of change. I will no longer rationalize my association with a political party that has so badly betrayed my values and principles.'
Catania, 36, was elected to the D.C. Council in 1997 and has played a prominent role in relations with the White House and Congress, which exercise control over the laws and the budget of the city.
He was one of the 'Austin 12,' a group of gay Republicans who met with then Governor and presidential candidate George W. Bush in April 2002 and ended up supporting Bush. Earlier in this campaign cycle Catania raised about $75,000 for the President's reelection and prominently displayed a photo of himself and his partner taken with Bush at his ranch.
But he became enraged and disillusioned when the President announced his support for the antigay Federal Marriage Amendment. He gave several interviews denouncing the action, saying he could not vote for Bush in the fall, and he endorsed John Kerry earlier this month.
Catania said he was not joining the Democratic Party because 'I felt like I've been stung by one party. I'm not eager to join another. But mostly, being an independent just suits me fine.'
While that may be true, there was also the practical consideration that by law, two of the seats on the 13-member D.C. Council may not be held by members of the majority party. In becoming an Independent, he finesses the question of whether he would have to give up his seat.
The change in affiliation will not hurt Catania with local voters, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 10 to one. He has toyed with the idea of running for mayor and may do so in two years.
'It's a great loss to Republican Party, both locally and nationally,' said Carl Schmid, a former head of the local Log Cabin chapter and a delegate this year to the national convention. 'This is one of the costs' of President Bush embracing the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Andrew Sullivan, writing on his blog, called Catania 'a great young pol, [who] got elected in a majority Black city as a white Republican, shook up the District of Columbia ... and should be the future of the Republican Party.'
'He cannot stand the blatant, ugly gay-baiting at the heart of the GOP. And why should he?'