For the Log Cabin Republicans, this point in political history has been a long eight years coming.
Their endorsed candidate is in the White House, and for the first time in history, some key Republicans have expressed a willingness to engage them in the formation of the party's identity.
At the organization's 12th annual convention in Chicago last weekend, leaders and major donors spent much of their time focusing on how best to capitalize on this new role as the GLBT organization of access to the White House.
"The most exciting thing to me is that we're moving from being reactive to being proactive," said LCR Executive Director Rich Tafel. The organization is looking at "how can we make good things happen in the Bush administration for gay and lesbian people."
The election was a significant boost for the organization, not just politically but structurally.
"We've grown at the national level," Tafel said, noting that the group has doubled its office space and added three staffers since the election. And, "after years of work, we're seeing progress in local communities."
Tafel said that while the Log Cabins will continue to work on key issues such as hate crimes, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and AIDS, the organization also plans to expand its focus to include gay youth, domestic partners and the military. The organization's strategy sessions for the coming year were closed to the media.
The group will also focus on increasing its access to the White House.
"I'd like to see more of our people get positions in the administration," Tafel said. " ( Openly gay Bush appointee ) Scott Evertz is a model for our organization."
Jerry Girardi, president of LCR's Chicago chapter, called the group's new direction for the coming year "fantastic."
"What are the issues that affect most gay people...those are the issues we're going to be attacking and going after," Girardi said.
In Chicago, he said, those issues will include a pursuit of domestic-partnership protections that will grant tax, health and insurance benefits to same-sex couples.
The convention also gave LCR leaders ideas of how to reach out to different constituencies, including women, Girardi said, noting that in California, one chapter's outreach included sponsoring a breast cancer benefit walk.
If convention attendance is a reliable indicator, women are a constituency the LCR is not reaching as effectively. At the afternoon session of the LCR's new Liberty Education Forum conference, three of the five women in the room of 50 people were panelists, while another was a journalist. None of those four women identified themselves as members of LCR.
At the group's black-tie dinner, keynote speaker Michael Zak detailed the founding and early history of the Republican Party as a coalition of anti-slavery groups. Zak is the author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, and his speech largely encouraged Republicans to woo back the African-American base it once could count on.
At the dinner, LCR bid a fond farewell to retiring board member Patrick Ball, of Texas, who was remembered as being around long before the organization was.
The group's highest honor, the Spirit of Lincoln Award, was given to Ill. State Rep. Rosemary Mulligan and Glenn Good, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services.
Mulligan, described as a "champion from the beginning," is a sponsor of House Bill 101, a measure that would add sexual orientation to Illinois' Human Rights Act. Good, an openly gay member of Gov. Ryan's administration, is credited with shaping Ryan's gay-friendly agenda. Ryan has endorsed House Bill 101 and has actively encouraged other Republicans to follow suit.
Girardi said the kind of personal contact and education provided by openly gay staffers such as Good is an important function that the Log Cabins serve.
"If we weren't there, there would be no voice in the Republican Party right now," he said. "It's better to work from within to do the change."
LCR also used its convention to launch its new conservative gay think tank, the Liberty Education Forum ( LEF ) . Saturday's sessions were part of the Forum's Liberty for All National Leadership Conference.
LEF was founded six years ago as the Log Cabin Education Fund, and in its new incarnation is a "brand new, non-partisan educational think tank that is dedicated to new ideas and new directions for the gay community, with a centrist approach.," according to a release.
Saturday began with a panel discussion on Redefining the Gay Agenda and included sessions on why the estate tax is a gay issue and what role the federal government should play in hate-crimes legislation.
LCR and LEF share a staff but have different boards of directors and committee chairs.
For more information on LEF, visit www.libertyeducationforum.com . Also see www.lcr.org .
