Gay GOP group in Denver this week

A national convention of gay Republicans begins today in Denver, where members hope to build on what some see as an opening for more support of gay rights in the GOP.

The Log Cabin Republicans National Convention runs through Saturday. It will feature talks by prominent party members and political strategists including former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio.

A few hundred people are expected to attend, said Log Cabin spokesman Scott Tucker.

Democratic gains nationally during last November’s election might signal an opening for gay Republicans to take a stronger role in the GOP, said Adam Crowley, president of the group’s Colorado chapter. Democrats took control of both houses of Congress. In Colorado, Democrats strengthened their hold on the Legislature and captured the governor’s office.

The Republican Party has “vilified gay people as a political move to gain votes and pander to the religious right,” Crowley said. “The religious right is not winning elections anymore. It still has some strongholds such as in Colorado Springs, but it’s definitely not the mainstream of American society.”

Crowley said he hopes the convention will spark enthusiasm for repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule on sexual orientation, and for the passage of other laws that ban discrimination against gays.

Log Cabin Republicans began in the late 1970s to oppose a California initiative to prohibit gay people from teaching in public schools, according to the group’s Web site.

Membership numbers are elusive, Crowley said, because some people associate with or contribute to the Colorado organization but aren’t officially members. Crowley said the Colorado chapter doesn’t give out membership information because “A lot of people are still very private about their support for the organization.”

Among supporters of the convention is the Gill Action Fund, a Denver-based organization funded by software tycoon Tim Gill.

Gill has traditionally supported causes more closely associated with Democrats such as last year’s Referendum I. That was a measure Colorado voters defeated that would have established legal recognition for same-sex couples.

Still, spokeswoman Joanne Kron said Gill has often reached out to Republicans. A high-profile example is Mary Lou Makepeace, a Republican and former Colorado Springs mayor who heads the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, a project of the Gill Foundation.

The Gill Action Fund has supported the Log Cabin Republicans convention since 2003 and this year gave a $5,000 grant, Kron said.