Log Cabin Republicans of California fervently reject the assertion that a strong Catholic, Christian faith is mutually exclusive to LGBT equality. Over the last few weeks, California has been home to a larger debate in the public square concerning a group practicing the mockery and disrespect of religious traditions to advance visibility around LGBT issues.

The Log Cabin Republicans are officially endorsing a “yes vote” on the Recall Gavin Newsom special election September 14^th, 2021.

California cannot suffer anymore under the hypocritical reign of Governor Gavin Newsom. This man is turning our Golden State into one of government dependence, rampant fraud, the fulfillment of woke progressive wish lists and an utter refusal to take accountability for his own hypocrisy.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit at the start of 2020, Gavin Newsom wasted no time in labeling many workers non-essential, resulting in the closure of 20,000 businesses. He shuttered churches and houses of worship while leaving abortion clinics and marijuana dispensaries open to the public. He closed down dine-in restaurants while spending $20,000 at a non-socially distanced, maskless dinner party at the French Laundry. He closed public schools and forced Zoom education on the populace while his own children benefited from private and costly, in-person learning. The unemployment department of California which he oversees has been wrought with fraud as they send billions of our tax dollars to criminals, illegal immigrants and non-residents. He’s driven out successful entrepreneurs like Elon Musk with Tesla, costing California thousands of jobs. He has neglected our forests which have caused some of the most damaging wild fires in California’s history. He has neglected our water supply and failed to find solutions like desalinization to help with a drought that does not seem to end. He has supported the release of thousands of violent criminals citing Covid 19 precautions while he simultaneously encourages fining and arresting those who balk at Covid 19 mandates.

He is simply out of control.

While Log Cabin Republicans are choosing to forgo official endorsement of a particular Republican candidate in the special gubernatorial election, we wholeheartedly endorse voting “Yes” on question 1 of the ballot.

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Below are the top 4 candidates vying for Governor, all of which Log Cabin would be happy see replace Gavin Newsom in Sacramento.

Caitlyn Jenner:

Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympian and Decathlon winner has been one of the few celebrities in California to be a consistent Republican. She has branded herself in the recall race as a “Compassionate Disruptor”, implementing a message of unifying Californians across the political spectrum. The primary issues Caitlyn is focused on are cutting regulations, addressing homelessness and lowering taxes.

She has promised to call on lawmakers from both parties to review the burdensome regulations that have stymied California’s growth and enact sunset laws for regulations that have outlived their usefulness. In order to curb homelessness in California, she has promised to remove burdensome regulations that make affordable housing unaffordable. She will also work with the private sector such as faith-based institutions and charities to develop both short term and long term solutions to the homeless currently occupying our streets. With California being the highest taxed state in the nation, she has promised to veto any new tax increase passed by the legislature. She is also committed to cutting duplicate programs and crippling the special interest legislation that wastes California tax dollars on programs that do not benefit the California resident.

Her personal story of overcoming opposition within her own party while holding to her conservative values proves her determination, grit, and passion to see a brighter California under Republican leadership.

Kevin Faulconer:

Kevin Faulconer, the former Mayor of San Diego has been one of few Republicans to be elected in largely Democratic areas. He began his career on the San Diego City Council in 2006 and was elected Mayor of San Diego in 2014. He can be understood as the candidate in the recall race who is a “Moderate Republican” who is fiscally conservative and socially progressive. A few of the issues Kevin Faulconer is most concerned with are wildfire prevention, saving California restaurants which were decimated by the pandemic lockdowns and reducing homelessness.

Kevin’s plan to combat wildfire fires is holistic. He has promised to increase the wildfire prevention budget to a billion dollars each year, consolidate the governmental departments concerned with prevention into one streamlined approach and offer $10,000 in tax incentives to residential owners who prepare their homes for wildfires. Regarding the epidemic of homelessness, Kevin will implement the methods he used in San Diego on a statewide level. This includes not only cutting regulations to streamline affordable housing projects but offer health services to the homeless including counseling and drug and alcohol rehabilitation. He tackles the issue both from the practical perspective and one that is compassionate an understanding to those who are homeless.

Kevin’s political career proves that he can be elected a Republican in a blue state. His experience brings with it the understanding of how politics and government operate in the Golden State and he would seek to implement his moderate approach in Sacramento.

Kevin Kiley:

Kevin Kiley is an elected State Assembly official. Before his career in politics, he was an English teacher in Los Angeles and then a Lawyer. A Harvard, Yale and Loyola Marymount graduate, Kevin has used his education to help author groundbreaking legislation in California concerning A.I., criminal justice reform, freedom of speech and protections for sexual assault victims. Kevin seeks to replace Gavin Newsom and reimplement conservative approaches to California particularly in regards to school choice, ending lockdowns and weeding out corruption both in Sacramento and California at large.

Being a State Assembly official, Kevin knows how to work in a system that currently is a Super-Majority Democrat controlled. He understands the traps and pitfalls that a Republican Governor can face with such steep opposition. His approach would include Executive Orders to bypass the Legislature, but would mostly entail revoking the measures currently stifling California. Kevin is a strong supporter of school choice for kids, allowing the tax dollars spent on public education in California to follow the student, and not be doled out by bureaucrats in Sacramento. Kevin is the only elected member in California politics that has refused money from special interest groups. This means he is the candidate that is 100% for the people, making him an attractive option for those who rightly worry about politicians being bought.

Larry Elder:

Larry Elder was born in Los Angeles, CA and graduated from Crenshaw High School. He attended Brown University before getting his Juris Doctor from University of Michigan. Since then, “The Sage from South Central” has become a conservative thought leader for the past thirty years with his nationally syndicated radio broadcast, “The Larry Elder Show”. Larry seeks to replace Gavin Newsom and is promising to remove vaccination and mask mandates while effecting ending the Covid lockdowns, combatting crime and homelessness and rooting out the fraud in Sacramento, particularly at the EDD.

Regarding the draconian measures in which Newsom has ruled California, Elder would abolish the mandates and return to California to a state the is open for business. He would then tackle the EDD and billions in fraud that was paid out illegally through tech innovation and public-private partnerships. He would also open schools and relinquish children from the deleterious effects of Zoom education.

Larry writes about his issues the same way he speaks in interviews and on his radio show: He is direct, treats people as equals and cuts through the political jargon. Larry is not a typical politician, but rather an outsider who knows exactly how to define the issues. Larry seeks to implement his matter-of-fact conservatism into a system that desperately needs shaking up. His story is the American Dream: He educated himself, worked for what he wanted, achieved his goals and is now pressing forward to new heights.

All four of these candidates are solid choices for Gavin Newsom’s replacement. Whether one is seeking an outsider like Caitlyn Jenner, an established politician that knows the rules of the game like Kiley and Faulconer, or a staunchly conservative thought leader who has shaped conservatism for two generations like Elder, the Log Cabin Republicans would be pleased with any of these candidates to send Gavin Newsom into obscurity.

Vote “Yes” on the recall! Vote for a replacement!

There has been a startling increase in attacks on America’s Jewish community across California and the entire country these past few weeks in response to Hamas firing rockets from Gaza into Israel, prompting a legitimate military response from Israel. 

Particularly disturbing, was the targeting of Jewish diners near West Hollywood, just blocks from where I live, by “Free Palestine” protesters. People were asked if they were Jewish, before being subsequently attacked and beaten. Another was chased down in a vehicle that was flying “Free Palestine” flags. 

First, Log Cabin Republicans will always stand with Israel and its right to defend itself against any and all attacks. And second, Log Cabin Republicans stands with our Jewish American community in the face of increasing anti semitism, fueled in part by the rise of “progressive” groups such as Black Lives Matters who have time again, sided with terrorist groups such as Hamas over the citizens of Israel or the victims of the Palestinian Authority’s failed and violent policies. 

It’s no coincidence that as most “progressive” groups increasingly try to accuse Israel of falsehoods, spout hateful rhetoric, and anti Semitic tropes, there has been a subsequent dramatic increase in violent attacks on Jewish citizens in this country. These attacks and this violence, be it verbal or physical, must stop! 

I ask that each of you call out and condemn acts such as these, whether they are subtle and insidious, or are more obvious, because only through speaking up and speaking out, will we be able to finally start turning the tide against the loudest voices in this country right now, who only seem to want more violence, division, and hatred. It’s up to each of us within our sphere of influence to make a difference.

Thank you,
Matthew Craffey
Chairman

In the midst of our daily chaos, heavily stoked fear and insidious Venezuelan fumes encompassing our state, there is still cause for some hope.

Our California Chairman Matthew Craffey has penned an extremely relevant and useful OpEd for Outspoken about how we got to this remarkable state of affairs--and more importantly, what can be done about it. 

Perhaps the most important takeaway is in Craffey's peroration: 

If we are going to survive as a society, it is time that within each of our spheres of influence, we voice our own opposition to the bias we see within these institutions both on a personal level and publicly protesting the mass-silencing of conservatives that is now taking place.

Each of us has power as a leader in our respective communities to follow this guidance--we no longer have the luxury to put it off. ☝️🇺🇸📜🔔

Let this article be a vital reminder to us each, in the midst of our loud liberal enclaves and woke dystopian dumps that we are not alone in our dread...quite the opposite. The more we stand up and peacefully protest, the more rapidly our silent allies and supporters will find us. We are the majority. 

Starting with this piece, it is time to wake everyone up.

Last Friday, Equality California solicited its base to sign onto a petition in support ofimpeaching President Trump. Citing nothing more specific than “heartless, discriminatory actions” which “attacked the LGBTQ community” 🙈🙉  EQCA spent the vast majority of the email regurgitating the same worn phrases being spouted 24-7 by the Democratic Party.  For an organization whose stated mission is “striving to create a world that is healthy, just and fully equal for LGBTQ people” it is impossible to conclude anything else than that EQCA has simply become an extension of the Democratic Party! 🐴💬💤💤 If appointing the first openly gay person to the highest administrative position in history 🤵, or promoting a charitable organization with the mission of ending persecution of LGBTQ people in Eastern Europe 🚂🌈 to the UN is not “striving" hard enough, surely EQCA would simply condone, say...the last few weeks: openly gay judge Patrick Bumatay 🌈⚖️ became the highest ranking openly gay judicial appointee to the 9th Circuit Court, confirmed by 53 Republican Senators and without the support of Senate Democrats! Where was EQCA in calling out Democratic Senators Harris and Feinstein and rallying support for an openly gay nominee? Or maybe they would finally applaud President Trump and HHS Secretary Alex Azar announcing a monumental partnership to help end the spread of HIV/AIDS through expansion of PrEP access to anyone who needs it, regardless of insurance coverage? 🌍💊 You guessed it. 🦗   🦗   🦗   🦗     If the above accomplishments do not sufficiently demonstrate creation of a "healthy, just and fully equal world" for us, then it is surely undeniable that the Trump Administration’s push to decriminalize homosexuality on a global level does just that. When Ambassador Ric Grenell just hosted a panel to discuss the current status of these efforts at the UN it received absolutely ZERO coverage from the mainstream Democratic media.  Nope. Instead of celebrating these achievements, 🕳 EQCA and the “LGBT left" are laser focused on a partisan impeachment. 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑 It looks like the very organizations our community has historically entrusted and depended upon to fight for us have completely lost sight of their reason to exist. 🥀 Sad! If you  do not  subscribe to the recent actions and activism of the "LGBT Left” or its attempts to homogenize the LGBT community to fit its narrow political agenda, join your local Log Cabin Republican chapter here or donate to the Log Cabin California Political Action Committee which supports free-thinking Republican candidates who both support us and can win next November!!!  ☺️☺️☺️

Log Cabin California Chairman Matthew Craffey respondeds to the violent attack on the Chabad Synagogue in Poway, California in his piece in The Washington Blade this week...

As we've sadly seen a rise in anti-Semitism violence here in the United States and in Europe, our U.S. Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell took part in the "March of the Living" at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camps on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"Anti-Semitism is an evolving and continuing threat to democracy and freedom," tweeted Ambassador Grenell, "We bear witness to the past in order not to repeat it."

With little opposition, the U.S. Senate confirmed on Tuesday a former head of Log Cabin Republicans instrumental in finding Republican votes to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to a high-ranking State Department position.

R. Clarke Cooper, who’s gay, was confirmed as assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs by a vote of 90-8 nearly a full year after President Trump nominated him in June 2018.

Last weekend, your California Log Cabin Republicans leadership team assembled in Sacramento at the California Republican Party convention. The difference just a few years make could not be more striking.

Just four years ago at this very convention, we made history by receiving our official charter by the CAGOP – marking the end of a 20+ year battle with hardliners that worked mercilessly to exclude LGBTQ conservatives and our allies. Our recharter this year was passed unanimously and was routine. We were honored to have our new Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director, Jerri Ann Henry join us in California over the last two weeks and were thankful that she was able to come to convention as well. We hosted a fun hospitality suite with our friends at the California Young Republicans that was packed all Saturday night.

Besides the revelry and the standard party functional work, we’re proud of another milestone reached: last weekend, the members of the state party central committee elected 4 Log Cabin members to the Party’s Board of Directors.

Elected this weekend were:

• Peter Kuo, of Santa Clara, who will serve as the state Vice Chairman
• Greg Gandrud, of Carpentaria, who will serve as the Treasurer
• Jason Clark, of San Francisco, who will serve as the Regional Vice Chairman – Bay Area
• Lindsey Stetson, of Ventura, who will serve as the Regional Vice Chairman – Central Coast.

Lindsey & Peter are both LGBTQ-supportive allies and active members of Log Cabin, so we’re especially thankful of their leadership to support our community. Long-time ally of Log Cabin, Jessica Patterson, was also endorsed by our organization and elected as the CAGOP’s first ever Latina Chair of the Party!

A special point of pride with the election of Greg as Treasurer. He was the first openly-gay member of the California Republican Party Board of Directors, and now with his elevation to the #3 position on the Board, becomes the highest-serving LGBTQ person on the CRP Board.

We’d like to take a moment to thank Log Cabin member and LGBTQ-ally Sue Caro, who concluded her time on the CRP Board, whom Jason is replacing.

The media covering the convention has been very positive – the CAGOP elected a 38 year-old Latina, Jessica Patterson, as Chair, a Taiwanese-immigrant, Peter Kuo, as Vice-Chair, an openly gay man, Greg Gandrud, as Treasurer, and a 2-time cancer survivor, Randy Berholtz as Secretary. The times, they are a changin’!

I was honored to be reelected to serve as LCRCA Chair for another term, and will be joined by Paul Cummings as Vice Chair. Our board is made up of several at-large members and the president of every chapter in the state (10).

Log Cabin Republicans are represented at the highest levels in the California Republican Party, continuing a legacy built by the work of so many in the decades before us. For anyone who says the Republican Party isn’t inclusive, they are sorely wrong. For those who insist that LGBTQ’s and other minorities don’t have a place in the Republican Party, we are now running the Party in California. And for those who don’t see the relevance of Log Cabin Republicans – well, we put in the hard work and our members earned their seat at the table.

This is just a snapshot of the political “insiders” work that we do at Log Cabin Republicans – if you’ve been absent from a meeting this year, I’d like to invite you back to jump on board this dynamic organization as we prepare for the Pride season and the exciting 2020 election cycle.