The New York Times reported recently that legendary Republicam political consultant, Arthur J. Finkelstein, married his longtime male companion of over 40 years in a civil ceremony in Massachusetts in December. Many of us remember Finkelstein as the political consultant who won many campaigns for conservative candidates like former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, former Senator Al D'Amato of New York and Governor George Pataki of New York by demonizing their opponents with the use of the word "liberal." He is probably the man most single-handedly responsible for Democrats running away from the liberal label. It has long been known that Finkelstein was gay (he was outed in 1996 by Boston Magazine when he was working for Senator No's campaign for re-election against Harvey Gantt).
My point here is to point out that there are gay Republicans who actively support candidates and causes who are completely opposed to gay people receiving equal treatment under the law, but when there are civil rights victories, those same gay Republicans do not hesitate to enjoy the fruits of those victories, which was the labors of others, and victories which their candidates actively denounce. There's a word for such people and it begins with H (and no, I don't mean "homosexual" though in some sense one hesitates to call such people who express same-sex attraction and behavior "gay" since that word really connotes someone who has come to some level of acceptance with their sexuality). The word is hypocrite.
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