This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
President Bush's election-year call for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage was like "a kick in the gut" for Patrick Guerriero.
But it didn't make Guerriero, head of the 15,000-member gay Log Cabin Republicans, "any less Republican or inclined to become a Democrat."
To the contrary, "it helped me reach a moment where I needed to balance party loyalty with personal integrity," he said, citing Log Cabin's decision not to endorse Bush for re-election in November.
Two dozen Utah gay activists who gathered on Saturday to hear Guerriero speak at a "Big Tent" rally in Salt Lake City spoke of a similar crisis of conscience: abstain from voting this election cycle or support a supermajority that deems homosexuality incompatible with marriage.
The five-member board of Utah's Log Cabin chapter, which takes its name from the slave-emancipating President Lincoln's humble roots, meets next Tuesday to vote on endorsements. And the big debate centers on whether Republican gubernatorial hopeful Jon Huntsman Jr. will make the list.
Huntsman supports a proposed amendment to Utah's constitution banning gay same-sex marriage. Democratic Party candidate Scott Matheson does not.
Utah Log Cabin President Gordon Storrs says the group will likely endorse Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Salt Lake City Sen. James Evans, both of whom oppose "Amendment 3" and attended Saturday's fund-raiser.
"It took great courage for them to say no when their campaigns probably advised against it," said Storrs, who also will make a "strong pitch" for endorsing Huntsman.
"He's the only politician who has even talked about fostering some legislation to grant any kind of rights to gay people in the form of a reciprocal benefits," Storrs said.
Board member Clay Essig, however, is among those who believe Huntsman's proposal is "politically naive" and would be judged illegal if the amendment passes.
"There's no way Huntsman will get this past the Legislature," said Essig. "Why create a situation where we have to fix the amendment with this great plan?"
No matter where the votes land, however, no one advocates quitting the Republican Party.
"Radical elements in the party want us to leave. Our message is, let's stick it out and fight," said Guerriero, for whom Utah was state 37 on a 38-state tour to rally gay and lesbian activists.
Guerriero joined other prominent Republicans and arch-conservative citizen groups in Utah who oppose Amendment 3.
"The second part speaks to what the authors want the amendment to do, which is to treat gay and lesbian families as second class," he said. "As offended as I am about how gays and lesbians are being treated by the party, I'm also offended that we're proposing rewriting our constitutions."
But the idealistic side of Guerriero, a 34-year-old son of an Italian immigrant, "refuses" to renounce Republican principles of free trade, family values and the war in Iraq.
And the practical side - he's a former mayor, state representative and candidate for lieutenant governor in Massachusetts - believes it's easier to orchestrate social change from within the prevailing party.
"Imagine us abandoning the party that controls the White House, both houses of Congress, most governorships and most state Legislatures. We would be the only lobbying group in the nation that would think that would be a wise move, yet some advise it," Guerriero said in an interview after his talk. "For too long gays and lesbians have put all their resources in one political party. That's partly why we've been taken advantage of."