Party Crasher
Subtitle: A Gay Republican Challenges Politics as Usual
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: June 10, 1999
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780684837642
Subjects: Political Process - Political Parties; Politics/International Relations; Political Parties; U.S. Lobbies And Interest Groups; U.S. Government; Political Science; Gender Studies; Sociology; Politicians; Political Process - General; Gay Studies; Government - U.S. Government; Current Events / General; Tafel, Richard; Gay politicians; United States; Biography; Gay rights
Description: In Party Crasher: A Gay Republican Challenges Politics as Usual, Richard Tafel, head of the Log Cabin Republicans, issues a challenge to some of America's most sacred political institutions.

Using personal anecdotes as well as the stories of other gay and lesbian Republicans, Rich Tafel succeeds in humanizing the struggle he and others have undertaken in their efforts to have their party deal fairly with gays and gay issues, as well as their campaign to make gays aware of the benefits that can accrue from having political alliances with others besides traditional left-leaning Democrats.

The book is laid out in three sections: "Life," "Liberty," and "The Pursuit of Happiness." In the part entitled "Life," Tafel shows that gay political ideologies are a product of the rejection gays experience. The next section, "Liberty," shows how those ideologies play themselves out in the course of day-to-day American politics, and Tafel warns of the dangers gays face in being taken for granted by the Democratic Party while being written off by the Republicans.

In "The Pursuit of Happiness," Tafel argues that political strategies alone aren't enough to advance the cause of gay rights - spiritual values and morals, he says, must be at the heart of the gay strategy. Here he challenges both those within the gay community who reject moral language and spirituality and those in organized religion - particularly those in his own Christian faith - who view sexuality simply as a matter of choice, and a choice to be condemned if it is not the straight and narrow.