Guerriero insisted that gay and lesbian Americans can be a part of the Republican party. "There is room for [Republicans] within the diversity of the LGBTQ community," Guerriero said. "How intolerant is it to think that there couldn't be any lesbian or gay man in America who is conservative on public policy issues?"
Guerriero compared the women's suffrage and the civil rights movements to the issues facing conservative gays in America. "It took courageous people to stick with their parties even if they weren't right on a lot of things," he said. "[There is a] need to work for change from within the Republican party and earn credibility that Democratic activists for gay rights cannot."
The College Pride Alliance invited Guerriero, a former three-term Massachusetts state representative and two-term mayor of Melrose, Mass. to be the keynote speaker for their annual Coming Out Week.
Guerriero grew up in a working-class Democratic family and joked about his background. "It's tougher to be a Republican than a homosexual in Massachusetts," he said. "My parents have been in therapy for 18 years since I told them I was a Republican."
In response to criticism that he is part of a radical homosexual agenda, Guerriero noted that he travels the country advocating conservative positions: family values, as in the right to form loving, committed, legally recognized partnerships; the right to serve in our nation's military; and LGBTQ Americans' roles in spiritual communities.
After his success in the state legislature, Governor Jane Swift (R-Mass.) asked him to be her running mate in 2002, marking the first time that an incumbent candidate selected an openly gay or lesbian running mate. Although Swift ultimately dropped out of the race, Guerriero noted that his sexual orientation was largely irrelevant in the campaign.
The Log Cabin Republicans approached Guerriero and offered him the position of executive director. Since he has taken over, several events have led to what he describes as a culture war over gay rights issues.
"Americans who happen to be gay just want to be boring," he said, referring to the struggle for the right to marriage for all Americans. "Not only do we want the 1,000 rights that come along with marriage, but also the moral responsibilities. How conservative is that?" he questioned.
He also criticized the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, against which the Log Cabin Republicans recently filed a lawsuit, noting that members of the FBI, CIA and Secret Service are permitted to be openly gay.
"[At the end of last year], I asked President Bush not to divide the country by starting a fight over amending the Constitution," Guerriero said, adding that he feels that Bush is using gay marriage as a political strategy to win votes from socially conservative Republicans. Largely due to this policy, the national leadership of the Log Cabin Republicans recently voted not to endorse Bush for president this year, although they had endorsed him in 2000.
"The reason that some of you might think this election is so significant for civil rights is because we're winning. Civil unions that didn't exist four years ago, and at the Republican convention this year 50 percent of the delegates supported them," he said. "We have polls that show that within a decade, throughout America, it will be impossible not to support civil unions."
Guerriero encouraged students to become involved in the gay rights movement. "Here we are in the middle of a culture war, and we have the chance either to speak out or to be silent and let other people do the work," he said. "I want to look back on my life and say, 'During my generation's civil rights movement, I had a box seat.'"
Kate Stayman-London '05, chair of Amherst Students for Kerry, was impressed by the lecture. "He was fantastic and one of the most moral and honest politicians I've ever met," she said.
Several students, including Stayman-London and Maddy Ng '07, a member of the executive board of Pride Alliance, wondered why the College Republicans had refused an invitation to co-sponsor the event.
The College Republicans assert that it was due to concerns about the upcoming election. "The decision not to co-sponsor [which was made] last semester was partly an administrative one [due to a] lack of resources and partly due to the fact that there is an election coming up," said Ethan Davis '05, co-chair of the College Republicans. "We didn't know what Patrick Guerriero would speak about and we did not want to be in the situation of co-sponsoring a talk four days before the election in which the Republican speaker didn't support the Republican candidate for president. If the timing had been different, our decision might also have been different. As it actually happened, our fears were borne out."