By Dennis Sanders

It is not easy to be a Black Republican and it’s damn near impossible to be a black, gay Republican.

The reason it can be so hard is not simply because the current GOP can make it hard to feel welcome in the party; it’s also liberals who start to question your authenticity.

Gay liberals see me as a sell out, nevermind that I’ve worked for gay equality. And black liberals? Well, they see me as a token, someone who is being used by Whitey to “color up” the GOP and hides it’s racist past.

That’s the focus of the post by Jamelle over at the League. On the one hand he seems to be praising black Republicans, especially those who are running for office, and yet he is also accusing us of being mere tokens:

… there is a definite aura of tokenism surrounding these guys. After all, they aren’t just the lone black faces in a lily white party (indeed, a party that takes “lily white” to its Platonic heights) – they are the lone black faces in a party that routinely and casually exploits racial fear and paranoia for political gain, and whose most prominent representatives in the media are race-baiting demagogues. More importantly, and as Adam recently pointed out, the GOP has yet to really grapple with its ugly racial history, and in fact, hardly acknowledges it (Ken Mehlman’s brief words in 2005 don’t really count). By contrast, Democrats – from the Civil Rights Act onwards – have devoted a hell of a lot of political capital to atoning for their ugly racial history. Indeed, the 1960s are something of an inflection point in that regard: at the moment that Democrats committed themselves to racial liberalism, Republicans embraced the disaffected white southerners left behind in the march towards greater political equality.

Sigh. These arguments sound familiar. They are the same arguments lobbed at gay Republicans. “How can you stay in a party that hates you?” goes the sentiment from liberals.

Listen, I am well aware of the GOP’s history when it comes to race over the last 40 years. It hasn’t been pretty. But I don’t join a party because someone likes me or not. I became a Republican after a long time of thinking about my political beliefs. No it’s not perfect, but I’m working to change that.

At some point, it’s rather silly to try to explain myself to people like Jamelle or Bob Herbert who he references. Nothing I say will please them, unless I renounce being a Republican.

I can’t speak for others, but I can say that I am NOT a token. I made this decision of my own choosing. I’m not interested in being anybody’s spokesperson.

Dennis Sanders is a pastor living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has worked on centrist Republican issues for years, including stints as President of the Minnesota chapter of Log Cabin Republicans (a gay/lesbian advocacy group) and Republicans for Environmental Protection. Dennis blogs at NeoMugwump and happily lives with his partner Daniel and serves two cats, Morris and Felix.

Article first appeared on Republicans United