Book Review: Party Crasher by Rich Tafel
The most basic objective in a campaign is to get more votes than your opponent. So it’s shocking to see the Republican Party’s aversion to gays in elections. A lot of factors went into the 2006 loses, but a silent factor is creeping up on the Republican Party, it’s position on gays will be looked at historically as homophobia at it’s worse. Now being young, just turned twenty, I grew up with gay friends, the fact that I was a Republican and Christian just enhanced our friendship. I made very clear that I thought of them no differently than any of my straight friends, and as I often hanged (hung is incorrect) around the political group in middle and high school we often discussed all the issues of the time. I support gay marriage, adoption, and open military service. So now being in college and the day’s of friendships in school behind me, I was interested when I saw a copy by the one-time head of the Log Cabin Republicans, Rich Tafel. Written in 1999, the book has barely aged, as gay issues have unfortunately not gotten much better under President Bush. “Party Crasher” is a testimony of a man who has conservative principles and happens to be gay. The book discusses his experiences, often a mixture of hilarity and heart breaking reality and the history of the gay movement. The book is at it’s best with the stories of his life such as the Dole $1,000 check debacle and appearances on the homophobic Armstrong Williams show who recently got caught up in a male sexual harassment case.
It shows the Republican Party’s history on Civil Rights, remember we were the North in the that “War of Northern Aggression” to it’s decline under the power of Jerry Farwell and Pat Robertson. While I agreed with almost everything in the book, Tafel while talented in political circles has some rough travels when writing. This being his first, hopefully not last, book shows the unfortunate strain of the “freshman book”. He relays too much on the history of the movement as filler and the political psychology comes off as weak and repetitive. The book would have benefited from being broken up more, (though short, there are only three sections for 240 pages) and perhaps would have been even better just as a memoir. Nonetheless the ideas are superb and the book must reading for both sides of the issue. One final plea to my conservative friends, change on this issue, history will not be as friendly. *** Out of ****.
