Huffington Magazine Issue 16 | Page 83

HUFFINGTON 09.30.12 THE PINK ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM red-white-and-blue rectangle of the Log Cabin Republicans. Weissman wholeheartedly believes that same-sex marriage should be legal, and he also believes that his taxes should be low. Unlike the majority of gay people, he refuses to see those two things as mutually exclusive. “The issues of economic growth are now so central that that has to be the way I vote,” he said. Cooper, a soft-spoken Army captain who says his shiny head is frequently confused with that of the Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, spent much of the week schmoozing with people at cocktail parties throughout the city. Unlike many gay conservatives, Cooper attributes his Republican loyalties to national security concerns and — perhaps harder to shake — his family’s tradition. Gay Republicans gather in Tampa at a brunch for the Young Republicans for the Freedom To Marry.