You could imagine my shock a few evenings after the election when, at a friend's party, someone was introduced to me thus: "This is Mark. He's a gay Republican. He supported Romney." I was so shocked by his political views that I had to excuse myself and walk away.

The Republican Party must face a lesson with important human consequences: It cannot deny rights and attention to LGBT, female and minority communities if it wishes to remain a mainstream presence in American politics.

Supporters of Romney are now trying desperately to spin his lack of moral certainty as a good thing. The argument for Romney has become: "You don't like this current Romney? Don't worry, he'll change into whatever you want after the election and be great! Trust us!"

You know the one-dimensional friends who show up in your Facebook timeline and their posts are always about the same subject matter? I have become one of these one-dimensional people, and I can't stand it.

There is simply no logical basis whatsoever for arguing that voting for Republicans this year is a good way to advance LGBT legal equality. Yet the Log Cabin Republicans argue exactly that. Given the stakes for our rights in this election, it is important to examine their rationale.

I have to admit, it's been a long time since I've felt the need to be politically active. But When Mike Huckabee spoke out in favor of Chick-fil-A's anti-gay stance and called for a "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," and thousands upon thousands of like-minded people showed up, it woke me up.

A gay man's poignant letter, written in hopes of swaying his conservative father from voting for Mitt Romney, is circulating through the blogosphere. ...

When President Barack Obama told the nation last week that he supports same-sex marriage, I wanted to believe that his announcement was merely a communication error. This is something I wanted my party, the Republican Party, to be the first to make progress on.

Between the two parties, Democrats are the clear choice if a voter considers gay rights an important issue. The reality we must embrace, though, is that we need Republicans to pass federal protections.

Gay Republicans want to believe they can recapture what their party "used to be," recover their rosy view of what a formerly great institution once stood for. But to stay, they are forced (well, no one is forcing them) to accept delusion or outright rejection as the price of staying.

Dear gay Republicans: Rick Santorum's surge and near-win in Iowa should be a wake-up call: your party hates you. I don't understand how you can look beyond the fact that a major portion of your party's fundamental beliefs are that you are not equal.