WASHINGTON – Republican George W. Bush met with gays yesterday for the first time since launching his presidential bid – and said it made him “a better person” but didn’t change his views.
Bush set up the huddle as he tried to move toward the center after veering sharply right during the GOP primaries, when he said at one point it would be “a nightmare” to meet with a gay GOP group.
“I welcome gay Republicans into my campaign … It’s important for the next president to listen to people’s real-life stories,” Bush said after the meeting, which was set up by one of his supporters.
“These are people from our neighborhoods, people with whom all of us went to school. I appreciate them sharing their stories with me. I’m mindful that we’re all God’s children.”
Bush stressed that he still opposes gay marriage.
Some conservatives objected simply because he met with gays, while gay activists took a skeptical stance.
Democratic nominee-to-be Al Gore also opposes gay marriage but, unlike Bush, supports hate-crime bills and laws to ban job bias against gays.
Conservative ex-2000 contender Gary Bauer said the meeting was a mistake because it “elevated the gay-rights agenda” in a way that “contradicts” the Republican Party’s support of family values.
But the gay Republicans who met with Bush said they were pleased.
“The goal was not to change his mind. It was to start a conversation,” said openly gay ex-Rep. Steve Gunderson (R-Wis.).
David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay group that backs Gore, said he’s skeptical but the meeting was “a positive step” after primaries where, he said, “Bush behaved horribly and gay-baited John McCain.”
In South Carolina’s GOP primary, Bush – courting conservatives – suggested gay Republicans backed McCain and told a Christian radio station that open gays probably wouldn’t share the Bush philosophy.
Meanwhile, Bush and McCain yesterday said their first face-to-face meeting since Bush won the GOP race will be May 9 in Pittsburgh.
McCain is keeping up a busy schedule in New York, which he seems to be adopting as a second home. He stumps on Long Island’s East End tomorrow for GOP candidate Felix Grucci against Republican-turned-Democrat Rep. Mike Forbes.
Sources say McCain and his staff are in regular contact with Mayor Giuliani, with whom he’s stumped twice, and are now advising Hizzoner on his Web page. McCain’s Web page was the best in the presidential race.