Republican Unity Coalition

The Republican Unity Coalition was created as an outgrowth of the George W. Bush campaign in the 2000 US presidential election. Formed by Bush family friend Charles Francis, it described itself a "grasstops" organization of the United States Republican Party, with a Board of Advisors formerly including the late President Gerald Ford, former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, philanthropist and banker David Rockefeller, and former U.S. Senator Jack Danforth of Missouri. It was a gay/straight alliance,^[1] believing that the Republican Party must become a big tent and reach out to non-traditional Republicans, in this case gay and lesbian Americans who shared the basic Republican emphasis on personal liberty, self-responsibility and a strong national defense. The RUC submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the case of Lawrence vs. Texas, signed by former Senator Alan K. Simpson (WY) and written by University of Minnesota law school professor Dale Carpenter and Eric Jaffe, former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas.

However, after Bush called for a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in 2003, the organization's activity and support quickly collapsed. While the organization has not formally declared itself as defunct, its political action committee, Unity PAC, was relieved of reporting obligations by the Federal Elections Commission in a July 25, 2006 notice, due to several years of inactivity. Its website, as of January 2008, has been shut down.

See also

• Log Cabin Republicans

References