A Lesbian Republican’s Fight for a Future in the G.O.P.
Produced by ‘First Person’ Being gay and Republican never felt like identities that were at odds to Jerri Ann Henry. She grew up in a conservative Christian family in Texas and was door-knocking for local politicians from the time she could walk.
Later, she became a loud voice in the fight for marriage equality as the head of the group Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry and led the Log Cabin Republicans, a group representing gay conservatives. [You can listen to this episode of “First Person” on Apple, Spotify or Google or wherever you get your podcasts.] It seemed to her at the time that the party was moving toward acceptance of gay rights.
But in recent years, with G.O.P. legislators backing anti-L.G.T.B.Q. laws in several states and the constitutional right to same-sex marriage potentially threatened after the reversal of Roe v.
Wade, Henry has found herself wondering whether she still has a place in the Republican Party — or any party. (A full transcript of the episode will be available midday on the Times website.) “First Person” is produced by Derek Arthur, Christina Djossa, Jason Pagano, Cristal Duhaime, Olivia Natt and Courtney Stein.
