How big is the Republicans’ tent?

Re “Some Seek ‘Pink Purge’ in the GOP,” Oct. 18

The Christian conservative wing of the Republican Party should tread lightly on what some have dubbed a “pink purge” of high-ranking gay Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the Bush administration. As a trustee of the Log Cabin Republicans (a gay Republican group), I stand for the original values of the party, which include personal responsibility, low taxes, limited government, a strong defense and free markets. I also caution anyone even contemplating a “pink purge” that we have a lot of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, relatives, friends and co-workers who are Republican and are equally appalled by the call for a gay purge.

Purge the party of us and there may well be unforeseen consequences. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has shown that the party’s tent is large enough for opposing views. It is shameful that the leaders in Washington do not see his vision as the start of a trend. Instead, some of them seem hellbent on destroying the party of Abraham Lincoln.

KEVIN NORTE

Hollywood

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My response to the so-called Republican big tent is this: There is no big tent. Yes, there are gay, pro-choice, antiwar Republicans. Yet when one implies that there is a big tent, it says that these Republicans are accepted and their views embraced by the Republican establishment, when in reality they are not. Traditionally, the GOP was a party of fiscal conservatives and individual initiative. In those circumstances, it was possible to include gays in the tent. However, since the social conservatives hijacked the party, it has found itself concentrating more on what people do in their bedrooms and doctors’ offices than on what the government does with their money.

Moderate Republicans, ditch the charade, the right doesn’t want you and you know it. Become a Democrat and start concentrating on what the tent is made of as opposed to who you’re pitching a tent with.

IGOR KAGAN

North Hollywood

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Does this not take us back to the 1950s and the McCarthy era? Maybe the right-wing Christians should remember the many lives that were ruined by that purge and other purges throughout the world. Seems as if this country is going backward rather than forward.

BOB BETZER

Dana Point

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I applaud the Republicans’ big-tent approach to try to appeal to all voters. It’s just the right thing to house their circus.

BILL ROBBINS

Los Angeles