Persistent Conflict for Gays and G.O.P.

The NY Times on some prominent GOPers and Gays.

Eight years ago, Dick Armey, then the House majority leader, referred to Representative Barney Frank, the prominent gay lawmaker, as Barney Fag. Three years later, Senator Trent Lott infuriated gays when he likened them to kleptomaniacs.

Former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina once called homosexuality "sickening." And Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma once compared a gay business executive who had been nominated to an ambassadorship by President Bill Clinton to David Duke, a onetime Ku Klux Klan leader.

The Log Cabin Republicans are holding their convention next month. They are planning to invite Mr. Santorum as a guest speaker.