Pasadena Gay Republican torn by ban plan

Goldsberry worries that she and other lesbians and gay men will bear the brunt of anti-gay sentiment that will crescendo until Election Day.

She is horrified at the prospect of being vilified and demonized by members of her own party when there are bigger issues at hand, like the war on terrorism.

"This is discouraging," Goldsberry said. "I want to help this party so much, and this is what they do to me.

Goldsberry, frank and generally upbeat, lives a 21st-century American dream in Pasadena, though her family portrait is a little different than those Norman Rockwell painted.

Not long after a divorce six years ago, Goldsberry decided to accept the feelings she had experienced since she was 5 years old.

She and her partner now raise the latter's child in a home next to Goldsberry's mother. If the law allows, she and her partner want to marry.

The changes in her life sparked Goldsberry to greater political activism. In 2002, she became president of the Houston chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, which advocates gay rights inside the party.

The state party's platform discourages rights for gays. The local party questions candidates about their position on same-sex benefits and gay marriages.

As a Republican, Christian lesbian, Goldsberry says the only ostracism she feels about her sexual orientation comes from her own party members, and then only from the Christian right.

"My party is being hijacked by the extremists of the Christian right, and I don't like it," Goldsberry said. "It gets me depressed because I don't look forward to how I am about to be treated."