WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (AFP) - A key group of gay Republicans said Wednesday it had withdrawn support from US President George W. Bush in November's election and vowed instead to work to defeat the party's "radical right."
The Log Cabin Republicans, the party's largest gay and lesbian bloc, which backed Bush's 2000 election, said it was withholding its endorsement this year, accusing Bush of allowing anti-gay right-wingers of "hijacking" the party and marginalising gay members.
"Log Cabin's National Board has voted to withhold a presidential endorsement and shift our financial and political resources to defeating the radical right and supporting inclusive Republican candidates for the US Senate and House of Representatives," group chairman William Brownson said.
The group's board of directors voted 22 to 2 on Tuesday not to endorse the re-election of Bush, who they accuse of selling out his "compassionate conservative" stance to capture the Christian right vote.
The vote marked the first time since the group was founded in 1993 that it has refused to endorse the Republican nominee for US president.
"Certain moments in history require that a belief in fairness and equality not be sacrificed in the name of partisan politics; this is one of those moments," Log Cabin's Executive Director Patrick Guerriero said.
"There is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party, and that fight is bigger than one platform, one convention, or even one president," he added.
The group warned earlier that Bush and the party's move to ban gay marriage through a federal constitutional amendment and their explicit opposition to the practice in the party's platform unveiled at its convention last week could cost the Republicans millions of votes.
The party's increasingly conservative stance on issues such as gay marriage, stem-cell research and abortion rights ahead of the November 2 election has opened a rift between its social moderates and conservatives.