By Doug Ibendahl

Yes, a pro-gay group. I don't know what else to call it when you sponsor an event which only visits gay bars in Chicago's Boystown neighborhood.

This is yet more proof there's no serious McCain campaign in Illinois (our state is considered too Blue and dysfunctional these days for McCain to spend any time here, except for fundraising). But there is a group calling itself "Young Professionals for McCain."

Last Saturday night this group hosted a bar crawl in Chicago during Halsted Street Market Days (similar to the Gay Pride Parade, but skips the pretense of the floats).

Here are the four bars, the four scheduled stops promoted by the group. You can Google these establishments as easily as I can, but I've included a short description from the web. These are mostly reviews from their own management or patrons.

7 PM:  Wilde Bar and Restaurant. (Named for Oscar Wilde, the 19th Century gay writer. But judging by the websites, definitely the more mainstream of the four locations, and probably can be separated from those that follow.)

9 PM: Roscoe's. (Described as: "the stomping ground for a wide-eyed and barely legal set of young gays who find themselves here soon after reaching their 21st birthdays.")

11 PM: Sidetrack. (Political junkies may recall that it was Sidetrack's owner who then-State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka credited with giving her the idea to provide state financial assistance towards the building of the Gay and Lesbian Center on Halsted back in 2002. In past years when she was in office, Topinka and her supporters would also rally at Sidetrack prior to the Gay Pride Parade.)

2 AM: Charlie's Chicago. (According to the bar's own website: "If you have never experienced our Kryogenic System you are leading a sheltered life, so ditch the fag hag and get over to Charlie's - and we really do want you to ditch the fag hag.") I'm not sure if that statement's more offensive to women or to gays.

Would someone please remind me again why Jack Ryan got kicked out of our Illinois Party? And how many of these gay bar patrons lifted a finger in Jack's defense when the guy was being crucified by a jealous Judy Baar Topinka and her crew?

Anyone still think John McCain has a prayer in Illinois? Good grief, even hard core Republican supporters have a tough time finding a McCain lapel sticker in this state, much less a McCain yard sign. But the gay partier community gets the attention?

Sources tell Champion News that at least two of McCain's Illinois point persons, Jim Durkin and Pat Brady knew about this event and apparently had no problem. Durkin reportedly attended the first stop on the crawl.

Meanwhile, I can't even get either Durkin or Brady to give me a straight answer as to whether or not they favor returning to the direct election of our State Republican Party's Central Committee.

Look, I would agree that McCain needs every vote he can get, and we as Republicans can't reject the votes of gay folks or anyone else. But is it credible that anyone is going to have a serious discussion about McCain's qualifications over the throbbing blare of dance music in some gay pick-up bar? (That's exactly what most of the bars on the itinerary above are, and anyone who lives in Chicago knows it.) This just looks to the casual observer like an excuse to go drinking in some gay hot spots.

Don't forget, this Boystown neighborhood is the same place where George W. Bush was regularly hung in effigy during the Gay Pride Parade as a demonstration against our president's support of a pro-traditional-marriage constitutional amendment. The Log Cabin Republicans not only refused to endorse Bush for re-election in 2004 over the issue, the national organization ran ads against him.

The point is we know where the gay activist community stands with respect to the Republican Party and its Platform. Should the GOP be moving their way, in their bars? Wouldn't it be more honorable to at a minimum ask for a condemnation of the nasty attacks on President Bush that have come from some in the gay community?

Any event or group that tries to attach itself to McCain's name should be one that John McCain himself would be proud to associate with. Given McCain's heroic service and sacrifice in Vietnam, we should consider that a very high standard. Yes, even in Illinois.

Doug Ibendahl is a Chicago Attorney and a former General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party. He is Co-Founder of Republican Young Professionals (RYP).