Formed by Bush family friend Charles Francis, it described itself a "grasstops" organization with a Board of Advisors that included the late former President Gerald Ford, former U.S.
Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, philanthropist and banker David Rockefeller, and Mary Cheney, daughter of the former Vice President,[1] and former U.S.
Specifically, it sought to include gay and lesbian Americans who shared the basic Republican emphasis on personal liberty, self-responsibility and a strong national defense.
The RUC submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the case of Lawrence v. Texas, signed by former Senator Simpson and written by University of Minnesota law school professor Dale Carpenter and Eric Jaffe, former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas.
[7] While the organization has not formally declared itself as defunct, its political action committee, Unity PAC, was relieved of reporting obligations by the Federal Elections Commission in a July 25, 2006 notice, due to several years of inactivity.