Gay conservatives Jimmy LaSalvia and Chris Barron are stepping down from their day-to-day roles at GOProud. Of his comments lambasting conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell, Barron says, “I have one regret working here. I regret apologizing for calling her a bigot.”
“Tolerating this kind of bigotry will only serve to turn off more and more voters, and until the leadership of the RNC is willing to confront and denounce bigotry in its own ranks, they will continue to lose elections,” GOProud leader says.
Opponents of gay rights spoke to a nearly empty room, while supporters had a standing room–only crowd. “We cannot be at war with America on issues of fairness, on issues of equality,” conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin says.
GOProud — the gay conservative firebrands — thank Chris Hayes — one of MSNBC’s liberal firebrands — for “refusing to be a part of rank bigotry.” Their target: The exclusionary policy that keeps GOProud from attending the annual CPAC conference.
The gay conservative group had avoided taking a position on the issue in the past. LaSalvia cites a need for “a truly conservative voice” to stand up for marriage equality.
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From Washington, DC, to Washington state, a night of votes with consequences for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
UPDATED: Senior campaign adviser Bay Buchanan said last week that the candidate supports states’ choices. This afternoon, though, she told BuzzFeed he still supports the amendment proposal.
GOProud says gay voters care most about the same economic issues as everyone else. Obama-endorsing Human Rights Campaign says “a tough economy is made worse for LGBT people by the lack of legal protections.”
In 1992 and 2004, the gay Republican organization withheld its endorsement from the party’s presidential candidate. This election, there is still no word on the group’s decision.
Frank: “It is a good thing for Republicans to try to influence other Republicans to be supportive of LGBT rights. The problem is when they pretend to be successful when they haven’t been.”
At the gay conservative group’s “Homocon” party in Tampa, co-founder Chris Barron praised one of the group’s early backers, Andrew Breitbart, who died earlier this year.
Log Cabin Republicans still haven’t endorsed in the presidential race and GOProud only did so on a split vote. Today, however, both groups praised the Ryan pick
She beats out former Rep. Chris Shayes. “For Republicans – gay and straight – in Connecticut the choice for U.S. Senate is clear,” says the gay conservative group. “We hope Republicans will go to the polls on August 14th and vote to nominate Linda McMahon for U.S. Senate.”
On his blog, nightlife writer Michael Musto calls the gay Republican group GOProud traitors for endorsing Romney. UPDATE: LaSalvia: “Have you seen Michael Musto lately? We aren’t going to take serious political advice from a human Muppet.”
“Cold comfort,” say two leading gay Republican groups. Their position looks increasingly precarious.
