Gay GOP group GOProud chairman
Christopher Barron on Thursday defended his group's right to
participate in February's Conservative Political Action Conference
(CPAC). GOProud's co-sponsorship of the event has enraged three
socially conservative groups.
The three-day convention to be held at
the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC will feature such
anti-gay figures as media personality Ann Coulter, South Carolina
Senator Jim DeMint, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former
Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick
Santorum.
The political arm of the Family
Research Council, FRC Action, Concerned Women for America (CWA) and
the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) have announced they
won't attend the event because of the presence of the gay Republican
group.
When asked by MSNBC The Ed Show
guest host Cenk Uygur, “Why on God's green Earth are you even a
Republican?” Barron insisted the conservative movement accepted –
even welcomed – gay Republicans.
“Because I believe in free markets,
because I believe in a strong defense, because I believe in the power
of the individual,” Barron responded. “That's why I'm a
conservative Republican.”
“I get that,” Uygur said, “But
what I don't get is how you can with a good conscious vote for a
party that does not like you.”
When Barron insisted the conservative
movement was united and winning, Uygur interrupted with “No you're
not.”
“What I'm telling you right now is
that the conservative movement is absolutely welcoming to gay
people,” Barron said. “I can tell you right now, I have an
easier time being openly gay with the conservatives than I do being a
conservative with other gay people. That's the truth. You might not
like it but it doesn't change reality.”
“You gotta wake up, man. In 2004
they ran the whole national campaign against hating you. In 2006,
they ran the whole national campaign against hating you,” Uygur
added.
“I am wide awake,” Barron
interrupted, “and the conservative movement [is] winning and we are
a proud part of that movement.” (The video is embedded in the
right panel of this page.)
On Wednesday, sex
advice columnist and gay rights activist Dan Savage called GOProud a
“little gay window dressing.”