Jimmy LaSalvia, the executive director
of gay GOP group GOProud, says his group has no position on gay
marriage aside from opposing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the
1996 law that bans federal agencies from recognizing the legal
marriages of gay and lesbian couples and allows states to ignore such
marriages, and a federal amendment that would define marriage as a
heterosexual union.
Social
conservatives mounted a boycott of this year's Conservative Political
Action Conference (CPAC) because of the gay Republican's
co-sponsorship of the event.
Several Republican lawmakers, including
South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint and Ohio Representative Jim Jordan,
and a smattering of socially conservative groups – the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), FRC Action and Concerned Women for
America (CWA) – joined the boycott.
Al Cardenas, the newly-elected chairman
of the American Conservative Union (ACU), which annually organizes
the event, has said groups that advocate for gay rights, particularly
gay marriage, would not be welcome at next year's event.
In
an interview with CNN, LaSalvia insisted his group has no
position on gay marriage.
“I know that it may seem funny that a
gay group doesn’t have a position on this issue, but that’s the
case,” LaSalvia said. “GOProud only works on federal issues. We
believe that marriage and family laws should be the province of the
states – as has been the case since the founding of our nation. We
believe that states should be free to make decisions regarding
marriage and family laws without the intervention of the federal
government. The decisions of each individual state should be
respected by the federal government. This is the essence of
federalism. Accordingly, we support the repeal of DOMA, and oppose
any effort to pass a Federal Marriage Amendment to the US
Constitution.”
Previously, conservative
celebrity Ann Coulter had taken credit for talking GOProud out of
supporting the issue.