Free Republic

It's not all that surprising that, in the wake of Rick Perry's much-maligned anti-gay ad the other day, the gay conservative group GOPRoud ended up at the center of the ensuing media storm, fielding requests from reporters left and right. Except it seems that the group's director and chairman (inadvertently, they claim) created a gay-bashing brouhaha of their own by letting slip the true sexual orientation of Tony Fabrizio, a top strategist on the governor's presidential campaign. In an e-mail to the rest of the board — acquired by the Daily Caller — GOProud leaders Chris Barron and Jimmy LaSavlia...

Chris Barron, chairman of GOProud, writes at length about Donald Trump's newfound obsession with Barack Obama's citizenship. You'll recall that GOProud was at least partly responsible for Trump's buzzy appearance at CPAC; the tycoon/pundit/punchline's slow descent into birtherism had been raising questions about the gay group. "Let me be 100% clear – I am not a birther. I have never said I don’t believe Barack Obama was born in this country. Quite honestly, I haven’t spent much time worrying about or thinking about this issue, because I just don’t care about it. But there are a lot of issues that...

There appears to be more fallout as a result of the recent remarks made by GoProud Chairman Chris Barron in which he referred to ACU Foundation Chairman Cleta Mitchell as a “nasty bigot.” Barron later apologized for the remark after raising the ire of newly selected ACU chair Al Cardenas who indicated the possibility that the organization may distance themselves from GoProud. Said Cardenas: “I have been disappointed with their website and their quotes in the media, taunting organizations that are respected in our movement and part of our movement, and that’s not acceptable. And that puts them in a...

I have, for me, shown an amazing amount of restraint in keeping my mouth shut on an issue about which I can stay silent no longer — GOProud and CPAC. RedState’s parent company, Eagle Publishing, Inc., is a long time sponsor of CPAC. RedState itself is helping FreedomWorks sponsor Bloggers Row. We were the sole sponsor of Bloggers Row last year. I will be speaking at CPAC at the Young America’s Foundation luncheon named in honor of Tom Phillips, my friend and also the big boss at Eagle Publishing, Inc. I have done my best to stay out of this...

'Asked for GOProud’s response, the group’s chairman apologized for his comments about Cleta Mitchell. “For the past six months, we have watched as unfair and untrue attacks have been leveled against our organization, our allies, our friends and sometimes even their families. Everyone has their breaking point and clearly in my interview with Metro Weekly I had reached mine. I shouldn’t have used the language that I did to describe Cleta Mitchell and for that I apologize,” said Chris Barron.' Still no apology to Sen. Jim DeMint or others for saying they belonged on the "island of misfit toys." No...

The new chair of the American Conservative Union, Al Cardenas, today distanced his organization from GOProud, telling FrumForum in an exclusive interview that “it’s going to be difficult to continue the relationship” with the gay conservative organization. The ACU, which annually organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference, has faced some criticism for including GOProud as a co-sponsor for the second year in a row. Socially conservative organizations have denounced the move, and the Heritage Foundation claimed that GOProud’s inclusion was part of their decision to opt-out. Cardenas, who was selected yesterday to replace outgoing chairman David Keene, told FrumForum that...

...Calling this "a maturing point for the conservative movement," Breitbart minces no words: "If being conservative means rejecting gay conservatives because they are gay, then fine, I'm not a conservative." ..."No, we're not giving cover to bigots," he [Chris Barron of GOProud] argues. "What we're doing is separating the people who don't agree with the left-wing agenda from the real bigots. You can be against ENDA and hate crimes and federal safe schools legislation and not be a bigot. If you're Tony Perkins, you're a bigot. You're against all of that stuff not because of any federalist reasons, but actually...