GOProud, starring as Squeaky The Chicago Mouse*

Gay Patriot, the blogger who recently helped splinter Log Cabin Republicans to create GOProud, a gay Republican club that will advocate on traditional Republican issues and no gay ones, (GOP Toby Michael Steele, who found a schedule conflict to avoid the Log Cabin convention invitation, says nothing about the new group either) celebrates a Sally Field moment at The Wall Street Journal:

Wall St. Journal Highlights GOProud’s Formation

Posted by GayPatriot at 12:39 pm - April 14, 2009.
Filed under: GOProud, Gay America, Gay Politics, Loyal Gay Opposition, Republican Rebuilding, Tim Gill Watch, We The People

Big kudos to Chris Barron and Jimmy LaSalvia for this outstanding coverage of the formation of our new gay conservative organization, GOProud.
William McGurn writes in his WSJ column today:

Some of these issues are explored at GayPatriot.org, whose founder, Bruce Carroll, is also on the board of GOProud. From the disastrous economic policies of Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Barney Frank to the outing of gay Republicans to the importance of male sexual monogamy, this conservative site offers a perspective you just won’t see anywhere else. Even on hot-button social issues, it can make for some strange bedfellows.
Take abortion. Christopher Barron, GOProud’s chairman of the board, points to an example from a few years back, when a Maine state legislator introduced a bill that would have outlawed abortion for a child thought to be gay, in the event genetic testing ever reached that point. That politician, Mr. Barron says, received virtually no support from gay groups. Though he himself is pro-choice, he says, “I want pro-life gays to know they have a home here.”
Whatever else it is, these are not your father’s gay Republicans. To the contrary, GOProud springs from a growing dissatisfaction among some gay Republicans that the Log Cabin Republicans, the traditional gay advocacy group within the party, has drifted to the point where its positions are indistinguishable from those of the left. It didn’t help when the Washington Blade chimed in with a report that Log Cabin’s biggest contributor, Tim Gill, is a Democrat.
Messrs. LaSalvia and Barron are themselves former officers for the Log Cabin Republicans. They know they belong to a defeated party that has no clear leaders but is now making decisions that will determine that party’s future in the years to come. They say they have formed GOProud in part to participate in that conversation — as conservatives who want to contribute to the team.
The ironies are legion. Since the loss of Congress and Mr. McCain’s defeat in November, any number of people have come forward to suggest that if the party ever wants to win again, it has to abandon its conservative principles. What does it say about the Beltway’s established ideological boxes that it is the gay wing of the Republican Party which is now advocating for a return to the party’s Reaganite roots?

We are now the “gay wing” of the Republican Party. Awesome. Thanks for the recognition of our new group, Mr. McGurn.
I hear a lot of gay liberals heads exploding today. Andrew Sullivan’s brain matter is probably on the floor, too.
*pop* *pop* *pop*
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
Tell it to Savonarola:

A conservative activist warns that a new group is pushing a "stealth gay agenda" within the Republican Party.

A new 527 group called GOProud, formed by former members of the Log Cabin Republicans, says it will represent "gay conservatives and their allies," and unlike Log Cabin will focus entirely on federal issues and elections.

Jimmy LaSalvia, the executive director of GOProud, says the organization will support legislation traditionally pushed by homosexual activists, but also speak out on how the Obama administration's tax policy negatively affects homosexual couples.

Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says although it will go by a different name, GOProud will be carrying out the same mission of the Log Cabin Republicans.


"This is all about promoting the acceptance of homosexuality within the GOP under the guise of so-called 'conservatism,'" says LaBarbera. "The fact is [that] homosexuality is not a conservative issue, it's not a family issue -- and this is all about changing the pro-family platform of the GOP."

LaBarbera says if homosexuals are conservative on economic issues, they can vote Republican, but if the party wants to remain pro-life and pro-family, it cannot be promoting homosexuality and abortion.

*For the story of Squeaky the Chicago Mouse, see Roger Ebert's column here.