UPDATE:  UNDER FIRE FOR THEIR ATTACKS ON THE 2^nd AMENDMENT THE FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL HAS ‘CORRECTED’ THEIR ATTACKS ON GOPROUD.  SEE HERE

In Case You Missed It: The Family Research Council and Liberal Claire McCaskill - Gun-Grabbing Birds of a Feather

Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director, “The Family Research Council attacked GOProud for supporting concealed carry legislation using the same tortured logic that liberal U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill did when she cast the deciding vote against this important 2nd Amendment issue.”

(Washington, D.C.) - Today, GOProud, the only national organization of gay conservatives and their allies, responded to attacks from the anti-gay Family Research Council regarding GOProud’s support the concealed carry reciprocity legislation offered by U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD).

Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director:

“The big government crowd over at the Family Research Council is once again showing how little they care about core conservative values. The Family Research Council is using the same tortured logic that liberal U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) did when she cast the deciding vote against this important 2nd Amendment issue (see the attacks by FRC here and see McCaskill’s comments here).

“Concealed carry reciprocity legislation is one of the most important 2nd Amendment issues in the country today, and the fact that the Family Research Council would join with gun-grabbing liberals in opposing this legislation speaks volumes about their priorities. The ugly truth is that Tony Perkins and company would sacrifice American’s 2nd Amendment rights at the altar of anti-gay bigotry.

“Concealed carry reciprocity doesn’t have anything to do with gay marriage - it’s about ensuring the 2nd Amendment rights guaranteed to all citizens; and GOProud is committed to defending those rights whether the attacks come from the left or from the Family Research Council.”

Below is the text of an op-ed by GOProud’s Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia.  It appeared here on Advocate.com today.

As the election results from Hawaii’s special election became final, I was thrilled to see that voters had selected pro-gay Republican Charles Djou to represent them in Congress. I know Congressman Djou, and I know his leadership is needed on Capitol Hill. Chris Barron, GOProud’s board chairman, and I had the opportunity to meet with Congressman Djou in March. It was quickly clear to both of us that Djou’s support for commonsense conservative proposals to improve the lives of all Americans, but particularly gay and lesbian Americans, would make him a the type of candidate our organization could support. As a result of that meeting and his answers to our candidate survey, GOProud enthusiastically endorsed his candidacy.

Imagine my surprise the day after the election when I clicked on Advocate.com to see the headline “Hawaii Elects Antigay Congressman.” Were they serious? Were they talking about the same man I know?

Unfortunately, there are far too many politicians who deserve the label “antigay,” and far too many of them claim residence within the Republican Party. Indeed, some politicians in this country make a living demonizing gay people and our families.

Those who poison the political process by demonizing gay people do a serious disservice to those they represent and to the institutions they have been elected to serve in.

However, attaching the label “antigay” to every single politician or person who is not 100% aligned with the political agenda of the gay left is not only unfair but wildly counterproductive.

Like President Obama, Djou is not there yet on the question of marriage equality. His positions, however, on both traditional “gay rights” issues (as defined by the gay left) and issues of importance to gay conservatives certainly make it clear that he is not deserving of the tag “antigay.”

Even by the gay left’s own measuring stick, Congressman Djou can’t be labeled antigay. Charles Djou supports the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” to allow gay service members to serve openly; indeed, the freshly minted congressman cast one of his first votes for the “don’t ask, don’t tell” compromise legislation that will begin the process of reversing this discriminatory policy. Congressman Djou also supports providing domestic-partner benefits to federal employees, supports domestic-partner tax equity, supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and opposes efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution with a discriminatory anti-gay-marriage provision.

As if those policy positions aren’t pro-gay enough, he supports a litany of policies advocated by gay conservatives that will improve the daily lives of all Americans, but especially gay and lesbian Americans. Djou opposes the efforts of Democrats to make the discriminatory death tax permanent. He supports Social Security reforms that would provide for private, inheritable accounts allowing gay partners to designate each other as beneficiary. He supports free-market-based health care reforms that would empower individuals to choose the best health plan for their family and improve access to domestic-partner benefits, rather than supporting Democratic efforts to expand discriminatory government-run health care. He also supports our Second Amendment rights to lawfully defend ourselves from becoming victims of violent hate crimes.

That’s a pro-gay record. Why on earth would The Advocate call him “antigay”?

Congressman Djou, like many politicians, including most Democrats in Congress and the president, does not support civil marriage equality. So what is standard for the label “antigay”? What could possibly be the reason many liberal bloggers tagged Djou as “antigay”? One word — Republican.

For far too many on the gay left, including those in the gay press who claim impartiality, merely being associated with the Republican Party makes you an antigay bigot. The truth is never as simple as the partisans on the fringes would have you believe. Not all Democrats are good on gay issues, not are Republicans are bad, and — shock — not all policies that will improve the lives of gay Americans and our families come with the stamp of approval from the Human Rights Campaign, the Democratic National Committee, or The Advocate.

I hope readers of this news outlet will do the research themselves — look at the candidate’s positions, look at how those positions will affect their lives, and then decide for themselves; and I hope that all gay and lesbian Americans, regardless of their partisan political affiliations, will join us in thanking Congressman Djou for his support for us and our families.

Tune in Tuesday, May 25 to RePatriot Radio.  GOProud’s Executive Director will be a guest at 5 pm - 6 pm Eastern.  Click here to listen live!

Right Pride President Mark Ciavola takes on the publications QVegas and Las Vegas Night Beat for their candidate “endorsements.”  This is definitely worth a read. Click here to read the entire letter. Here is a portion of his open letter -

This month, a list of primary election endorsements appears on NevadaImpact.com, a joint effort of Rob Schlegel, QVegas and Las Vegas Night Beat. These endorsements are also published in the current issue of both aforementioned publications. Under the guise of helping “the LGBT community be better informed about candidates,” Rob Schlegel and his cohorts have gone out of their way to continue the long history of spiteful partisanship by the so-called leaders in our community. Schlegel endorses in 47 of the 67 races he lists, backing 50 Democrats and 8 Republicans. He even used three of the eight Republican endorsements to take petty swipes at the candidates, and ripped another half-dozen GOP candidates just for fun.

Now more than ever the gay community needs guidance on issues that come from an objective source. Democrats continually fail to deliver on campaign promises made to the gay community. Congress has been under Democratic control since 2006 and they have yet to enact legislation that is important to the community: gays are still kicked out of the military for their sexuality via Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT), the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is still in place, The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) – factually contrary to Mr. Schlegel’s assertion that Harry Reid had passed it on behalf of the gay community – still languishes in committee, and our President had police push media away from LGBT service members protesting DADT at the White House just last month. As publications that claim to represent our entire community, QVegas and Las Vegas Night Beat should be embarrassed by their inclusion of this blanket-endorsement of the Democratic Party.

GOProud does not have an official position on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), but we thought you all would find this thoughtful commentary interesting.  This from Corinna Cohn  -

Neither Discrimination nor ENDA Are Necessary

A Washington Times editorial published April 23, 2010 argues that discrimination against transgender men and women is necessary in order to protect children against the dangers of being taught by someone who was born one sex and lives as or has become the other sex. The editorial called transgender people ‘weirdos,’ and that is probably true in certain circles. But in others they are called doctors, lawyers, engineers, entrepreneurs, entertainers, artists, and yes, even teachers.

Proponents of the Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA) say the bill is necessary to protect vulnerable people from being judged on personal traits. However, the biggest gains in workplace protections have come from businesses, not government. The 2010 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), published by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), reported that 72 percent of businesses surveyed have gender identity protections, and the number grows each year. Businesses have done this for two reasons, neither involving the government.

The first, and most important reason is that businesses compete with each other to attract the brightest, most productive workers they can, and businesses understand that workers will choose to take jobs with employers who make principled choices to protect workers against discrimination based on their personal traits. The cost of implementing such a policy is now, the benefit is high, and so adding gender identity protections for most businesses is a no-brainer. The second reason is because society in general expects it. When groups like HRC let businesses know that they are going to be measured and scored based on their corporate policies, the businesses evaluate themselves for changes based on community expectations and on the practices of their competitors.

This is the most logical way to advance workplace protections, because discrimination is a phenomenon of human attitudes, and attitudes are changed through experience and personal growth, not through the imposition of federal law. Discrimination based on personal characteristics is an affront to human dignity, but creating federal penalties for discrimination will only spray perfume on one of the symptoms of discrimination without addressing the underlying cause.

Twelve states so far have passed laws protecting an individual from workplace discrimination based on gender identity. The legislatures of the other 38 states always have the option to follow suit. Supporters of ENDA say that it’s not fair to make transgender individuals wait for protection, but they don’t acknowledge that since transgender people are such a small share of the population, that it would be difficult or impossible to prove in court that a business engaged in discrimination. It is more effective to convince businesses that they have a competitive incentive not to discriminate than it is to bludgeon them with regulatory clubs.

On the other hand, opponents of EDNA, as epitomized by the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), could not care less about the efficacy of federal policy to reduce discrimination. They support discrimination for reasons that are difficult to fathom without invoking hackneyed stereotypes. They raise the specter that a “she-he” (to pick just one of their descriptions intended to dehumanize transgender persons) could teach a music class at your child’s school with no warning whatsoever. TVC never quite articulates the consequences of this horror, but probably the worst one is that a child could be exposed to a person who is different, and of course, different is bad.

In fact, groups like TVC, whose opinions and attitudes shock the conscience of the vast majority of Americans, do more to hasten the passage of bills like ENDA because those who would otherwise oppose the expansion of federal meddling in the affairs of private citizens feel pressure to do anything they can to separate themselves from the hateful ideas that emanate from the fringe.

There is little that ENDA can do to end discrimination, but the prospects of ENDA turning into another instrument for the abuse of government authority loom large. Businesses have already taken the lead on the issue, and twelve state legislatures have passed legislation on the issue. Individuals who believe that that change happens from the ground up have no reason to support ENDA except to avoid being counted under the banner carried by shrill opponents of human dignity.

Corinna Cohn - student at George Mason University Law School, vice-president of GMU Gay and Lesbian Law Association, secretary GMU Law Students for the Second Amendment

Our friends over at GayPatriot.net have a great post reporting on one gay Tea Party attendee’s experience at the Tea Party in Boston.  Read the entire post here.  Here’s the money quote -

“Some asked how I felt about being there. My most frequent response was I feel better coming out gay here today with the tea party people then coming out conservative in my gay community. ”

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GOProud Unveils Advertising Campaign Against Tom Campbell: “Wrong on Taxes”

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, GOProud, the only national organization representing gay conservatives and their allies, unveiled a new advertising campaign against U.S. Senate candidate and former Rep. Tom Campbell (R-CA). “Tom Campbell refuses to sign the pledge not to raise taxes, supported increasing the income tax on California voters, and proposed a 32 cents a gallon increase in the gas tax,” said Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director of GOProud. “What kind of Republican refuses to sign the pledge not to raise taxes? Even a liberal like Dede Scozzafava was willing to do so. California voters deserve to know the truth about Tom Campbell.”

The ad, entitled “Wrong on Taxes,” will initially air as a web ad targeting the most likely Republican primary voters. The group plans to run the ad on television and radio, as well as on the web.

Last year, Dede Scozzafava’s candidacy divided Republicans and cost the party a seat in Congress. “Tom Campbell is Dede without the dress. A candidate with artificially high poll numbers and a record far outside the Republican main stream,” continued LaSalvia.

“The more Republican primary voters learn about Tom Campbell, the more it will become clear that his nomination would be a disaster for our party,” said LaSalvia. “Tom Campbell’s candidacy would divide the Republican Party at a time when we need to be united to turn back Barbara Boxer and her Democratic colleagues’ radical left wing agenda on Capitol Hill.”

“WRONG ON TAXES” (:30 Seconds)

Announcer: “Last year liberal “Republican” Dede Scozzafava’s candidacy divided the GOP and cost Republicans a seat in Congress.”

Announcer: “Like Dede liberal Tom Campbell has a voting record far outside the Republican mainstream.”

Announcer: “But there is a difference.”

Announcer: “Even a liberal like Dede was willing to sign the Pledge not to raise taxes. Something Tom Campbell refuses to do.”

Announcer: “In fact, Tom Campbell has proposed increasing taxes on California families.”

Announcer: “Tom Campbell: Wrong on Taxes, Wrong for Republicans, Wrong for California”

Announcer: “GOProud is responsible for the content of this advertising”

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GOProud’s Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia will speak at a forum - “Gay & Conservative?” - sponsored by the Tufts Republicans.  The event will be held on April 22 at 7 pm at Tufts University, Lane Hall room 100.  (Tufts University is located in Medford, MA near Boston.)

Right Pride, GOProud’s Nevada affiliate, has endorsed Candidate for State Assembly Dan Hill.  Hill, an openly gay Republican, is challenging an incumbent Democrat in Nevada’s 29th Assembly District.  Here is the Right Pride news release -

For Immediate Release
April 9, 2010

Right Pride Endorses Dan Hill (R) in Nevada’s 29th Assembly District

Mark Ciavola, President “Unlike his opponent, Hill stands firm against a state income tax and a job-killing corporate income tax, while supporting school choice as a way to fix Nevada’s education crisis. These conservative principles help all Nevadans, including gays and lesbians.”

(Las Vegas, NV) - Today, Right Pride announced their endorsement of Dan Hill for Nevada Assembly in District 29. Right Pride, the Nevada affiliate of GOProud, represents Gay Conservatives, Republicans, Independents and their allies in Nevada. “Dan Hill is the type of Assemblyman we need in Carson City to shake things up,” said Right Pride president, Mark Ciavola.  “Right Pride enthusiastically endorses his candidacy.”

Hill, who is a graduate of Green Valley High School, grew up in the district.  Hill is running a campaign focused on creating jobs, improving education for all Nevadans, and restoring fiscal responsibility to Nevada’s state government.

“Dan Hill understands the problems facing Nevadans,” continued Mark Ciavola. “Unlike his opponent, Hill stands firm against a state income tax and a job-killing corporate income tax, while supporting school choice as a way to fix Nevada’s education crisis. These conservative principles help all Nevadans, including gays and lesbians.”

“I value the endorsement of Right Pride, as an organization that focuses on the rights of the individual,” said Hill. “The foundation of the Republican Party is built on the individual, and freedom and success is now being threatened by an ever-expanding, fiscally irresponsible government.”

Dan Hill, who is openly gay, will challenge the one-term Democratic incumbent in the general election on November 2^nd.

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If you are in the Knoxville area on Tuesday, April 6th at 7:30 pm, make sure to catch GOProud’s Board Chairman Chris Barron’s speech at the University of Tennessee!  Click here for the details.