The New York Times Opinionator Blog linked to GOProud’s statement on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN this week.  Our friends at GayPatriot also got some good coverage.  Here’s what they had to say -

Jimmy LaSalvia, the director of the gay conservative group GOProud, had a pointed observation: “Netanyahu spoke eloquently and with powerful moral clarity about the threat posed to the civilized world by radical Islam. All across the Muslim world, gays and lesbians, along with women and religious minorities, are denied basic civil rights. Indeed, the penalty for simply being gay in Muslim countries like Iran is death.”

This led B. Daniel Blatt at GayPatriot to make some comparisons with President Obama:

We have often wondered why so many on the gay left salivate over Barack Obama when there is little evidence of his eagerness to address issues of concern to gay people–or even their leaders …

They herald him as a hero, even though he has yet to champion our interests. While our fellows suffer under the tyranny of Islamofascism, he refuses to address that suffering in his celebrate speech to the Muslim world. Nor did his mention oppression of gays in his Wednesday speech to the United Nations. I guess it was more important not to ruffle any feathers of those dictators and oligarchs who might misunderstand us.

When, however, a politically incorrect world leader of a politically incorrect country mounts the rostrum of the United Nations and addresses the plight of the gays in Iran, it seems only the conservative gays take note.

Read the entire post here.

GOProud was proud to be a participating organization in the Stand for Freedom in Iran Rally yesterday.  Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was one of the speakers.  When speaking about the regime in Iran he said, “It stands against the rights of women. It stands against the rights of gays.”  Watch the speech here -

The Advocate has a story about GOProud’s opposition to government-run healthcare.  Read the article here.

For immediate release

September 24, 2009

GOProud Praises Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Speech at the United Nations

Statement of Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly.  In his speech, Netanyahu criticized radical Islam for its treatment of women, gays and other minorities.  In response, Jimmy LaSavlia, Executive Director of GOProud, issued the following statement:

“Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke eloquently and with powerful moral clarity about the threat posed to the civilized world by radical Islam.  All across the Muslim world, gays and lesbians, along with women and religious minorities, are denied basic civil rights.  Indeed, the penalty for simply being gay in Muslim countries like Iran is death.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is absolutely right when he says that this is not a clash of civilizations but a clash between civilization and barbarism.

“Netanyahu’s speech today stands in stark contrast to the speech our own President delivered to the Muslim world in June.  Unlike the Israeli Prime Minister, President Obama failed to even mention the treatment of gays and lesbians in his speech in Egypt.

“If the United States is to maintain its position of moral leadership in the world, then it should join with Israel in making it clear that basic human rights for all should be respected.”

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**UPDATE** Welcome New York Times Opinionator readers!  For more information about us, please visit our website www.goproud.org

Here is the beginning Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly today.   It’s truly an incredible speech.  He even talks about terrorists treatment of “women, minorities, and gays.” We’ll watch for the entire speech to be posted and will post it here.

Here’s a news release from Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) -

For IMMEDIATE Release

Ros-Lehtinen Criticizes Anti-Gay Remarks by Libyan President of the UN General Assembly

Calls on Congress to cut funding to UN Agencies, pass Reform bill

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, commented today on recent remarks by Ali Abdessalam Treki, the new president of the United Nations General Assembly and former foreign minister of Libya, in favor of the criminalization of homosexual behavior.  Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

• “The anti-gay bigotry spewed by this Qaddafi shill demonstrates once again that the UN has been hijacked by advocates of hate and intolerance.

  “Likewise, the leadership of the UN Development Program is held by the Iranian regime, which denies the presence of gays in Iran even as it murders them and other innocent citizens.

  “We must ensure that billions annually in U.S. taxpayer dollars no longer foot the bill for the UN’s anti-freedom agenda without significant reform.

  “Congress must demand better by enacting pending legislation that would leverage our contributions to the UN to produce sweeping, meaningful reform of that body.”

Note: Ros-Lehtinen is the author of the United Nations Transparency, Accountability and Reform Act (H.R. 557), which seeks to combat anti-freedom bias within the UN.  This bill enjoys the support of almost 100 cosponsors.

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Chris Johnson, from the Washington Blade, wrote this story about GOProud’s affiliate in South Florida, Sunshine Republicans.  It was posted on the Blade’s site today.  Here is part of it -

Benjamin Lewis, the Sunshine Republicans president, said he was interested in affiliating with GOProud because the group had a broader agenda than pursuing LGBT rights.

“We felt that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ [and the Defense of Marriage Act] both are bills that need to be overturned,” he said. “However, we feel that we also need to be looking out not only for the GLBT issues, but we also need to looking out to health care reform, tax reform, something that affects everybody in our country.”

Read the whole article here.

The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack has this interesting post on the anti-gay record of Virginia’s Democratic candidate for governor Creigh Deeds.  Just take a look at this 1999 campaign flyer, “NO SPECIAL RIGHTS FOR GAYS”

Sunshine Republicans – GOProud will Represent Gay Conservatives and their Straight Allies in South Florida

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, GOProud, the nation’s only organization representing gay conservatives and their allies, announced the formation of its first local affiliate. Sunshine Republicans – GOProud launches this week in south Florida. “We are thrilled to welcome our first affiliate to the GOProud family,” said Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director of GOProud.

The Sunshine Republicans – GOProud will launch in Fort Lauderdale on Friday evening. According to Benjamin Lewis, President of Sunshine Republicans – GOProud, “A small group of dedicated conservatives banded together in a living room to build the Sunshine Republicans from the ground up because we believe in championing GLBT issues from inside the Republican Party.”

Lewis goes on to note that they “founded the Sunshine Republicans to fight for old fashioned American liberty and exceptionalism in harmony with fair and equal treatment for all Americans.”

For more information on the Sunshine Republicans – GOProud, visit their website at www.sunshinerepublicans.org.

Americans for Tax Reform has come up with a clever game to play this evening while you watch President Obama’s healthcare speech.  Click here to play Obama Healthcare Bingo!