GOProud: We Now Support Marriage

Buzzfeed reporter Chris Geidner has a "major" announcement from GOProud.

After declining to take a position on the issue for years, GOProud, the group for gay conservatives, told BuzzFeed Friday it is coming out in support of same-sex marriage equality. "We support same-sex marriage, civil marriage," GOProud executive director Jimmy LaSalvia said. The move follows a decision by the GOProud board earlier this month to expand the group's mission to include state-level work. It also comes after, LaSalvia noted, the re-election of a president who supports same-sex couples' marriage rights, while some in the Republican Party are urging their party to reassess their position on the issue.

But when marriage equality comes at the hands of "judicial activists" - GOProud is against that.

At the same time, the group is pushing strongly for a state-level, political efforts — not judicial decisions — and LaSalvia warned that "a sweeping decision" in the Supreme Court case challenging California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex couples' marriages "will create a backlash" — including the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment being "brought to the forefront again."

Here's a bit of GOProud's official position.

GOProud believes that stable, loving, committed relationships are the cornerstone of our society and should be protected and encouraged for all couples — including gay and lesbian couples. We believe that the decision about how to best do this is one that should be made at the state level and that these decisions are best made by the people directly or through their elected representatives — not by unelected judges.

Read GOProud's full press release.

RELATED: At the above-mentioned GOProud board meeting, openly heterosexual right-wing columnist Lisa De Pasquale was elected chairperson.

ALSO RELATED:  No word yet on whether GOProud will continue their practice of faking anti-gay hate crimes.