On The End Of GOProud

Tim Mak writes at the Daily Beast:

Reports began trickling out in the press this week that GOProud had decided to close up shop. In truth, the original organization functionally folded a year ago, The Daily Beast has learned. And the attempts to reboot GOProud are being actively mocked by the men who founded the group. The decline of GOProud is a prime example of what happens to an organization that rises to prominence through confrontation—and never bothers to do the grunt work needed to sustain the outfit, once the outrage dies down. It was feisty and controversial—a Tea Party, of sorts, to the more establishment-minded Log Cabin Republicans. It was an organization running on a shoestring budget that elbowed its way into the conservative conversation. [snip] For many supporters of GOProud, being called a “troll” was a badge of honor. Their goal from the start was to plant a flag in the ground: There are gay conservatives, and here we are. Others, even those sympathetic to the group, accused it of being a vanity project for its cofounders, Christopher Barron and Jimmy LaSalvia, a platform for the two to pick fights.

Nailed it. Read the full piece. (Tipped by JMG reader Robin)

Homocon Cat Fight

Barron resigned from GOProud last week after the group was allowed to return to CPAC after two years of being banned. If anybody here has the above-cited email, please forward it to me.

UPDATE: Here's the email.

Dear Friends, On Tuesday GOProud sent out a statement encouraging Governor Jan Brewer to veto Arizona Senate Bill 1062, which would have legalized the discrimination of gay individuals. Today, we are proud to share with you the news that the Governor Brewer has vetoed that legislation. It is because of supporters like you that the message of freedom is reaching conservative leaders all across America. Governor Brewer's decision reinforced the voices of several influential Republicans like Senator John McCain, Senator Jeff Flake, Governor Mitt Romney, Governor Rick Scott, and Speaker Newt Gingrich, who all spoke out against SB 1062, just like we did. This is no small victory. GOProud's mission is one that is being characterized by many of our Party leaders. Together, we are entering a modern Republican era, where the principles of conservatism are celebrated by all Americans. Please take this opportunity to extend your congratulations to our friends in Arizona, express your gratitude for the courage and conviction of leaders like Governor Jan Brewer, and continue supporting the important work we do here at GOProud.

Chris Barron Resigns From GOProud

GOProud founder Chris Barron is furious about the deal in which CPAC has invited the group back to attend this year after two years of being banned. Last night he resigned from GOProud's board of directors. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

“Last night I resigned from the Board of GOProud, the organization that I co-founded back in April of 2009. I cannot in good conscience sit by and watch as the current leadership of the organization disingenuously pawns off an unconditional surrender to the forces of bigotry as some sort of ‘compromise,’” Barron told BuzzFeed. “Nothing has changed in regards to GOProud and CPAC, GOProud does not have a booth, they are not a sponsor, they are not participating in any formal sense – individual members can attend and that’s exactly the terms ACU dictated the previous few years.” In fact, the National Journal states as much, noting, “Two former GOProud summer interns, Ross Hemminger and Matt Bechstein, took over last summer and sought to repair the bitterly frayed relationship. Under a compromise reached last week, they will attend the March 6-8 gathering as guests, without sponsorship or a booth.”

In 2011 Barron stepped down as GOProud president. Last month GOProud co-founder Jimmy LaSalvia left the Republican Party entirely.

Teabagistan Vs GOProud

"Jimmy LaSalvia of or formerly of GOProud is on Facebook letting everyone know Ken Cuccinelli is the 2013 equivalent of David Duke. Because two dudes not being able to buy a china pattern together is the same as not being able to vote, being forced to use separate bathrooms, and being attacked by fire hoses and dogs in the streets. His GOProud partner, Chris Barron went on twitter to declare he voted in Virginia for the Democrat, Terry McAuliffe. When I have pointed out before that GOProud really isn’t a part of the Republican coalition, I was met with calls of homophobia. But they have never been a part of the coalition. It’s worth remembering that today the founders of GOProud equate a small government conservative to a Grand Dragon of the KKK because his Christian faith is, in their mind, equivalent to the Klan. It’s also worth pointing out that folks affiliated with this group have routinely assailed conservatives for their purity tests — conservatives who routinely vote in the general election for the Republican; an action they themselves won’t do." - Erick Erickson, writing for Red State.

GOProud Leaders Step Down

Co-founders Jimmy LaSalvia and Chris Barron are stepping down as the leaders of GOProud, but claim that the homocon group will go on and thrive without them at the helm.  Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

"It's time. We don't want it to get stale," LaSalvia said, who along with Barron founded GOProud four years ago as a more conservative, grassroots alternative to the Log Cabin Republicans. "The reason why GOProud has been so successful is because we have brought new ideas and new energy to the arena. At some point, what was the outside-the-box thinking all of the sudden becomes the box, and so now, that's the way that GOProud does things. It's our box. It seems crazy to everyone else, but, for us, it's like standard operating procedure. It's time for someone else to come in and shake things up," Barron added.

Both are remaining on GOProud's board of directors. The group is seeking a new executive director. I'm betting that without the regular news-making asshattery from LaSalvia and Barron, GOProud will just fade away. Another upside: fewer faked hate crimes.

MSNBC Host Chris Hayes: I Won't Attend CPAC If Ban On GOProud Stands

"I wrote to [CPAC head] Al Cardenas who runs the ACU in a letter yesterday and asked whether the policy [not allowing GOProud to participate] is still in effect. If it isn't, I told him, I'm psyched to go and if it is, well, I'll wait until it changes, which is, really, just a matter of time.

"Now I should be clear, GOProud is not an organization I share much with ideologically, or even, truth be told, like all that much. They come out of the [Andrew] Breitbart wing of the conservative movement that seems to relish nothing more than pissing off liberals.

"GOProud is not really the point. The point is the principle, which is: it's not OK to ban organizations for reasons of pure bigotry. But the ACU does this because there's a powerful constituency within conservatism that won't have it any other way. It may not even be a majority of conservatives at this point, as a number of conservatives have said to me, but the bigots have enough juice that they call the shots." - MSNBC host Chris Hayes, saying he'll turn down his CPAC invite if the ban on GOProud stands. (Via Chris Geidner)

GOProud Haz The Fake Outrage

Shortly after Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner reported this morning on GOProud's feeble half-change of heart on same-sex marriage, another Buzzfeed staffer fired out the above tweets, which he almost immediately deleted. But that wasn't good enough for Chris Barron and Jimmy LaSalvia, who spent the day angrily forwarding screenshots to everybody in Teabagistan.  The "story" has already been picked up by Daily Caller, Instapundit, Pajamas Media, and Michelle Malkin's Twitchy.  What a terrible, horrible outrage that somebody said something nasty to GOProud on the Twitters!11!!

Come with me into the time machine:

There are dozens of more examples, of course.

GOProud Capitalizes On Labor Woes By Raising Money On Twinkies Demise

GOProud today sent out a fundraising letter blaming those communist unions for the demise of Hostess Brands and offering to send donors a Twinkie in return for a $50 contribution. Chris Geidner has the text:

You know that our staff at GOProud works every day free market principles and freedom for everyone. You may not know about our special emergency response squad. This morning when the news broke, they sprung into action and secured a supply of the coveted snack cakes. We now have a stash of Twinkies in the GOProud vault. You have a chance to take advantage of our quick response to this crisis. We will share our limited supply of Hostess Twinkies with GOProud donors who contribute at least $50 between now and the end of November.

And for an EXTRA $50, Jimmy LaSalvia will personally train you on how to fake an anti-gay hate crime!

UPDATE: As for GOProud's tired and predictable claim about unions, the management of Hostess Brands sure isn't suffering.

BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises. One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256.

GOProud's Chris Barron: We Haven't Reversed On Same-Sex Marriage

GOProud head Jimmy LaSalvia spent the post-election week telling anybody that would listen that it's now time for the GOP to support same-sex marriage. Today co-founder Chris Barron went off on those needling him about the issue by saying that GOProud has always believed that marriage should be a state issue. Which is exactly why they endorsed the man who wanted to take that decision out of the states' hands and install a federal ban in the U.S. Constitution. Homocon logic, as baffling as ever.

Yet Another Faked Homocon "Hate Crime"

Last week the wingnut blogosphere exploded on the claims of a gay Wisconsin GOP campaign worker who claimed that he'd been brutally beaten for being a gay conservative.  From the right wing Daily Caller:

Kyle Wood, a full-time volunteer working for GOP House candidate Chad Lee, was hospitalized for injuries suffered during what he said was an assault at his home.  Wood told The Daily Caller that vandalism preceding the assault, along with his attacker’s statements during the incident, suggested his sexual orientation and his politics each played a role. “I was getting ready for work and there was a knock at the door,” Wood emailed The Daily Caller late Wednesday. “I opened it, and a guy wrapped a ligature around my neck, slammed my head into the doorway, and smashed my face into a mirror, telling me ‘You should have kept your [f*******] mouth shut.’”

“He then kidney-punched me, while at the same time saying I was ‘warned,’ and continued to beat me,” he added. Wood said his attacker’s reference to a warning likely pointed to graffiti he found painted on his car last week. The vandalism included the phrases “house trained republican faggot,” “traitor,” and “ur like a jew 4 hitler.” Those slurs, he explained, were references to him being a gay Republican working to help Lee, a straight GOP candidate, defeat the openly gay Democrat Mark Pocan.  After he discovered the graffiti, Wood wrote an open letter on Facebook to the unknown vandal. “If you understand either freedom or me at all,” he wrote, “you would that this will only make me work harder. … You can think whatever you like about me, but I will not be bullied into voting for a gay man simply because I am gay.”

There were so many holes in Wood's story, not the least of which were the "injuries" that were clearly inconsistent with his claims, that most LGBT news sites, including this one, did not report the story.  My "silence" on the "attack" spurred GOProud president Jimmy LaSalvia to taunt me on Twitter, ultimately telling me to "rot in hell" for my disbelief.

Today came the inevitable truth.

Kyle Wood, a campaign worker for the Republican congressional candidate Chad Lee, today recanted his statements about being assaulted and choked at his home on Oct. 24, according to Madison police. The department updated its incident report late Monday afternoon after Wood met with detectives. Captain Joe Balles, commander of the South District, confirms that Wood recanted his allegations of the beating. Although he would not go into detail about the case, Balles said, "I updated that press release because I felt it was imperative we get something out there because of the politically charged background this was happening in." He said that the department will do its "due diligence" and discuss with the district attorney's office whether any charges will be filed against Wood. "We're in the victims business," he says. "We really need victims to come forward. We don't take matters like this lightly." Earlier Monday afternoon, a spokesman for Rep. Mark Pocan and an attorney representing his partner, Philip Frank, said they were considering suing for libel over claims that Frank threatened Wood. Pocan is running against Lee for the 2nd Congressional District seat being vacated by Tammy Baldwin, who is running for U.S. Senate.

This latest bit of outrageous homocon fakery makes claims of being pushed off a bike or having a brick thrown through a window pale in repulsive comparison.  THIS time, the husband of a U.S. House candidate was smeared. Kyle Wood will surely get what is coming to him. But the worst part of his despicable crime is that now our enemies have yet another reason to suspect all future anti-gay violence.

Haters React To VP Debate

GOProud Vs Dan Savage

GOProud's Chris Barron: I Should Go Find Commentator David Corn & Punch Him

David Corn regularly appears on MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR. We'll have to remind those networks of this the next time they book Chris Barron.

GOProud Endorses Baldwin Opponent

The Advocate reports that GOProud has endorsed the GOP opponent of Rep. Tammy Baldwin for the U.S. Senate.

"Tommy Thompson is a common-sense conservative who will focus on creating jobs and growing the economy for all Wisconsin,” said GOProud executive director Jimmy LaSalvia in a statement. “Governor Thompson’s experience and leadership uniquely qualify him to serve in the U.S. Senate.” Thompson, a four-term former governor and Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush, won a hotly contested, four-way primary last week. His win marked a break in this year’s trend of tea party upsets over establishment Republican figures, and arguably delivered the toughest general election challenger to Baldwin. GOProud backed a tea party favorite, former WWE chief executive Linda McMahon, in her victory in the Connecticut Senate primary last week.

Thompson opposes marriage equality and supports DOMA. Advocate reporter Julie Bolcer adds this quote from GOProud cofounder Chris Barron:

"Tammy Baldwin will be a Senator of the special interests, the D.C. insiders, and the most liberal activists. Tommy Thompson will be a Senator for the people of Wisconsin. The voters of Wisconsin need to ask themselves whether or not they want to send a woman to the Senate who has a voting record to the left of Nancy Pelosi. Tammy Baldwin has been a rubber stamp for the disastrous big government policies of the far left.”

UPDATE: Towleroad points out this Think Progress clip in which Thompson declares that it should be legal to fire somebody for being gay.

Homocon Tweet Of The Day

Savage Slammed For GOProud Tweet

The right wing has renewed their attack on Dan Savage after he called GOProud "house faggots" following their endorsement of Mitt Romney. Last night Bryan Fischer gleefully tweeted the link to this Breitbart.com post:

Two gay slurs in one Tweet. The gay left must be proud of their self-appointed spokesman. So must the Obama Administration, which has labeled this massive bully a hero of the anti-bullying movement, invited him to the White House, and cut videos on behalf of his It Gets Better Project. There's no worse form of anti-gay bullying than to use slurs like the one Savage did here. Will the White House continue to back their man?

GOProud co-founder Chris Barron responded on his personal blog: "Apparently, faggot is an entirely appropriate slur as long as Dan Savage is slinging it and gay people who you don’t agree with are on the receiving end. It gets better my ass."

GOProud Endorses Mitt Romney

GOProud has endorsed the man who signed a hate group's pledge to destroy gay families via the federal constitution.

“Not only does President Obama not understand how the free markets work – he is openly hostile to free market capitalism,” said LaSalvia. “President Obama’s repeated attacks on Governor Romney’s private sector record underscore this President’s fundamental lack of understanding of how our economy works. Instead of demonizing free markets, President Obama should be focused on creating an economic environment that encourages free market investments and creates jobs.” “It is clear that the ‘hope and change’ of candidate Obama in 2008, has been replaced with ‘jealousy and envy,’” said LaSalvia. “Obama’s divisive attacks appeal to the absolute worst in Americans.” GOProud is the first and only organization representing gay Americans to endorse Governor Romney’s Presidential bid. “The truth is that this election is too important to wait or to sit on the sidelines,” continued LaSalvia. “We plan on spending every day between now and November working to make Obama a one term President.”

The above-linked press release notes that GOProud co-founder Chris Barron dissented from the endorsement. Barron is backing Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.

GOProud Vs Meghan McCain

"Meghan McCain should be absolutely ashamed of herself. She went on a liberal network with a liberal host and demonized Andrew Breitbart. During his life, Andrew Breitbart did more for gay people, and showed more political courage on behalf of gay people, than Meghan McCain could ever dream of. Meghan McCain has made quite the career for herself picking fights with high profile conservatives and then going on liberal outlets to trash them. She picked a fight this time with a man who isn’t even alive to defend himself. As usual, however, this is a fight Meghan McCain has lost." - GOProud's Chris Barron, this time attacking Meghan McCain via press release, rather than his usual "She's FAT" messages on Twitter.

UPDATE: This is what has Barron so bent out of shape.

Signorile On Gays Who Diss Lesbians

"Like the classic case of the bully who picks on people because he's afraid, deep down, that he is the one who actually is weak, it appears that these guys beat up others in the community to divert attention from themselves and to show that they're down with everyone else who's doing the bashing. In the case of [Richard] Grenell, it's particularly interesting because if you watch a video of him being interviewed you'll see he is not exactly the standard of masculinity. And that's totally fine -- few men are, gay or straight. But for him to then criticize a lesbian for not meeting a standard of femininity does reveal a certain 'lady doth protest too much' quality.

"We've seen similar kinds of tweets about Maddow from Chris Barron, one of the founders of the conservative gay group, GOProud, who once mocked her for looking like a 'dude.' He's also tweeted that Barney Frank is 'catty,' has a 'purse' and wants to 'sit in Scott Brown's lap.' Curiously, Barron also obsessively tweets about his gym workouts and tweets many photos of his worked-out abs, in what seems like a desperate exercise in overcompensation, as if to say, 'See, I really am a real man, really!'" - Michelangelo Signorile, writing for Huffington Post.

Homocons Rush To Back Richard Grenell

After American Family Association douchebag Bryan Fischer slammed Mitt Romney for hiring homocon Richard Grenell, the quislings at GOProud rushed out statements backing the new GOP mouthpiece.

"Ric Grennell is the best person for the job. That's why Governor Romney hired him. Throughout his entire career, Mitt Romney has brought together top talent to tackle the tasks at hand. All Americans should want the best people helping to elect him to take on the job of bringing America back," Jimmy LaSalvia, the executive director of the group GOProud, told BuzzFeed. "It's too bad that Mr. Fischer doesn't agree." Others sought to use the moment to cast Fischer beyond the pale. "So to be clear - Fischer believes that gay people shouldn't be hired by the Romney campaign at all," said GOProud co-founder Chris Barron. "Shows what am unreconstructed bigot he really is. It's never been about protecting marriage for bigots like Fischer and he continues to expose what a charade his 'marriage' and 'family' talk has been all along."

Only on the job for a few days, Grenell has already been criticized by both parties for his tweets attacking the appearances of Callista Gingrich and Rachel Maddow, the latter of whom he said needed to "put on a necklace" because she's a "dead ringer" for Justin Bieber. As you'll see from the interview below, Grenell's own gender expression is just on the butch side of Ladybird Bachmann.


UPDATE: Huffington Post writer Michael Calderone today posts a lengthy dissection of Grenell's notorious history with the press. An excerpt was quoted from the Village Voice:

Press handlers are expected to be control freaks. But several sources in the UN press corps who spoke on condition of anonymity describe the U.S. spokesperson as "rude," "arrogant," and a "bully," neither popular nor a particularly good source. "He's unbearable," says one journalist. "Very pushy and very demanding," says another. Grenell is said to complain incessantly, hectoring correspondents and their bosses and trying to "mold" wire stories to fit his message. He yells at anyone whose slant doesn't follow his, says one source. "He yells at people whenever he is uncomfortable, particularly foreigners," says another.