GOProud Founder Is Not So Proud Anymore...

I obviously follow politics very closely, as the tone of this blog clearly shows.  I also think its super clear that I'm a liberal.  Every once in a while a story comes up that makes me think...what? and this didn't happen sooner?  One such story, that I picked up from The Young Turks, gave me one of those moments tonight.

Jimmy LaSalvia Co-founded a group called "GOProud", which was to be a safe haven for Gay and Lesbian men and women...who also happened to be Republican.  This happened in 2009.  Its the beginning of 2014, five years later...hows it working?  Apparently, not as well as LaSalvia had intended.

LaSalvia announced that he's officially left GOProud AND the Republican party and is no longer Republican!  Why?  LaSalvia states that he " but I just can't bring myself to carry the Republican label any longer" and that he can not support the "tolerance of bigotry" any longer...just 5 years later after he co-founded GOProud. 

This is not a surprise to me.  Quite frankly I'm surprised he made it as long as he did.  But it looks like LaSalvia finally realized what the larger gay community realized a long time ago about the Republican party.  Guess what everyone...the Republican party hates gays.  They always have.  The proof is in the pudding.  Now you might say that not all of them do, and you may be right... but as a whole you cant tell me that the Republican party accepts us just because GoProud exists.  Thats not how it works!

Dont believe me?  Lets take a quick look at key people from the Republican party that has either gotten into office or tried to get in an office of some kind have said about the people in the gay community.

Sarah Pailin:  believes homosexuality is a perversion that can be “cured” through the power of prayer and most recently she has defended Duck Dynasty.  Back in August 2013, she even recommended that Washington should emulate the Duck Dynasty family!

Mitt Romney:  There's so much to say about Mitt here I just couldn't cover it all.  here's a few glaring problems with Mitts beliefs on Gay rights. First after his term as Massachusetts governor, he changed his views on nondiscrimination laws for gays and lesbians at the federal level, not supporting them at the federal level, but only on the state level.  He later signed the same pledge Michelle Bachman and Rick Perry from the National Organization for Marriage that says he will support a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, defend the Defense Of Marriage act in court and nominate anti-LGBT judges.  When Chris Matthews of MSNBC asked about what Romney thinks the difference between marriage and civil unions is, Romney said, "Well, I would rather have neither, to tell you the truth."  Romney opposes sexual orientation and transgender-inclusive hate crimes laws.  Now he seems to have toned down a bit, claiming he is still opposed to gay marriage, but does support some gay rights, like equal rights in employment.

Rick Santorum: that the GOP must maintain its opposition to marriage equality to avert political suicide.

Ron Paul:  Paul spoke in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996.

Michele Bachmann: Has equated teaching about homosexuality to child abuse, has called it a sexual dysfunction and a disorder

John McCain:  McCain does not support same-sex marriage.  While in the Senate, McCain voted against extending the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation. He campaigned in his home state of Arizona to amend the state's constitution to forbid same sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships.

These are the people that the Republican Party tries to get voted into office.  You know, the offices that vote on important issues such as...whether members of the gay community have the same rights as the rest of the country? Yes there are other issues that they stand for that are just as dangerous, but dont pertain to this subject, granted, but these are strong issues that the GOP support and obviously go out of their way to attack. They are voted in by the voters of the party...which means which means that non politician members of the republican party support those same values.

These kinds of things make me wonder, why do people within the gay community, small group as it is, continue to align themselves with a party?  Jimmy LaSalvia finally got it.  The GOP hates the gay community!  They dont like you!  They would be happier if you didn't exist at all.  Being fiscally conservative is fine, but why give yourself the same label as a people that consider you to be sub-human, and abomination, sick and not worthy of equal rights?  The GOP doesnt want something like GOProud around...they just dont want the gay community to exist at all.  They would love the country to be set back 50+ years where gay rights are concerned, and return to the time where being gay was indeed a crime and one you could be imprisoned for.  Good luck with that.

Origional story by The Young Turks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPfzlolPdfc