GOProud

• The Pacific Justice Institute is trying to force California to defend Prop 8.
• Richard Land may not support the "Ground Zero Mosque," but he condemns anti-Muslim crimes like arson in Tennessee.
• Glenn Beck has some new website.
• Peter LaBarber really likes Ryan Sorba.
• Joseph Farah really hates GOProud.
• Liberty Counsel wants you to cast a "Vote of No Confidence" in President Obama.
• Jordan Sekulow says people will continue to question President Obama's faith so long as he continues to be a bad Christian.
• Finally, behold Mike Huckabee featuring AshleyMadison.com on his program:

• After initially announcing that a Christian militia would provide protection during the upcoming "Burn a Quran Day," the militia now says it will not participate because "we don't want to be a part of inciting violence and racism anymore."
• Richard Viguerie claims that Sen. John McCain's primary win over J.D. Hayworth is a win for the Tea Party.  Huh?
• Hey Joseph Farah, we get it:  you don't like GOProud.
• Hey Bryan Fischer, we get it: you don't like Muslims.
• Hey Cliff Kincaid, we get it: you don't like gays.
• Finally, Terence Jeffrey is mad at President Obama for recognizing that there are atheists in America, saying it is just making Muslims hate us even more.

• Peter LaBarbera wants Ann Coulter to donate her GOProud fee to some "worthy pro-family organizations." Good luck with that.
• Good news: Rick Joyner has successfully restored Todd Bentley.
• Jennifer Roback Morse explains that "David Blankenhorn didn’t mess up in the Prop 8 Trial."
• Maggie Gallagher says the anti-Prop 8. side wants the appeal thrown out on the issue of standing because "they understand how extreme and weak Walker's ruling actually is, how unable it is to withstand substantive review by higher courts."
• Eugene Delgaudio and Public Advocate are now targeting Augusta State University, which they say is "brainwashing" it students "just as the North Koreans do to their people."

Earlier this year that gay conservative group GOProud set off a controversy by co-sponsoring the annual CPAC conference, much to the dismay of anti-gay Religious Right groups who threatened to boycott the event if GOProud was not dropped. 

In the end, only Liberty Law School dropped out, but controversy has continued to erupt seemingly with every announcement GOProud makes. 

Earlier this summer, Grover Norquist agreed to join the group's board and he immediately came under fire for betraying the conservative movement and the same thing has been happening to Ann Coulter, who agreed to speak at GOProud's Homocon 2010, leading WorldNetDaily to drop her from its own upcoming Taking Back America conference:

Conservative superstar Ann Coulter today was dropped as a keynote speaker for WND's "Taking America Back National Conference" next month because of her plan to address an event titled "HOMOCON" sponsored by the homosexual Republican group GOProud that promotes same-sex marriage and military service for open homosexuals.

Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, said the decision was a gut-wrenching one for his team because of their fondness for Coulter as both a person and writer-speaker.

"Ultimately, as a matter of principle, it would not make sense for us to have Ann speak to a conference about 'taking America back' when she clearly does not recognize that the ideals to be espoused there simply do not include the radical and very 'unconservative' agenda represented by GOProud," said Farah. "The drift of the conservative movement to a brand of materialistic libertarianism is one of the main reasons we planned this conference from the beginning."

...

"Earlier this year, GOProud was permitted to sponsor the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, the biggest event of its kind," said Farah. "This bad decision resulted in consistently conservative groups dropping sponsorship and withdrawing from participation – much to their credit. GOProud is about infiltration of the conservative movement and dividing it from within with twisted and dangerous ideas way out of the mainstream of American public opinion. Ann Coulter is, I'm afraid, validating this effort for money. I support her speaking to people with whom she disagrees on college campuses. That's a good idea. I do it, too. But if you see the way GOProud is exploiting its coup in getting Ann Coulter to speak to its HOMOCON event, you begin to understand what a mistake this is for a conservative icon like Coulter."

So while Coulter is being dropped for supposedly being too "gay friendly" (which is itself hilariously ironic) WND's conference is still stocked with other virulently anti-gay speakers like Robert Knight, Matt Barber, Gary Cass, Molotov Mitchell, and Gary DeMar:

While DeMar insists that homosexuals wouldn't be rounded up and systematically executed under a "reconstructed" government, he does believe that the occasional execution of "sodomites" would serve society well, because "the law that requires the death penalty for homosexual acts effectively drives the perversion of homosexuality underground, back into the closet."

Another "long-term goal," he writes elsewhere, should be "the execution of abortionists and parents who hire them."

...

In 1993, American Vision helped county commissioners in Cobb County, Ga., pass an anti-gay resolution so strongly worded that it sparked a national controversy. Cobb County Commissioner Gordon Wysong spoke at American Vision's annual fundraising banquet the following year, saying of gay people, "We should blame them for every social failure in America."

Oh, and did I mentioned that Rep. Michele Bachmann is also speaking at the conference? 

Earlier this week, Peter LaBarbera called on Ann Coulter to cancel her scheduled speech at GOProud's upcoming HomoCon 2010 because ... well, GOProud is a gay conservative group which means that, by definition, they work "directly against the Republican Party’s pro-family and pro-marriage platform."

Now Rick Scarborough of Vision America is getting in on the action, sending out an email likewise demanding that Coulter withdraw from the event:

She can't appear at a homosexual group's event while disavowing its agenda.

Coulter says she supports the family and disdains elitism. The voters of 30 states have amended their constitutions to prohibit gay "marriage," by an average vote of 67%. GOProud is telling these voters to shut up and obey their judicial masters. By extension, so is Ann Coulter.

Coulter says she's a devout Christian. One of her bestselling books was titled "Godless: The Church of Liberalism." Does she now occupy the front pew?

Ann Coulter has long been one our best and most courageous spokespersons, but she can't have it both ways - She can't hold herself forth as a defender of traditional values while playing footsie with homosexual groups. Does anyone entertain the notion that a spokesperson for the Gay-Lesbian Straight Education Network would be happy to help me raise funds for Vision America knowing my open opposition to their agenda, because we might agree on taxes and fiscal policy? (We don't and I can assure they won't!)

Conservatives should let Coulter know what they think of her support for GOProud and let her know this betrayal to our values is not without cost. If she fails to respond, then I will no longer buy her books and I call you to send her the same message if she speaks at "Homocon 2010."

Interestingly, the email concludes with this:

Please consider joining us at 6:30 p.m. on August 31st in Houston, TX at the Westin Galleria for our annual Heroes of Faith Gala with Governor Mike Huckabee as our keynote speaker. We will also honor him with the National Hero of Faith Award.

You can read more about that gala here, but I just think this provides a good excuse to relive the infamous Huckabee-Coulter debate about whether he is  "pro-gay, pro-sodomy":

So let's see: Coulter is speaking at an event for a gay group while Huckabee is speaking at an event for an anti-gay group that is blasting Coulter for speaking at an event for a gay group ... and yet it is Coulter who accuses Huckabee of not being a real conservative because he is "pro-sodomy"? 

• The ACLJ's Jordan Sekulow is now saying that supporters of the "Ground Zero Mosque" are "terrorists."
• On a semi-related note, Senators McCain, Snowe, and Isakson also oppose construction of the Islamic Center.
• Yesterday, a Juvenile Court Magistrate in Ohio ruled that Rifqa Bary could apply for "special immigrant juvenile status" in an effort to clear up her immigration status as she turns 18.
• Ann Coulter will be headlining GOProud's "Homocon 2010." They apparently have no problem with history of anti-gay attacks.
• Elena Kagan was confirmed yesterday and Larry Klayman is already launching an impeachment campaign against her.
• Kenya voters approved a new Constitution that expanded abortion rights ... so of course they were intimidated and bribed by the Obama Administration.
• Finally, the quote of the day from Jim Garlow, making it clear that his "Prop 8 ruling = bestiality" statement was no fluke:  "If you did this on the basis of equal protection and a person says 'I want to be married to 3 people or 5 people or I want to be married to my dog', what right does he have not to provide 'equal protection'?"

When the news broke that Grover Norquist had agreed to join the board of GOProud, the conservative gay group, the reaction from the Religious Right was disappointment mixed with an attempt to edify Norquist about supposedly radical nature of the group in order to get him to see the error of his ways.

When that didn't work, they tried convincing him that his willingness to work with GOProud was going to undermine his "prestige" and effectiveness as social conservatives wondered if they could trust him.

That didn't work either, so now they have gone into full-attack mode, as Brent Bozell does in his latest commentary:

Comes now the news that fiscal conservative leader Grover Norquist, a man who prides himself on forming grand working coalitions, has joined the board of a group called GOProud, calling the group “an important part of the conservative movement” with a commitment to “core conservative values.”

It’s a gay group. And Norquist thinks social conservatives are going to accept this absolute abandonment?

Traditional marriage and the right of religious people to speak out against homosexuality as a sin are “core conservative values.” Proposition 8 in California – defending the institution of marriage, the only thing the GOP won in 2008 -- was victorious because culturally conservative blacks and Hispanics joined the GOP coalition.

Norquist wants to take the GOP in the exact opposite direction now, full speed ahead, the consequences be damned ... Norquist has declared open war on social conservatives. Note to Chairman Steele: If he succeeds, and they leave the party, the GOP is ruined.

The FRC's Tom McClusky is also going after Norquist as well, openly questioning Norquist's ethics by highlighting, among other things, his ties to Jack Abramoff:

I’ve got to say, many in the conservative movement — especially among social conservatives — saw Grover Norquist’s, the president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), move to join the advisory council of the homosexual advocacy group GOProud as “Grover being Grover.” The phrase meaning that he is well known for his questionable affiliations (from being a middle man for convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, profiting from the oppressed Northern Mariana Islands to partnering with Poker Players Alliance to advocate for legislation that ultimately taxes the Internet) and also for his disdain of social conservative issues like life and marriage (once deriding pro-lifers as “pontificators” and on marriage that he doesn’t “focus on it.”) Yet in this case he is actually going beyond his normal “profit and party before principles” motto.

...

The argument I have heard from Grover’s supporters is that he is willing to work with anyone who fights for lower taxes. However, even here GOProud fails to live up to those standards — unless you define “fighting for lower taxes” to be limited to “fighting for lower taxes for gay families” (as opposed to for everyone). In fact, most of their “conservative” positions are centered and conditional on that the “gay community” gets special carve-outs. They oppose the Death Tax, but according to their own website they oppose it because it “discriminates against gay and lesbian couples for whom there is no marital exemption.” They opposed the health care bill, and again according to their own website, because it “does indeed discriminate against gay families”

Grover of course has every right to associate himself with whomever he wants, but he shouldn’t call himself conservative if he is willing to disregard even ATR principles. By joining GOProud’s board he is not saying “I agree with you 80 percent of the time” but is instead fully embracing their agenda.

Every Wednesday, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist hosts a meeting where a hundred or more right-wing activists gather for an off-the-record strategy session. 

There is no official list of who is in attendance, but it is probably safe to assume that representatives of groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council regularly participate. 

Earlier this week Norquist has signed on with GOProud, the conservative gay group, which has been met with much dismay from Focus on the Family:

I was so disappointed to learn that Grover Norquist, the president of the conservative and influential Americans for Tax Reform, had joined the board of GOProud, a political advocacy group of “gay conservatives and their allies.”

Grover’s move to join the ranks of those who perpetuate the gay agenda, which has in its crosshairs the destruction of marriage, is as dishonoring to the movement he claims, as it is disheartening.

Historically, conservatism has been built on a 3-legged stool of traditional social values, economic conservatism, and a strong national defense. So when Grover said that he “shares GOProud’s commitment to ‘core’ conservative values,” he’s obviously leaving out a key component that many in his cause hold dear ... Grover’s decision to uphold one leg of the conservative stool while simultaneously working to destroy another is not doing his fellow conservatives any favors, and in the end may leave the movement he loves with one less leg to stand on. What’s that saying about a house divided against itself?

And the Family Research Council is equally outraged at the betrayal: 

I was somewhat surprised to see that Americans for Tax Reform's president, Grover Norquist, has decided to join the Advisory Council of the homosexual group GOProud. Grover is usually a masterful Republican strategist and coalition builder -- but in this case, he seems prepared to compromise a unified conservative movement in order to appease a tiny minority of the overall population. GOProud is not a conservative organization that happens to be gay. It's a homosexual organization that's marginally conservative. GOProud's own website explains just how radical its priorities are. This is a group that opposes the death tax and ObamaCare -- not because they aren't sound economic policies -- but because they "discriminate" against "gay families."

And the platform doesn't end there. One of the group's top 10 "principles" is to create "enterprise zones" for homosexuals, despite the fact that the average income for gays and lesbians is higher than most everyone else. At least two other of its "principles" call for the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act. Among their other priorities: allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military and defeating any attempt to protect one-man, one-woman marriage. They even ran ads criticizing President Obama for not doing enough for the homosexual community!

Grover is famous for saying he'll work with anyone who agrees with him "80 percent of the time." But it's been the social issues that he seems willing to sacrifice. His belief that we can have fiscal stability without moral decency is doomed to failure and only drives a deep wedge in a movement that was unified to bring change to Washington this fall.

It is probably safe to assume that next week's Wednesday meeting is going to be a little more tense than normal. 

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• David Weigel: Grover Norquist joins GOProud.
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