In a blog post earlier this week, Chris Barron of GOProud took it upon himself to enlighten the rest of us as to why the big, bad, monolithic “Gay Left” is really picking on poor Michele Bachmann (hint: it has nothing to do with the fact that she’s a bigot):

Having followed Congresswoman Bachmann’s career, I am certainly troubled by things she has said and by things she has been purported to have said. However, the attacks on Michele Bachmann and her family by the gay left have absolutely nothing to do with gay rights. In fact, these attacks have little to do with Congresswoman Bachmann or what her [sic] or her husband believes. The truth is that they are nothing more than part and parcel of an orchestrated effort by the left to destroy the Tea Party.

Seriously, Chris?!?

Truth Wins Out’s recent investigation exposed the Minnesota clinic co-owned by Michele and Marcus Bachmann by confirming that it offers morally, spiritually, and scientifically bankrupt “ex-gay therapy.” We went public with the story because it illustrated the depth of Congresswoman Bachmann’s anti-LGBT views. TWO felt that American voters deserved to know that a candidate for the presidency of the United States is intimately tied to an extremist, voodoo “therapy” that not only falsely promises to “pray away the gay,” but also harms people by increasing their chances of depression and suicide.

We didn’t go after the Bachmann clinic because our megalomaniacal liberal overlords bid us do so in an attempt to cripple the Tea Party. TWO is actually a nonpartisan organization; we go after extremists without regard to political affiliation. (Remember Crackpot Kim?) No, destroying the Tea Party had nothing to do with it. We went after Marcus and Michele Bachmann because:

1.) They wrongly believe LGBT people can “pray away the gay”
2.) They make money by falsely promising the same
3.) So-called “ex-gay therapy” is ineffective and harms people
4.) The Bachmann clinic receives state and federal funding despite these dubious practices
5.) Michele Bachmann wants to be President of the United States, and we want voters across America to know more about her archaic and extremist anti-LGBT beliefs.

That’s it, Chris. It has everything to do with LGBT rights and nothing to do with bringing down the Tea Party. Nice try though.

Yesterday, we posted video of the latest “glitter attack,” as a “horde of gay barbarians” went to Marcus Bachmann’s wingnut clinic and, you know, threw glitter everywhere.  This tactic, which is actually just sort of cute, is used to push back against anti-gay wingnuts.  No one who is not homophobic, to date, has been glittered.

Oh, but Chris Barron of GOProud does not like this glittering behavior!  Not one bit!

Chris Barron, leader of the gay tea party-leaning group GOProud, is not amused by the string of glitter attacks LGBT activists have been carrying out over the past few months.

[...]

“No rational person can look at that behavior and think that this is actually good for average gay people,” Barron told the DailyCaller’s Matt Lewis. “All it does is reinforce the worst, most negative, nasty stereotypes about gay people.”

[...]

Barron has publicly praised Herman Cain’s campaign, and has pushed back on claims that the tea party is bigoted. He told Lewis the glitter attacks — which have been carried out on Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann — are a tactic used to cast the tea party as homophobic.

I was not aware that the “worst, most negative, nasty stereotypes about gay people” involved glitter. I guess, for gay wingnuts who value their white male privilege above all else, anything that challenges their chance at passing within conservative circles is taboo.

Noted. Also, Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann are homophobes. Their records show this clearly.

Every time I think that the gay wingnut group GOProud has sunk to the lowest possible level of organized self-loathing, they find a way to strap the cilice on just a little bit tighter.  It is well documented that Michele Bachmann does not like gay people.  She considers her own lesbian family member’s sexuality to be “part of Satan.”  Her husband runs a clinic without a license where he offers reparative therapy practices to any clients already abused enough to put themselves through it.  She has made a large part of her career on opposing gay people and supporting bigoted, hateful policies against us.  So of course, GOProud wants her autograph.

As gay-issue advocacy groups increase pressure on Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann over her views about homosexuality, the gay conservative group GOProud is requesting a meeting with the Republican presidential candidate to possibly lend a hand.

GOProud Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia said that representatives with the organization have already met with some of the GOP candidates to discuss GOProud’s legislative agenda–including a commitment to defeat a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which Bachmann supports–and they hope Bachmann will grant them some face time.

“We have requested a meeting with Michele Bachmann,” LaSalvia told The Ticket. “We’ve made this request, as with the other requests, in good faith.” He said GOProud officials intend to “discuss issues important to gay conservatives” with Bachmann and “anything she wishes to talk about.”

Chris Barron says he’s “concerned” about some of the things Michele has said in the past, but as the article points out, GOProud’s agenda isn’t really about anything resembling civil equality for gays and lesbians. They’re mostly a troupe of disaffected white men who value their white privilege and tax cuts above anything else.  When they cozy up to Mitt Romney or someone like that, it’s annoying.  To cozy up to the most supreme bigot running for the highest office in the land [Rick Perry isn't officially in yet] is gross and more than a little bit sad.

Yes, really, he has a post up wherein he explains to you, the gentle reader, why you hate him.  Look:

The left rarely engages me on policy, which is smart considering they support intellectually and morally bankrupt policies and I support time-tested policies that would actually improve the lives of all Americans – including gays and lesbians. Instead of engaging on policy they rely on personal attacks and name-calling, which is fine, I am a big boy and I can take it.

Eh, uh, no. The left may indeed rarely engage him, personally, on matters of policy, because he is mostly a blow-hard, but not because he has better ideas.

But let’s be honest, the left doesn’t hate me because I am mean or brash or too aggressive – the same label can be applied to many of my critics. No, the left hates me because I have the audacity to stand up to them. They hate me because I am a conservative who happens to be gay. They hate me because I won’t be bullied by them. They hate me because I have dared to wander off the liberal plantation, because I refuse to play the victim card, and because I have rejected their failed big government agenda.

Yeah, that’s it. It can’t be because your entire platform is insane. As for “victim cards,” I hear more whining from wingnuts than I will EVER hear from liberals. Indeed, their entire worldview is built on “stickin’ it to the liberals.” But anyway, now you know why he thinks you hate him. It’s useful to remember that at least 85% of what wingnuts believe involves a massive case of projection.

But in the interest in giving lie to his claim that the left doesn’t engage on matters of policy, here is a long list of liberal sources which spend time every single day engaging on policy, debunking the crap spewed by the Right, and generally informing people far more than any wingnut blog or news organization ever will. As a bonus, they use facts! This is what I like to call the Grown-Up Side of the Internet:

Allison Kilkenny
AlterNet
AMERICAblog
Balloon Juice
Box Turtle Bulletin
Crooks and Liars
Emptywheel
Eschaton
FireDogLake
Gin and Tacos
Glenn Greenwald
Good As You
Hullaballoo [Digby]
Joe.My.God
Lawyers, Guns and Money
No More Mister Nice Blog
Obsidian Wings
Pam’s House Blend
Pandagon
RH Reality Check
Rumproast
Right Wing Watch
Sadly, No!
Salon: Joan Walsh
Talking Points Memo
The Mahablog
The New Civil Rights Movement
The Rude Pundit
Think Progress
Truth Wins Out
Whiskey Fire

Don’t see your favorite source of real, policy-driven analysis and information in that list? Those are my favorites. Suggest yours in the comments!

The GOP field is shaping up to be a disaster of epic proportions. Other than openly gay long shot Fred Karger, the rest of this motley crew is virulently anti-gay, or pretending to be in an effort to kiss up to social conservatives in Iowa and South Carolina. This sorry batch of embarrassing contenders will only degenerate further if Sarah Palin gets into the race — as it seems like she is likely to do.

In terms of the the GOP field, there is no silver lining, no hope, and no pro-LGBT Republican savior. This is the truth and it is reality for those who choose to embrace it.

It is clear that Barack Obama is the obvious choice for the Human Rights Campaign, the LGBT community’s national lobby. Their early endorsement is wise because it sends a strong signal that the community will organizeand mobilize to reelect the most LGBT supportive contender in the race — one with a fairly good record on LGBT rights. While far from perfect, Obama did work to repeal Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell and used his bully pulpit effectively, even making an “It Gets Better” video. Whatever his shortcomings (No ENDA or DOMA repeal etc.) he is light-years ahead of his Republican counterparts.

Anyone who argues otherwise is naive, obtuse, or in denial — which brings us to the pathetic press release put out by homosexual Republican group GOProud:

“Today, the Human Rights Campaign chose to endorse Barack Obama’s re-election even though the field running for President in 2012 isn’t even set yet. This pre-emptive endorsement ends HRC’s charade of bipartisanship.

“LGBT people who are interested in putting policy before partisanship now know that HRC is little more than a puppet of the Democratic National Committee and an organization that has one goal – to elect more Democrats.”

So, the sophistic and shallow storyline put forth by GOProud is essentially that Republicans are willing to support LGBT equality, but have become anti-gay only because they have been snubbed by HRC. They are only throwing anti-gay tantrums and have horrible voting records because they have hurt feelings and are not getting the respect they deserve.

Sadly, there are naive or politically illiterate liberals who are buying this hogwash and questioning the timing of HRC’s endorsement. They foolishly wonder if such a quick endorsement will deplete the leverage of the LGBT lobby.

Um, what leverage?

The hard truth is that the GOP presidential candidates desperately do not want HRC’s endorsement and would see it as the kiss of death. Imagine trying to win the Iowa caucuses as a Republican with a Human Rights Campaign endorsement. It would end one’s chances faster than endorsing universal healthcare!

Another silly argument postulates that in order to be more effective, the LGBT movement has to be truly bipartisan. I agree that we would be so much better off if we had the support of both parties — because it would give us enormous leverage with Democrats who have sometimes taken our money while placing our issues on the back burner.

Unfortunately, true bipartisanship at this moment in time is a pipe dream. The GOP has consciously chosen to embrace fundamentalists as a key part of its base. During the next election cycle they will do nothing to upset this crucial constituency and candidates will pander in any Iowa or South Carolina fundie church that will let them in the door. Anyone who doesn’t understand these obvious political dynamics should not be working in the LGBT movement.

This, of course, doesn’t mean we should stop working to gain the support of Republicans. Indeed, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a marvelous speech in favor of marriage equality at Cooper Union on Thursday. But, let’s be honest and acknowledge that this is the exception and not the rule. Indeed, even as we have seen elite Republicans endorsing equality, we have not witnessed many political leaders in positions of real power or the grassroots change course. I wish I could report otherwise — but the facts do not lie.

This is a critical election. The Republicans already run the House of Representatives and have a good chance of taking over the Senate. Imagine the nightmare of Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney or, God forbid, Michele Bachmann occupying the White House with a Republican Congress?

Please, do not scoff at this horrifying possibility. Any student of history understands that the world is full of examples of unthinkable political outcomes that have caused havoc in the lives of vulnerable minorities. If by some chance unemployment rises another 3-5 points, the electorate will be in a foul mood and may be willing to rock the boat in unfathomable ways.

If Republicans control DC, they will be answering to those that brought them to the big dance — namely the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins and sundry fundamentalist organizations. They would likely pass all kinds of horrendous anti-gay bills — many that would presumably be unconstitutional. Unless, of course, President Palin gets to pick one or two Supreme Court justices who would whiz through the Senate confirmation process.

What about the filibuster? Does any thinking person truly believe it would survive this lawless bunch that has no respect for precedent and history? This legislative option would disappear as fast as LGBT rights.

At times, Truth Wins Out has been harshly critical of the Obama administration. As a nonpartisan group we will continue to hold the president accountable, as we do all elected officials. However, let’s stop the game-playing and pretending that the Republicans have put forth palatable candidates. The entire bigoted batch is a disgrace to this nation and anyone who feigns otherwise should not be taken seriously as a political commentator.

Truth Wins Out does not endorse candidates. But, we think the LGBT community should stop the hand-wringing and childish game-playing and embrace HRC’s bold decision. The more time HRC has to organize and mobilize, the better off our community will be.

Look, I appreciate groups like GOProud to a point, just because watching people like Tony Perkins pull their hair out and have temper tantrums is hilarious, no matter who’s causing it.  But I’ve got to say, it’s really kinda weird to me that these people are so willing to beg for an embrace from people who don’t respect their fundamental dignity as human beings, and no, people who do not support equal rights for gay people do not respect gay people’s fundamental dignity as human beings.  This isn’t 1965.  There is no legitimate excuse for a sentient person to “agree to disagree” on these issues.  You either view us as lesser, or you do not.  Dan Blatt at Gay Wingnut:

That said, as is, [Ben Smith's] word choice suggests that gay Republicans have adopted a confrontational tone with the GOP. That may have been try in Log Cabin’s early years, but today, we’re not so much demanding acceptance as finding a welcome.

Yeah, there still remain social conservatives loath to include us in conservative conclaves, but, by and large, we’ve found a welcome.

And yet, the GOP still can’t run a presidential candidate who doesn’t perform the Stations of the Anti-Gay Cross for the frothing morons who make up their base. Some “welcome.”

Conservatives today are more concerned with the size of government than they are with the private lives of individuals — and pretty much have been for the past forty years, only the media do seem to dwell on the presence of religious conservatives in the movement as if said indviduals define it, rather than represent one aspect of it

Uh, maybe in New Hampshire. Not in Alabama or Georgia or any of the other GOP strongholds.  Oh, and the House GOP is hellbent on defending DOMA right into its grave.  What a hill to die on.

With the first primary debate last night, the GOP, as Matt Taibbi said yesterday, “kick[ed] off the long process of burying their party as a mainstream political force for the next decade or so.”  [Read Taibbi's whole piece, by the way.]  The standard-bearers for the party are, with two exceptions, wingnuts so extreme that they couldn’t appeal to anyone beyond the True Believers if their lives depended on it.  And of course, the exceptions [Pawlenty, Romney], as Taibbi points out, are so painfully boring — and decidedly doubleplusungood when it comes to catering to the wingnuts who will vote in the Republican primaries — that they have little chance of making it out of the primaries, much less having a decent showing in the general election.

In a way, I feel gay conservatives’ pain, because it must be alarming to watch their beloved party go even further into Bachmann-land, but at the same time, since they don’t seem to be asking for dignity or respect, maybe it’s just as well.  I mean, Michele Bachmann’s family watches Glee, right?  As long as she’ll let the gays watch it with her [I mean, they have to sit outside and peer in through the window, of course], and as long as they can shriek the word “diva!” at Ann Coulter, it’s not like they need to be treated like first-class citizens.

It’s kinda funny since it was the geniuses at GOProud who invited Donald Trump to CPAC in the first place, but there you have it: one of the most annoying celebrities in all the world is against marriage equality.  NOM is excited about this, because they have no standards.

And the audio is up, so pop some popcorn and listen. Here’s what Michelangelo had to say about it:

Barron has come on the show several times in he past. My program was among the first media outlets to give his group any attention when it first broke off from the Log Cabin Republicans. We’ve had spirited but respectful discussion, as we disagree on just about everything. He seemed to revel in it, enjoying the back and forth, and certainly was not as angry and defensive as he is in this interview.

Not only did GoProud always come on the show when asked — either Jimmy LaSalvia or Barron would come on — but they reached out to my producer to come on the show at other times when we did not ask and we declined, as it wasn’t the best time or was not about something we were interested in. I say that because Barron outright lied in this interview, claiming that he often doesn’t come on my show (implying I asked and he declined), supposedly because of the way I treat him. That’s when I ended the interview. I’m not going to put up with a liar who had clearly become flustered because he was caught in a contradiction so now was changing the subject.

And more. Click over to The Gist to hear it for yourself.

So much for “conservatives don’t hate us, really!”:

GOProud, the advocacy organization for homosexuals that also portrays itself as “conservative,” reportedly will be left out of the annual summit for conservatives in the United States, the CPAC meetings, next year.

Its inclusion last year and this year by David Keene, the outgoing chief of the American Conservative Union, which sponsors the Conservative Political Action Conference, had prompted a long list of major players in the movement, including the Heritage Foundation, the Media Research Center, Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, to boycott.

That left Al Cardenas, the new chairman, promising just days ago a “comprehensive vetting process on each CPAC participant.”

He said he wanted to make certain that longtime supporters of the conservative movement, such as those at the Heritage Foundation, are brought “back into the fold.”

Now a source has confirmed that a board vote has been taken that will realign plans for those who participate next year to exclude homosexual advocacy, although details had not been released.

[...]

According to a blogger at the FrumForum, Cardenas had warned it was “going to be difficult” to work with GOProud going forward.

He had cited the “behavior and attitude” of the homosexuality advocates, in light of the description by their leader, Chris Barron, of ACU Foundation chairman Cleta Mitchell as “a nasty bigot.”

Barron later apologized, saying he reached his breaking point because of “unfair and untrue attacks” on him, his friends, his organization and others.

“I shouldn’t have used the language that I did to describe Cleta Mitchell,” he said.

Oh hell, it’s probably one of the only completely accurate things Barron has said in the past year, at least about politics.

Now, granted, this is WingNutDaily, and as such should be treated as “unconfirmed reporting,” but there you have it.

[h/t Joe]

So there!  If ever there was an “ex-liberal” pundit I’ve suspected that the Religious Right actually may have created in a secret dungeon, it’s Star Parker.  Because she says things like this:

I became a conservative in church. I thought I was doing okay in my previous life — scamming the welfare system, going to the beach, soaking in my welfare-subsidized hot tub, treating sex as a hobby, and abortion as birth control.

You see, she was one of those “welfare queen” Rush Limbaugh is always talking about, scaring the old white ladies so! And to be fair, Star did have four abortions, so she knows what she’s talking about. [No, she doesn't.] Anyway, she would like to explain why she did not go to CPAC now:

Yes, the reason I declined was the inclusion of GOProud, a group identifying itself as representing “gay conservatives and their allies,” as a sponsor of the event.

[...]

The founder and chairman of GOProud removed any doubt on my part that not participating was the correct decision by dismissing these groups as “losers,” “clowns,” and “not relevant.”

For once, yes, GOProud actually said something to imply that perhaps they are deserving of dignity and shouldn’t be a doormat for the rest of the conservative movement.

I, of course, have been accused of being worse than a clown.

WORSE THAN A CLOWN? There is nothing worse than a clown.

The idea of “gay conservative” is an oxymoron.

“Gay” is everything that “conservative” is not.

[...]

It’s a worldview that is man-centered rather than God-centered. It is a worldview that rejects eternal truths passed on from the beginning of time. Although the worldview that “gay conservatives” choose to invent may diverge from the worldview of liberals, their common ground is they make it all up.

Ah, it’s the old “we’re smart because we believe our interpretation of things in an old faith book, without any corroborating evidence, you’re stupid” approach. It’s adorable because it’s so mindblowingly stupid.

Conservatives believe that there are objective and eternal truths, not of the product of any individual human mind, that are transmitted through the generations.

Like Old Wives’ Tales!

“Gay” is liberal, not conservative, regardless of what their stand may be on government spending or taxes.

Okay, got it.  Gays not conservatives because gays don’t believe in old wives’ tales, and I used to be a welfare queen, so I’m an expert.