Please help spread the word. CPAC meets in only 8 more days on February 10-12, 2011. Please feel free to RT this article on Twitter and/or email to your friends.
If you are a reporter or blogger, feel free to republish as is, or make it your own.
NO COPYRIGHTS RESERVED HERE.
Dear Friends,
Whether you are gay or straight, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, we all know that Chris R Barron bears a responsibility in his claims to leadership in the gay community to treat the entire gay community with the same respect he expects to receive. We also know that if any other public figure were to make the same homophobic comments that he did regarding the gay community that they would be relieved of their post, whether a politician, newscaster, or entertainer.
Chris R Barron needs to know that just because he is gay also, doesn't mean that he is immune from scrutiny and criticism from the gay community for representing us in a bad light, or for insulting us simply for the sake of the controversy and subsequent publicity it generates for himself.
Let's send GOProud to CPAC on February 10, 2011 with a new attitude towards the gay community at large. Don't let them go into that lion's den of anti-gay homophobes thinking they've done nothing wrong, and thinking that the gay community stands behind them, nor will we simply sit back and let them get away with insulting and bullying their fellow gays simply for the sake of Chris R Barron's own personal advancement. If we do, it will only embolden Chris to do so more and more as time goes on. We need to nip it in the bud TODAY!
Please join me in demanding Chris R Barron either publicly apologizes to the gay community for his unfortunate comments on Twitter, or demanding his resignation from the GOProud Board by emailing GOProud Executive Director, Jimmy LaSalvia at jlasalvia@goproud.org
Thank you for standing up for your self respect, as well as that of millions of other gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who make up the gay community, and are fighting, bleeding and dying for our equality.
Here is the email I'm sending. Feel free to simply copy and paste it and send it on:
TO: Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director, GOProud jlsalvia@goproud.org
Dear Jimmy,
It has come to my attention that on January 26, 2011, Chris R Barron, co-founder and fellow Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of GOProud, publicly stated on the social media site, Twitter that "The Gay Left = The American Taliban" and is "one of the most dangerous groups in America."
Chris' offending tweets from Jan 26, 2011 read:
ChrisRBarron The gay left = the American Taliban. Hateful, angry and dumb as shit.
ChrisRBarron Fact: The gay Taliban is one greatest threats facing this country.
I understand Chris R. Barron is gay, but that gives him no right to publicly insult and verbally bully the vast majority of the gay community. By doing so, I believe he has forfeited his credibility and his standing in the gay community as a self proclaimed leader.
I hereby demand he be held accountable for his respresentation (or in this case MISrepresentation) of the gay community, and that he either publicly apologizes on Twitter, or resigns from the GOProud Board immediately.
Bullying and verbally insulting the gay community is unacceptable, even from a public figure like Mr. Barron who claims to be gay, and claims to represent the gay community's interest at CPAC. When we turn on each other, we simply give Conservatives of both parties even more reason to view us with dispersion, disrespect and disregard.
Sincerely,
Brian Anthony Bowen
Member of the Worldwide Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community
Music Producer, "The Gemini Enterprise: Stellar Trance"
Blogger, "The Gemini Gayzette"
Author of upcoming new book, "The Bed Keeper: A Biblical Case FOR Gay Marriage"
briananthonybowen@gmail.com
thegeminienterprise@gmail.com
http://thegement.com/
You seem to be operating under the false pretense that conservatives are overwhelmingly homophobic. I assure you this is not the case. It's a foul lie perpetuated by the media. For example, Ryan Sorba was shouted down by the entire audience for his homophobic rant at CPAC last year and I'm pretty sure that no major media outlet reported that.
ReplyDeleteWhile most straight people, both conservative and liberal, wish to preserve traditional marriage, very few care about what consenting adults, gay or straight, choose to do in their own bedrooms.
I, like Barron, believe that no one should be expected to keep it in the closet but that everyone, gay or straight, should at least have the decency to keep it in the bedroom and that no one, gay or straight, should put their sexuality on public display where children can see it.
Yes, it's just as offensive when straight people do it!
In regards to marriage, the TRUE conservative position is that the government simply shouldn't be involved.
The question shouldn't even be one of sexual orientation but rather to ask why and by what authority the government affords special rights and privileges to anyone for any reason whatsoever! Is it not also grossly unfair to anyone who chooses to remain single? Thus, one can discern that government involvement in the institution of marriage is for the sole purpose of creating division between gays and straights. Divide and conquer!
Those on the left who otherwise scream at the top of their lungs about the seperation of Church and State conveniently ignore the fact that marriage is clearly a religious right and that the very concept of it comes directly from religion.
The right isn't off the hook on the hypocrisy either. One cannot claim to cherish the Constitution yet seek to punish anyone who doesn't choose to shack up with a member of the opposite sex.
Free citizens have every right to create civil contracts (no different than a business deal) which can then, if necessary, be enforced by law which is one of the few proper roles of government.
The bottom line is that there's no logical reason for sexual orientation to even be a political issue in the first place.
I think we have far more important things to worry about like those Islamist animals who are the biggest homophobes on Earth!
Conservatives like Barron who have served this country are the only ones standing in between you and a swift beheading at the behest of Allah!
@dogoncrak
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply, but this has nothing to do with Chris' political views or affiliations. This is about his claim to be a leader in the gay community and using his position to hate on fellow gays in order to blend in more with CPAC attendees, all the while denouncing the groups that have boycotted CPAC because of their presence.
It could be that their refusal to attend has nothing to do with GOProud representing gay conservatives, but that the leadership of GOProud reflects poorly not only on Conservatives (since ALL he seems to talk about is the gay aspect), but also because of how poorly he reflects on the gay community at large.
I just don't want him going into CPAC armed to the teeth with a load of gay bashing language, and if he uses it on gays while they can see him, who's to say he won't do the same at CPAC?
How many gay teens have committed suicide because Democratic gays, lesbians and bisexuals stay in the closet and refuse to be open about their lives on national TV just so they can hold onto power: Senator Barbara Mikulski, Gore and Obama campaign chair Donna Brazille, Governor Jerry Brown, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen will gay Democrats and the gay leftovers stop evading their shame and complicity in this?
I find this blog article somewhat silly.
ReplyDeleteThere have always been gays at conservative groups. The modern libertarian movement was created when people at Young Americans for Freedom smeared and taunted libertarians, Randians etc who favored legalizing pot, gay rights, and ending the VietNam war as "lazy fairies" ("laissez faire"). Given that level of smear tactics one suspects some of them went on to become writers at MSNBC.
GOProud does not represent all gays opposed to the Democratic Party and Obama fascism. There is a libertarian group called OutRight Gays, and another GOP group called Log Cabin Republicans and a group of independents and libertarians who run a website called IndeGayForum(.com). Chris Barron can hate whichever gay hypocrites and Obama cronies he wants to. There are plenty of ass hats among them.
Last year the young Ron Paul supporters (overwhelmingly heterosexual) shouted the antigay speaker Ryan Sorba off the podium at CPAC.
In addition recent polls of tea partiers show that half of them support ending government discrimination against gays. See: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12515
Certainly you didn't expect anything different from a bunch of neocons like Barron. I mean after all, those guys are former Log Cabin repubs and part of the Draft Cheney 2012 crew, lol. When you're ready to evolve beyond the left/right paradigm... you know, the game of keeping the little people distracted and bickering for the benefit of the few at the top... when you're ready to start working on individual liberty instead of collective liberty and what the proper role of government actually is... we'll be here. All these little partisan brush fires are distractions from the big picture. You'll never rid the world of haters, even the obvious, self-loathing ones, but you can begin to understand that morality cannot be legislated, nor should it be, and only invites state-sponsored discrimination. Once you begin to understand the difference between collective rights and individual rights, then you begin to see that issues like DOMA, DADT, Prop 8, etc., etc. should have never even seen the light of day because it is not the proper role of government to decide such things and are patently unconstitutional. It has been through the legislative processes of government that makes way for this exact discrimination to occur. It also sets you up for the "I'm bigoted against bigoted people" mentality.
ReplyDelete“Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual)."
Instead of fighting the "other side", since partisanship does reign the day, the real issue is whether an individual or group of individuals has any *validity* to put your rights up on the auction block of a public or congressional vote. This is the root of government-sponsored and enforced discrimination when we allow this. Haters will still hate, regardless, but as rational, intelligent people, we shouldn't fall for such devisive tricks. Partisan ploys will become transparent when we stop viewing our world in terms of left/right, red/blue, coffee/tea, liberal/conservative, Dem/GOP, us/them. When you can see yourself as a sovereign individual with natural, inherent, inalienable rights (in lieu of collective rights), the goals of man-made arbitrary laws become very lucid and clear.
-JB
NH State Coordinator, Outright Libertarians
outrightusa.org
Hey Everyone, thanks for all your thoughtful comments! I appreciate you taking the time to read the article and take an interest.
ReplyDeleteJust a reminder regarding my own personal beef with GOProud is Chris Barron's use of slurs against the gay community.
So go ahead and share whatever's on your mind even if it doesn't directly relate to Chris' comments....just remember that I'm not taking a Right vs. Left position (at least not here, and at least not at this point).
Thanks again for your interest! I'll be updating the story later on today with another entry regarding the addition of Andrew Breitbart, the reason Chris lashed out in the first place, TV intereviews where Chris demonstrates his own inner conflicts and outward contradictions of his own previous statements, and nuances that have emerged through folks comments on Twitter. (WHEW!)...anyway, I hope you're able to check it out also.
....just getting my thoughts and research together so it probably won't post till after 12:00 CST today.
At the risk of being branded uncivil and incendiary, what Chris said is hardly a "slur." As a victim of the gay gestapo for daring to step off the pink plantation, I can assure you that his comments--while perhaps hyperbolic--aren't exactly untrue.
ReplyDeleteAnd can we please stop pretending that there's any such thing as the "gay community," anymore than there is a "Hispanic community," an "African American community," or any other manufactured grievance factory?