Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Worldnutdaily founder Joseph Farah's little hissy fit over Ann Coulter giving a speech to a gay Republican group has grown into a full blown temper tantrum.
The Republicans and "conservatives" are now lining up to support GOProud's "Homocon" event in New York next month - now that Ann Coulter has accepted the keynote speaker role.Venture capitalist, libertarian and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel will host a Homocon party at his home in New York.
Sponsors for the Homocon event now include:
* Conservative Political Action Conference director Lisa DePasquale;
* Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who sits on GOProud's board;
* John Hawkins of Right Wing News;
* Fox News contributor Margaret Hoover;
* Craig Engle, former general counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.Suffice it to say, I told you so.
Except that this didn't have anything to do with Coulter. Hawkins announced he was sponsoring the event more than two week ago. And Grover Norquist is on the group's board, as he noted. And CPAC already allowed GOProud to be a sponsor of their event.
Here's my favorite part:
Where are the other high-profile conservatives and Republicans who recognize what's happening here?Am I the only one willing to stand up for marriage as an institution of one man and one woman?
Am I the only one willing to stand up for a U.S. military unencumbered by perverse social experiments?
No Joe, you're not the only one. There are lots of people just like you. They're just aren't as many as there used to be, not by a longshot. And the numbers are dwindling every day. In another 20 years, you and the last few diehard bigots are going to be laughed at just like we do the racists of the past.
I especially like this part:
Am I the only one willing to stand up for liberty as a gift of God?
Another irony meter bites the dust.
Politics
Comments
As entertaining as Farah's rant is, I was reading something other day which talked about this and about some fundraiser Ken Mehlman (now out) was hosting that's drawn another large group of high profile GOP people, and suggested this may be the start of a bit of a sea change in at least "the elite" portion of the Republican party regarding these issues.
Although Farah's tantrum leads me to believe there's still quite a bit of fight left and it might be another internal wedge in the GOP.
Posted by: Ben P | September 1, 2010 11:17 AM
But Farah's never really been part of the GOP. He typically supports Constitution Party candidates or even worse wingnuts and has consistently railed against Bush and other GOP politicians for not being extreme enough. He is also ticked off at the various Tea Party groups for only focusing on fiscal issues. He considers social and fiscal issues directly tied together.
However - there is an obvious change within the GOP with regards to certain social issues.
Posted by: tim | September 1, 2010 11:26 AM
However - there is an obvious change within the GOP with regards to certain social issues.
About damn time.
Posted by: Thomas Joseph | September 1, 2010 11:33 AM
So all these republicans are finally comming out?
Posted by: Childog | September 1, 2010 11:33 AM
Are they "putting their log in the cabin?" so to speak.
Sorry, I couldn't help it.
Posted by: Childog | September 1, 2010 11:34 AM
In another 20 years, you and the last few diehard bigots are going to be laughed at just like we do the racists of the past.
My guess is that 20 years from now he and many of the other bigots will have done exactly as many racists did, and performed a psychological revisionism where in their own view, they will have always supported equal rights for gays. Save his tirades, and 20 year from now I'm sure he'll be happy to explain to you how you merely misinterpreted what he was saying to be against gay marriage, when he actually wasn't. The human capacity for self-deception is quite amazing.
Posted by: eric | September 1, 2010 11:35 AM
If there is one thing that bugs me most about liberals [1], it's their unquestioning assumption that history is an arrow like entropy: always pointing their way globally, even if there are temporary local setbacks.
I'm not so sanguine. Look around today and you see that the primary direction of "progress" in the USA and much of the developed world over the past forty years has been towards more tribalism, theocracy, and feudalism. If we're truly so committed to facing facts vs. fantasies (atheists, anyone?) maybe it's time to question the assumption that the children growing up today will be less prejudiced towards LGBT, different melanin groups, different ethnic origins, different religions, etc.
If the last forty years have been that way, you ain't seen nothin' until the USA faces the stresses of the next forty, what with global competition, resource depletion, climate change, unemployment, collapse of Empire, etc.
Maybe it's time to recognize the research in social psychology which tells us that RWA personalities are at least partly a consequence of broad social conditions (notably including fear while growing up) but can also be cultivated by specific upbringing -- and the culture of today's Right might as well be designed to produce them. As are the cultures of most cohesive minorities. Among the minorities, the pressure from the majority bigots enhances the polarization. Think the Balkans.
I know far, far too many young bigots as it is, and it's not at all clear to me that they're a fading breed.
[1] Broadly defined, as in "liberty" as well as political Left
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | September 1, 2010 11:36 AM
It makes this lesbian happy to see the discord.
Looks like the Homosexual Agenda© Wedge Strategy®
is beginning to work!
Go homos go!
Posted by: Janice in Toronto | September 1, 2010 11:39 AM
tim "However - there is an obvious change within the GOP with regards to certain social issues."
Not really. Moving the emphasis from "gays" to "Mexicans" and "Muslims" isn't much of a change. "Them" is still "them".
Posted by: Modusoperandi | September 1, 2010 11:40 AM
D.C., I think it's pretty obvious that things will be better for the LGBT community in another 20 years. In the last 20 years gay marriage went from unthinkable (supported by
Posted by: penn | September 1, 2010 12:06 PM
Sure, just like reproductive freedom has become more accepted since 1973.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | September 1, 2010 12:11 PM
"However - there is an obvious change within the GOP with regards to certain social issues."
Don't fall for it. They'll turn on the gays as soon as it becomes politically advantageous.
This year they've got Obama, Muslims and Mexicans to scare the masses into the voting booths, so they're putting on a facade of being gay-friendly in order to get some more money.
Posted by: Jon H | September 1, 2010 12:22 PM
Or, to put it another way, the name "Homocon" is pretty honest about what they're doing.
Posted by: Jon H | September 1, 2010 12:26 PM
DC,
Reproductive freedom is under attack partly because the main recipients are from that inferior gender.
LGBT rights affect both genders. As more and more conservatives are brought face to face with the reality of otherwise upstanding conservative colleagues being gay, they will be less able to rally the anti-gay message. Opposition will shrink to the fundies on the far right.
I must say though that the outing of a number of gay religiotards has not softened that side of the right wing loonisphere. Here's hoping. And marching.
Posted by: MikeMa | September 1, 2010 12:27 PM
The Ruling Class has always held different standards for itself than those it promotes to the masses. If one of them becomes an embarrassment, it's just a matter of stepping out of the public eye and carrying on as though nothing had happened.
When the times call for a scapegoat, there are always plenty to be found. Please don't forget that in the late 19th century, Germany attracted Jews from around the world thanks to its enlightened attitudes -- better, far, than most European countries. For the Sephardim, the Muslim countries had for centuries been models of tolerance compared to the Christian ones.
Times change, and only fools assume that history is biased in their favor.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | September 1, 2010 12:59 PM
> Am I the only one willing to stand up for marriage as an institution of one man and one woman?
A more interesting question might be are there any still doing it that most people have heard of?
There may well be a hard-core minority of bigots but there voice is getting too quiet to hear in the mainstream.
Posted by: David Durant | September 1, 2010 1:04 PM
Rats jumping off a sinking ship; the exodus has begun. Being against gay marriage is starting to stink like a three-day-old tuna sandwich.
Posted by: tomasyn | September 1, 2010 1:49 PM
Whenever I read these blogs about WND founder Joe Farah my mind does a curious circle. When I see the name Farah, I am reminded of the lovely Farrah Fawcett. Then I am saddened to remember that she is no longer with us. I shudder to think of the awful disease that claimed her. Thoughts of metastatic ass cancer then bring me right back to WND, which was of course founded by ...
Posted by: Joe T | September 1, 2010 2:07 PM
Thank you, Joe T. In a generally depressing news week, you've brightened my day and that of several of my colleagues by causing one of them to ruin a perfectly good keyboard.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | September 1, 2010 3:42 PM
It is Joseph Farah, rather than Ann Coulter, who is the deviant. How can you oppose someone helping part fools from their money? I know that Ann Coulter certainly isn't going to do anything to help the homosexual agenda, and the money that she's getting could have gone to Gavin Newsom.
Of course, Farah wouldn't know anything about parting fools from their money.
@Joe T: Obviously, cancers are the wagers of soy.
Posted by: Objective Scrutator | September 1, 2010 4:55 PM
Farah needs to get over himself. He should consider the possibility when the days of making big bucks by going into the gay hating/bashing business are finally coming to an end.
In another few election cycles the conservatives will claim that equality for the LBGTQ community was all their idea.
Posted by: GordonOKC | September 1, 2010 11:52 PM
"If there is one thing that bugs me most about liberals [1], it's their unquestioning assumption that history is an arrow like entropy: always pointing their way globally, even if there are temporary local setbacks."
If there's one thing that bugs me about you, it's sweeping generalisations. I don't know any liberals who hold to this weird, teleological (almost Marxist) vision of history that you say they do. I know plenty who have a belief in human decency that will probably win out eventually, given enough coaching and hard work. I don't know any who sit down and assume things will swing their way.
Posted by: Coryat | September 2, 2010 6:10 AM
Coryat, it's me. I'm that liberal. I'm sorry for making the rest of you look bad.
Posted by: Modusoperandi | September 2, 2010 8:59 AM
Haha, no problem M.O.
Now you mention it, sitting down with a pina colada and waiting for history to catch up with me doesn't sound too bad!
Posted by: Coryat | September 2, 2010 9:12 AM
i dont know why people are things in this ways also i am very much frustrated with these type of things what will going to be happen in future really this is the time that every one need to oppose this
Posted by: Brown | April 14, 2011 2:40 AM
"Reproductive freedom is under attack partly because the main recipients are from that inferior gender."
Sorry, if you want to have kids, have sex with the opposite gender.
If someone else doesn't want to have kids, or has sex with the same gender, this doesn't stop YOU from having kids. Only your jaffa status (seedless) and your intense interest in homosexuality stops that.
Stop obsessing about other people's sex lives, stop fantasizing that you're going to be forced to be gay and man-raped and get on with YOUR life.
Posted by: Wow | April 14, 2011 6:00 AM