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Hobnobbing with Bloggers et al. @ Claremont’s Churchill Dinner

Posted by GayPatriotWest at 5:35 am - December 3, 2005.
Filed under: Blogging

I just got back a few hours ago from the Claremont Institute‘s Churchill Dinner honoring the wise and witty Mark Steyn. As advertised in my post on the topic, it was indeed a chance to “mix and mingle with thoughtful conservatives from the Southland.”

I met a reader of this blog who had driven up from Orange County to attend the shindig. Together, we approached Mr. Steyn who was as witty in person as he is in his columns and engaging and down to earth as well. I was delighted to learn that he was familiar with this blog. And he wasn’t the only conservative “hero” of the blogosophere familiar with GayPatriot. John Hinderaker of Powerline came up to me to say how much he liked our work. His wife Loree is also a fan!

Not only did I enjoy meeting the Hinderakers (including their daughter who while not a fan of my work is a fan of the work of one of my friends), but I also ran into the man who immediately preceded me (years ago) as state chairman of the Massachusetts College Republicans.

I was delighted that they put me at a table with other Bear-Flag bloggers. The excellence of our conversation was a sign of the caliber of this league. I was joined by Greg of PrestoPundit, Joy (AKA Little Miss Attila), Kevin of SoCalPundit, Greg of FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog, Matt who blogs at Claremont’s Local Liberty Blog, and a different Matt who posts at FlashReport Blog as well as John of Write Enough.

After dinner, I talked with Bruce’s lesbian heartthrob Tammy Bruce while catching a glimpse of former lesbian hearththrob Anne Heche.

In comments to this post, critics suggested that we really don’t identify as gay while a critic on another post called us fans of Roy Cohn. Tonight, though mingling with conservatives, I was very much out as a gay man (just as Bruce was out at the OSM (Pajamas Media) Launch). When I introduced myself as a blogger, I had to name this blog and thus identify as gay . I caught a couple raised eyebrows, but most people there didn’t seem to mind. A man in from Chicago for the event was curious to learn more about gay conservatives.

Once again, a more cordial reception in conservative circles when I am “out” as a gay man than that I receive in gay circles when I indicate my conservative/Republican leanings.

Mark Steyn gave a great speech, using humor to accent some of his points. I took notes and may comment on this at a later time. But, for now, I’ll just close by noting how much I enjoyed the event, how wonderful it was to be around intelligent and open-minded conservatives and engage them in serious discussion of politics, policy, the arts, history, culture and blogging.

-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

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26 Comments

  1. Reading GayPatriotWest’s post here, I noticed something very much like what I once read in a GayPatriot piece: you guys were both pretty much born and raised as Republicans. You didn’t come at it from any intellectual inquiry — you came at it from the standpoint of “this is what I was taught, so this is what I will always believe”.

    I can only imagine how difficult it was to retain those partisan loyalties as you discovered you were born into a party that would forever disdain you for your sexual nature. How sad, guys. How sad.

    Comment by Queer Patriot — December 3, 2005 @ 8:29 am - December 3, 2005

  2. I couldn’t agree more.
    Are they also scratching at the door of The Catholic Church?
    Pathetic.

    Comment by hank — December 3, 2005 @ 9:12 am - December 3, 2005

  3. Ann Heche? What was she doing there?

    Comment by rightwingprof — December 3, 2005 @ 10:40 am - December 3, 2005

  4. “Once again, a more cordial reception in conservative circles when I am “out” as a gay man than that I receive in gay circles when I indicate my conservative/Republican leanings. “

    Imagine that! Shocking, I tell you, shocking! (Agnes! Bring me my martini ! NOW!)

    Go to a “Anti-War” (read: anti-Bush) rally wearing a Bush/Cheney baseball cap/T Shirt and then go to a “Pro Bush and/or Pro Military” rally wearing a rainbow flag/ = / pink triangle baseball cap/T Shirt (I’ve performed a similar experiment myself) and gage the reaction. You’ll get some raised eyebrows from the right but you’ll get unhinged hatred from the left.

    Just goes to show, the right is infinitely more civilized that the left.

    They dress better too.

    // not shocked. Not even a little bit.

    Comment by Vera Charles — December 3, 2005 @ 11:04 am - December 3, 2005

  5. Vera, the left propagates the Religious Right boogeyman in order to keep the gay voting bloc in line. Many gay lefties have been drinking the kool-aid for so long they are terrified to venture outside the gay-left ghetto.

    Comment by V the K — December 3, 2005 @ 11:14 am - December 3, 2005

  6. V the K

    “Many gay lefties have been drinking the kool-aid for so long”

    And that is why Vera only drinks martinis. Very dry.

    Good for my rheumatism.

    Comment by Vera Charles — December 3, 2005 @ 11:42 am - December 3, 2005

  7. Comment 1 – On what evidence, Kewpie, doll? How would you know that one (or both) of Bruce/Dan hadn’t been raised in a family of Democrats, or ever spent time as one?

    Or are you still in the business of supplying “missing” pieces of evidence and “facts” from your collection of mirrors?

    Oh well, at least you did without the word “chickenhawk”.

    Comment by Calarato — December 3, 2005 @ 11:57 am - December 3, 2005

  8. Comment 1 – On what evidence, Kewpie, doll? How would you know that one (or both) of Bruce/Dan hadn’t been raised in a family of Democrats, or ever spent time as one?

    Or are you still in the business of supplying “missing” pieces of evidence and “facts” from your collection of mirrors?

    Comment by Calarato — December 3, 2005 @ 11:58 am - December 3, 2005

  9. Converting to conservatism through intellectual maturation makes one no more “pure” than being raised in a conservative home and having similar views as an adult. In fact, from my own experience, being able to share socio-political views with one’s parents while going through the usual rebellion against parental authority and struggle to come to terms with one’s sexuality takes a pretty level head. I would hardly term it “sad”.

    Comment by Scott — December 3, 2005 @ 1:59 pm - December 3, 2005

  10. Fake but accurate “feelings” are all that’s needed “prove” a point for the RoboLeft. Tht’s why we get so much hate from the Left. We commit the greatest of all sins. We make them feel bad.

    Comment by Bobo — December 3, 2005 @ 2:02 pm - December 3, 2005

  11. Being warmly received as a gay man at the Regent?
    Predictable reaction from red-staters at a blue-state event?
    Wow.

    Let me know when you are a blue stster at a red state event.

    I’ll believe this tattoo about acceptance when you attend a similar event in Alabissippi.

    Untill then, how was the food?

    Were any of the cater waiters cute?

    Comment by chandler in hollywood — December 3, 2005 @ 2:23 pm - December 3, 2005

  12. Once again QP, you make allegations about me which are not based in fact. I was not born and raised a Republican. My Mom is a very loyal Democrat. I became a Reagan Republican by reading and studying conservative ideas (among other things). (As Scott puts it in #8, an “intellectual maturation.”)

    Furthermore, I have no clue as to why you wrote that comment except to bait. You fail to reference a single thing I said in my post. You say that I found it difficult to retain my partisan loyalties when I discovered I was born into a party which found disdain for my “sexual nature” (as you put it). I found no such thing. Once again, I show how conservatives have no problem welcoming an openly gay man and you claim that I experienced the opposite.

    You base your criticism on impressions of a Republican party (and conservative movement) with which you have not associated, impressions created by a media (and left-wing groups) hostile to the GOP (& conservatives) and dismiss actual reports from real gay people in conservative circles.

    All your comment does is prove how narrow-minded you are — and how your impression of Republicans (conservatives even) and their attitudes toward gays is based not on the reality of the situation, but on your own prejudices.

    What is truly sad is your anti-Republican prejudice, that you read this blog so regularly, comment so frequently and pay no attention to anything we say expect to try to spin it to fit your own narrow view of the world.

    Rightwingprof in #3, Anne Heche is a friend to one of Claremont’s Board Members.

    Comment by GayPatriotWest — December 3, 2005 @ 4:16 pm - December 3, 2005

  13. ???? what? how?

    Comment by Calarato — December 3, 2005 @ 9:01 pm - December 3, 2005

  14. […] Gay Patriot […]

    Pingback by PrestoPundit » Blog Archive » An Evening with Mark Steyn — December 4, 2005 @ 1:26 am - December 4, 2005

  15. Rightwingprof in #3, Anne Heche is a friend to one of Claremont’s Board Members.

    Really! Kudos to her for having the courage to show her face there. She just gained more than a few points from me.

    Comment by rightwingprof — December 4, 2005 @ 10:59 am - December 4, 2005

  16. Yes but you forget, she’s not gay anymore. She’s a mom now, and very straight.

    Comment by hank — December 4, 2005 @ 1:50 pm - December 4, 2005

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    Trackback by Atlas Shrugs — December 4, 2005 @ 6:26 pm - December 4, 2005

  18. OT

    Kerry’s Cash Cow Ranks Near Bottom of Gay-Friendly Business List

    Comment by Frank IBC — December 5, 2005 @ 8:22 am - December 5, 2005

  19. Yes but you forget, she’s not gay anymore. She’s a mom now, and very straight.

    I fail to see how that is relevant. “Gay” isn’t the operative; Hollywood is.

    Comment by rightwingprof — December 5, 2005 @ 9:11 am - December 5, 2005

  20. I can’t believe it…. it is actually more disturbing that Anne Heche is a Republican rather than a babbling idiot named “Celestia”

    Comment by Just Sayin' — December 5, 2005 @ 1:54 pm - December 5, 2005

  21. If she can be straight today, she can be a Democrat tomorrow;)

    Comment by hank — December 5, 2005 @ 6:54 pm - December 5, 2005

  22. Gee, Hindrocket – winner of City Pages Best Meltdown Award:

    http://www.citypages.com/bestof2005/citygritty/bestof2623.asp

    (Hinderaker likes to be called “Hind Rocket;” his collaborator and fellow Dartmouth alum, Scott Johnson, is “the Big Trunk.”) As the name-calling and spam assaults escalated, the Powerliners were filled with shock and disgust. Why can’t those liberals make their point in a thoughtful, gentlemanly manner? Rude, crude invective is their stock in trade. Leave the high-minded analysis to the Ivy League boys. It turns out, of course, there is an exception to this principle: if you are named John Hinderaker and you are interacting with people you regard as moonbats. Then you can feel free to let ‘er rip. The Hind Rocket’s great meltdown occurred this past February, after he received a fairly mild critique of Powerline’s posts on a scandal involving the White House’s use of fake reporters. If you are a connoisseur of the meltdown, Hinderaker’s frothing, sputtered, red-faced response was a thing of beauty: “You dumb shit, he didn’t get access using a fake name, he used his real name,” he huffed in his e-mail. “You lefties’ concern for White House security is really touching, but you know what, you stupid asshole, I think the Secret Service has it covered. Go crawl back into your hole, you stupid left-wing shithead. And don’t bother us anymore. You have to have an IQ over 50 to correspond with us. You don’t qualify, you stupid shit.” Way to go, Blog of the Year!

    Comment by Eva Young — December 5, 2005 @ 10:12 pm - December 5, 2005

  23. #20, your comment once again proves the narrow-mindedness of so many on the Left– how deep is that hatred of the President and Republicans. While such lefties accuse us of being part of a party of hate.

    And Eva, #22, your criticism is totally meaningless as I never claimed John was perfect. He, like me, like you, is flawed. He lost his cool when he was harassed by some rather angry readers and later apologized for his outburst.

    I have no idea what you are trying to accomplish by dredging up this one example of a busy man’s losing his cool. To be sure, his language was out of line, but he apologized for that. And even the City Pages that you quote acknowledge that others initiated name-calling and spam assaults against him.

    He did not hold up perfectly under such pressure. Not many people do. At least he apologized for it; his tone in his blog posts is generally civil. I wish that were true of all of our critics.

    Comment by GayPatriotWest — December 5, 2005 @ 10:33 pm - December 5, 2005

  24. This was what he responded to. It was a civil email:

    http://minnpolitics.blogspot.com/2005/02/jd-guckert-and-powerline.html

    It was only after getting busted over this, that Hindrocket appologised – sort of – without taking any responsibility.

    Comment by Eva Young — December 5, 2005 @ 11:20 pm - December 5, 2005

  25. Eva, he had been harassed all that day by angry leftists who had both called and e-mailed him. Some had called his secretary names.

    Certainly, he should not have posted his office number on the web.

    Perhaps, he was late in apologizing, but the fact remains, he admitted his wrong and has not so lashed out since.

    Comment by GayPatriotWest — December 6, 2005 @ 2:28 am - December 6, 2005

  26. My old stomping ground! Remember I went to Pomona College (founding member of the Claremont Colleges); it is a shame I wasn’t politically tuned in during my years there or I would have been all over events like this!

    Comment by Aaron of LifelikePundits — December 6, 2005 @ 8:47 pm - December 6, 2005

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