Rank-and-file Republicans rally around gay conservative
The prejudiced views of the chattering classes notwithstanding, rank-and-file Republicans in Northern Virginia are willing to back a gay conservative vying for the GOP nomination to take on a corrupt and entrenched opponent.
At the 8th District (Virginia) Republican convention yesterday, GayPatriot-endorsed candidate Matthew Berry won a straw poll, defeating his Republican rival “by a margin of 69% to 31%.” And please note the Republicans who turn out for such gatherings tend to be more conservative than the average GOP voter.
According to the campaign, Saturday’s
. . . win comes on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that the Matthew Berry for Congress campaign has been officially named to the “On the Radar” tier of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s Young Guns program. This program works closely with Republican campaigns in hotly contested races across the country to elevate them from good to great to victory.
This all goes to show that rank-and-file Republicans are willing to support a gay candidate provided he’s sound on the issues as is Matthew. A principled conservative, Matthew seeks to hold the line on federal spending, indeed, in reducing the size and scope of government (at all levels).
Join me in supporting his campaign. Click here to make a donation.
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So much for conservatives who “hate” gays. We’re not the ones who hate. That’s not to say there are not conservatives who do, but it seems to me that the majority of the left are the hateful ones.
Comment by Mary — May 23, 2010 @ 7:41 pm - May 23, 2010
You know it’s only a matter of time before Democrats call him a traitor or the gay version of an “Uncle Tom” for daring to be a minority who is not a Democrat.
Comment by Nick — May 23, 2010 @ 8:00 pm - May 23, 2010
I have a feeling that our resident lefties will be conveniently absent from this comment thread.
Comment by American Elephant — May 23, 2010 @ 8:16 pm - May 23, 2010
This is heartening news, although I’d hesitate to generalize from rank-and-file Republicans in the 8th District of Virginia to rank-and-file Republicans overall.
Comment by Doctor Whom — May 23, 2010 @ 9:11 pm - May 23, 2010
Homophobes exist everywhere, but mostly on the right because the base of the party is Christian fundamentalists.
Most of them think it is a sin and cannot accept it.
Bottom line, form a new (broader) coalition instead of whining about “the left”. When you get rid on the fundies, what do you have? Tax cuts. That is not enough to carry the day and most Americans want SSI and Medicare.
Republicans want nation building and 1 trillion a year in defense spending, and therein lines the problem. You cannot cut enough spending, you can just complain about Democrats and the left.
If you tell the electorate what you want to cut, they will not elect you.
Comment by Pat — May 23, 2010 @ 10:34 pm - May 23, 2010
An articulate individual that espouses a limited government point of view, wants to allow individuals to keep more of their own property and maintains those principles despite the slings and arrows of the ‘liberal’ minded folk. Is he despised because he just happens to be gay or despite it? One must be careful of the open minded souls lest they lose all thought from the start.
Comment by Delusional Bill — May 23, 2010 @ 10:43 pm - May 23, 2010
Well I suppose that I am a “resident lefty.” I have no problem with gay conservatives nor do I see them as traitors to the community as long as they do not work against our interests on social issues.
One of the problems over the past 30 years is actually defining what a conservative is. Is it James Dobson or Rand Paul? Frankly, there is considerable evidence that they are equally homophobic.
None of the recent Republican conservative Presidents would pass muster with today’s purists. Nixon wanted universal health care and implemented wage and price controls. Nixon created the EPA.
Ford raised taxes and grew the deficit.
While the Gipper was in office, federal employment grew by 60,000 (Bubbah reduced it by 375,000). The US accumulated massive deficits and he raised taxes in every year from 1982 to 1986. Reagan also gave amnesty to almost three million illegal immigrants.
George. I raised taxes and bailed out the S&L industry. Let’s not even start with George, II who was the most socially conservative leader since Queen Victoria but spent spent like Louis XIV.
So, before you fling arrows, you might start by deciding what a conservative is. Abolishing the Fed and the Dept of ED? That’s not going to happen.
Comment by David Hart — May 23, 2010 @ 11:07 pm - May 23, 2010
“I have a feeling that our resident lefties will be conveniently absent from this comment thread.”
Why?
Its no secret that the coastal elite Repubs generally have no problem with gays as long as they can be used a foil amounts the tea party folks – For example, the gay demonizing at the Tea Party National Convention
Comment by gillie — May 24, 2010 @ 8:08 am - May 24, 2010
“Its no secret that the coastal elite Repubs generally have no problem with gays”
Obviously not on the earth long enough to know what is a Rockefeller Republican. Unless these coastal LGBT Republicans are advocating federalism , instead of progressivism or libertarianism, it’s the same old same old from the liberal Republican establishment. Show us a gay male advocating federalism and the rank and file would support him.
Comment by RJLigier — May 24, 2010 @ 9:02 am - May 24, 2010
[...] you ask the gay dude who won a straw poll at a Republican convention on Saturday? In Virginia. Via GayPatriot: At the 8th District (Virginia) Republican convention yesterday, GayPatriot-endorsed candidate [...]
Pingback by VA-8: Gay and Republican? Are You Crazy? « Pitbull Patriots — May 24, 2010 @ 9:50 am - May 24, 2010
And so we can expect the GOP to remove language against a DADT repeal, remove language supporting DOMA, remove language supporting a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and finally include gay men and women in the statement on diversity in their party platform for 2010?
Comment by Countervail — May 24, 2010 @ 2:16 pm - May 24, 2010
No.
Instead, we can expect them to focus on this.
What you’ll never understand, Countervail, is that the GOP believes in things that help everyone. You don’t get that because you have no interest in anything other than how much you are pandered to and how much special treatment and welfare you get based on your minority status.
Comment by North Dallas Thirty — May 24, 2010 @ 3:03 pm - May 24, 2010
“What you’ll never understand, Countervail, is that the GOP believes in things that help everyone. You don’t get that because you have no interest in anything other than how much you are pandered to and how much special treatment and welfare you get based on your minority status.”
Really, so equal rights is now “special treatment”.
Comment by DoomsDay — May 24, 2010 @ 6:19 pm - May 24, 2010
{9. above, translated}
WAAAAhhh, what about MEEE?
WAAAAhhh, what about what I WANT?
WAAAAhhh, I’m special and I feel picked on and I demand…
WAAAAhhh.
Though it is interesting to note, this libtard only seems to be interested in the ‘removal of the language of’…and therefore the APPEARANCE only of change in the platform and ideals of the R’s; not necessarily the actual party members’ ideals and ideology.
Still, since he’s doubtless been exposed only to the APPEARANCE of support from the D’s all these many years… I guess I shouldn’t fault him for not expecting more from anyone else…or being able to believe people could think and hold to values and standards and ideals NOT publicized and promoted by the Great, All-Powerful (fill in political identifier here) Party.
Comment by rodney — May 24, 2010 @ 8:46 pm - May 24, 2010
RJL, we see this (a gay GOPer backing federalism) in Matthew. Hence the support.
Comment by B. Daniel Blatt — May 25, 2010 @ 1:50 am - May 25, 2010
WE HAVE A STATEMENT ON DIVERSITY?????
Oh dear, that cant be good. The only “statement of diversity” the GOP should have is a re-statement of the words of that great Republican, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” and so the Republican party insists on color blind government.
And perhaps that Republicans believe in a melting pot, not in multiculturalism.
Comment by American Elephant — May 25, 2010 @ 3:14 am - May 25, 2010