CPAC attack: Gay + Antigay Sponsors = Barber/LaBarbera barbs

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12/16/2009

by Jeremy Hooper

We were pretty disgusted when we saw that the gay Republican group GOProud had signed on as a sponsor of the Conservative Political Action Conference, alongside such overheated anti-gay groups as the National Organization For Marriage, the Alliance Defense Fund, Concerned Women For America, and Focus on the Family. But at the time, we also said that the silver lining would be that "some on the far-right are going to go APESHIT about this."

Labarbera-barber Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber didn't miss our cue:

Folks, for years religious conservatives have been complaining about getting the shaft from CPAC, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. There is usually only a token panel or two dealing with “Culture War” social issues like abortion and homosexuality (and rarely one explicitly on fighting the “gay” agenda) – as organizers seek to appease the CPAC libertarians, some of whom support goals like homosexual “marriage” that are anathema to socially conservatives.

Now CPAC’s tenuous ”Big Tent” could collapse altogether as social conservatives led by Liberty Counsel’s Matt Barber threaten to launch a boycott of the conference (scheduled for Feb. 18-20, 2010) unless CPAC drops a homosexual activist group, GOProud, as a co-sponsor. Barber, my good friend, an AFTAH Board Member, and the Director of Cultural Affairs at Liberty Counsel, is leading the charge to keep the CPAC sponsorship list … conservative.
...
Barber is committed to leading a social conservative pullout of a pro-homosexuality CPAC, and AFTAH has learned that a number of leading pro-family organizations have already hinted that they will heed his call if CPAC retains GOProud as a co-sponsor.
Liberty Counsel May Lead Pullout of CPAC if Homosexual Group GOProud Remains as Co-Sponsor [AFTAH]
(H/t: Right Wing Watch)

So the gays are cozying up the Maggie Gallaghers of the world, which is leading Maggie's even more overheated conservative cousins to fly off the handle. If this were a rightwing Christmas party, GOProud and their fellow anti-gay sponsors would be like that totally wrong-for-each-other couple who have too much eggnog and decide to make out all night, while Pete and Matt would be like the jealous exes who can't deal with being left behind.

And as for us? Well isn't it obvious? We'd be the ones faking colds, so that we could mask our cries of "fight, fight, fight" behind a faux cough. Duh.

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