The Board of Directors of “GOProud,” the national organization of gay conservatives, voted Tuesday to endorse presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, adding that it was “prepared to commit significant resources” to ensure his victory.
The group cited Romney’s economic positions as the basis of its endorsement, while noting that it differed with the candidate on the issue of marriage equality.
“Most gay Americans, like their straight counterparts, are not better off than they were four years ago,” said Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud executive director, in a statement. “The truth is that gay people are living in the disastrous, failed Obama economy too.
“President Obama and his friends on the left want this election to be about divisive social issues, because the president’s record on jobs and the economy is indefensible. At this critical juncture, we need a president with the experience and expertise to turn this economy around. Someone who knows how the free markets work. Former Gov. Mitt Romney is that candidate.”
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“It takes a lot of chutzpah — and not a small amount of delusion — for a gay organization to find room to endorse a staunchly anti-LGBT candidate like Mitt Romney,” said Jerame Davis, Executive Director of National Stonewall Democrats.
“Not only has he gone on record repeatedly stating his anti-LGBT positions, he’s put his bigotry in writing. Last year, Romney signed the National Organization for Marriage’s anti-LGBT pledge that, among other things, calls for a federal constitutional amendment banning marriage equality in addition to McCarthy-style investigations of the LGBT community,” Davis said.
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“That alone should be enough to deny any candidate an endorsement,” continued Davis.
“Apparently GOProud is more interested in toadying up to the GOP establishment and making excuses for their bigoted behavior than they are in pushing that party forward on LGBT equality. It’s sad, really, when you think about it: there are two gay conservative organizations on the national scene and neither seems willing to stand up to the anti-LGBT hatred in the Republican Party,” he said.
Go Proud was founded in 2009 by LaSalvia and Christopher Barron, two former members of the Log Cabin Republicans.
Barron was not among those voting to endorse Romney because he has personally endorsed Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson.
Gay rights activist Dan Savage, founder of the “It Gets Better” campaign, reacted with this tweet: “The GOP’s house faggots grab their ankles, right on cue.”