As a founder of GOProud, a group for gay Republicans, Jimmy LaSalvia served for years as a cheerleader for a party whose policies were openly antagonistic to LGBT concerns. Not that LaSalvia seem to have any problem with that–his organization endorsed an impressive away of unfriendly candidates in 2012 and only got around to supporting marriage equality a year ago.
Still, reality has finally hit LaSalvia in the face. In a post on his website, he has announced that he has formally renounced his membership in the Republican party and declared his affiliation as “no party.” Why? You’ll be astonished to learn that it’s because he can’t abide “the tolerance of bigotry in the GOP.”
As if that’s a new phenomenon.
“I have worked hard to help to create an atmosphere on the right where conservatives can openly support gay Americans and even support same-sex marriage,” LaSalvia writes in a fit of self-congratulation. “In that effort, we have won, but there is more work to do to root out the anti-gay and other forms of bigotry in the party.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Now it’s always good when someone finally drops the delusions. But let’s state the obvious here. The bigotry was there all along. In fact, by putting party loyalty over the LGBT community, GOProud helped enable it.
For a long time, GOProud provide cover to the party, insisting that there was a significant element in it that was supportive of gay rights. While there are a handful of Republicans who voted for ENDA and favor marriage equality, they are a tiny fragment of the whole party. Right now, the majority of the GOP opposes anything that appears pro-LGBT. That’s not going to change anytime soon.
LaSalvia said that the other reason he is leaving the Republican party is his disagreement with “the big-government ‘conservatives’ who run the party now.” Funny, but he didn’t seem to have that problem with George W. Bush, who massively expanded government with Medicare Part D and an unfunded war. In fact, LaSalvia left Log Cabin Republicans because he felt they had drifted too far to the left by refusing to endorse Bush in 2004.
You remember 2004. That’s the year that Bush used state anti-marriage initiatives to turn out Christian right voters.
That kind of revisionism is a hallmark of the modern GOP. It’s also a hallmark of LaSalvia’s career. It just goes to prove you can take the man out of the party, but you can’t take the party out of the man.
hyhybt
Seems simpler and less sinister (on his part) to me. At some point, you run out of hope that the good you see in an organization will ever outweigh the bad.
DShucking
No sympathy from me.
jimbryant
The Republican Party has to pander to someone. This someone is the Christian Right. I presume LaSalvia still abides by the free market principles of the Republican Party.
Kangol
This man’s delusions are like a bad comedy skit. “Big government ‘conservatives'”? You mean the ones still trying to deny him and other gay people their rights? Or is that the “small government ‘conservatives'”?
What a farce, except that the GOP does so much damage, and not only to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans people.
Scribe38
I couldn’t care less. He is a traitor to the cause who gave support and comfort to the enemy.
jimbryant
LaSalvia is a decent person who has worked tirelessly to help the gay rights cause. What have YOU done?
In fact, many of you have done nothing to help the gay rights cause. You use seminar slogans like “out and proud” and yet none of you are truly out and proud. You hide in gay bars and in the little corners of cyberspace. Moreover, once you enter the mainstream, you avoid holding your partner’s hand in case others might see you. Out and proud, my foot.
LaSalvia is open and honest about his sexuality and his aims. Many of you aren’t. He has courage. Most of you are cowards and wimps. He put himself on the line. Many of you spend 90% of your time looking at porn on the net to find something that will get you off.
LaSalvia is a pioneer in my book. If I could find another word starting with p to describe most of you, I’d choose “pathetic”.
TheNewEnergyDude
Jimmy… Good to see you finally come to your senses. It only took you… How long?
You know, I try to be as moderate as I possibly can all the time and really make an effort to be bipartisan. But I have to admit, Republicans that sit there and openly and proudly boasts anti-gayness really does make it very very difficult to be bipartisan. I will never, ever be able to figure out what any gay person would want to be strictly Republican, supporting a massive group of people that openly and honestly hate you for no real good and valid reason. If a gay Republican is out here and can explain that without among me toss my cookies, I’m all ears
jimbryant
Republicans don’t hate male homosexuals. They hate the male homosexual act. There’s a difference. It’s a studied opposition. It’s based on Biblical Scripture, which was written at a time when penicillin was non-existent and STD’s that were spread by promiscuity were often fatal.
The male homosexual act is not the problem, however. The problem is the high sex drive of men. Combine one man with another and you amplify the power of the sex drive. It’s a promiscuous paradigm unless the man is very moral and elects to refrain from promiscuity through an act of will.
This is why the Bible stressed the importance of morality. Morality was necessary to defy the natural inclinations of men.
KittyLitter
…..moron.
rand503
@jimbryant: What a load of batshittery you spout. First, you have no idea the efforts people like me have made to make the world better for gays. Second, you dismiss the efforts of gay men and women everywhere who come out despite hostility to gays in their communities. I guess that isn’t enough for you.
Third, LaSalvia defended and promoted very anti-gay politicians simply beause they were Republicans. How does that help the cause? You’ll have to explain that one for us.
But your most laughable statement is your last. So we really shouldn’t have too much sex? Republicans don’t hate gay men? That’s ridiculous. IF it were merely about having too much sex, then they would support marriage equality so that people can live in monogamous relationships and have as much or as little sex as they like.
Your novel theory about STDs in the biblical era is bizarre. STDs at the time were pretty much limited to striaght people, so if the bible were really worried about that (not that it ever mentions STDs ever), it would limit hetero sex. And since STDs are virtually nonexistent in lesbians, your argument is just laugable.
Worse, the Republicans use the bible to say that homosexuals are immoral. Not the sex act, but the people themselves. Remember that quote about homosexuals, as well as theives won’t enter the kingdom o heaven? And if it were the sex act, then republicans would be happy to have gay men and women around, but would ask them if they are celebate, and if they say yes, they would be happy to keep them on. So please give me just one example of an anti-gay republican who happily has an openly gay man or woman on their staff but is okay with it because they don’t engage in gay sex.
but you can’t find even one.
greyhound1954
LaSalvia jumps ship because the minority of which he is a part is not welcome in the GOP. That’s a legitimate reason to part ways. However, my concern with the GOP is the war they have been waging for decades against a much larger group of people: the 99 percent of Americans who can’t afford to buy representation in Congress.
samwise343
@jimbryant: You’ve finally revealed yourself as a total dick that no one wants to suck.
stanhope
Ah the gal from Colorado speaks while toking on pot. I suppose getting high is one way you can tolerate giving him a bj. LaSalvia is akin to a Jew defending Hitler.
NG22
President Bush had two unfunded wars, not one. Not to mention his two rounds of tax cuts which ended up costing the federal government over a trillion dollars. I just want to remind everyone just how disastrous that presidency was. Other than that, cool article bro.
Joetx
This gay quisling can go to hell.
tjr101
Jimbryant has finally revealed himself as the but-hurt gay republican we always knew him to be.
LaSalvia and the other crooked nose kapo of GOProud are just rich white men that cry themselves to sleep at night wishing they were straight so they can join the rest of the GOP crowd in hating on the gays, blacks, Latinos, women, Muslims and whatever other group they can demonize.
This same LaSalvia stayed silent as the Bush administration with the help of the kapo Ken Mehlman used gays as red meat to bait their rabid right-wing base to the polls. A prime example of the self hate delusion LaSalvia and GOProud members have we see in Jimbryant.
2eo
This nutter is possibly the worst traitor of them all. Anything shy of him hanging himself with a note decrying the christian right will be enough for redemption.
We are a long way past forgiving this man, his crimes are immeasurable.
2eo
Are people still under the illusion the GOP stands for small government, or have you, well looked at every single thing every member of the party has said for decades and come to the opposite conclusion yet?
Caleb in SC
I just have to wonder — when did this freaking lightbulb go off?
Cam
@jimbryant: said….. “LaSalvia is a decent person who has worked tirelessly to help the gay rights cause. What have YOU done?”
____________________________
You know what I love about right wingers. You all think that you can just make a broad statement without any backing and that it somehow becomes the truth.
Please list out EXACTLY what this guy has done for gay rights. Because from where I’m sitting, he was paid a hefty salary to head up a group where basically none of the board members were gay that existed to provide a distraction from the GOP homophobia.
So again, lets hear it Jim, you seem so adamant that this guy did huge things for gay rights so I”m sure it wouldn’t be hard for you to list out ANYTHING he did here.
Oh, and drawing a salary to support anti-gay bigots doesn’t count.
Cam
@2eo:
Weird isn’t it? Bush takes us from a surplus to a deficit in one year when a GOP controlled Congress, hands over enough money in the TARP bailout to run all social programs and send every kid to college, Obama comes in and has massively cut the deficit and lowered unemployment from Bush, and yet you still hear right wingers claiming the GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility.
Fiscal responsibility isn’t trying to raise taxes on the middle class by pushing for a payroll tax increase while trying to allow people like Mitt Romney to actually have a 0% tax bracket. That is simply taking a payoff to hand over taxpayer money to your cronies.
the other Greg
@jimbryant: “Republicans don’t hate male homosexuals. They hate the male homosexual act. There’s a difference. It’s a studied opposition. It’s based on Biblical Scripture, which was written at a time when penicillin was non-existent and STD’s that were spread by promiscuity were often fatal. The male homosexual act is not the problem, however. The problem is the high sex drive of men. Combine one man with another and you amplify the power of the sex drive. It’s a promiscuous paradigm unless the man is very moral and elects to refrain from promiscuity through an act of will.” etc.
——-
Actually the Old Testament sex rules were much more about the procreation worries of a small desert tribe surrounded by hostile tribes. Note that even masturbation is the “sin of Onan” because it doesn’t make babies.
Aside from that, jimbryant’s novel theory is easily refuted by the fact that conservatives HATE same-sex marriage so much. If they really wanted to discourage promiscuity among gay men, obviously they would encourage male-male marriage.
Indeed, given conservatives’ track record on such things, you’d think they would FORCE us to get married! That’s their usual way of doing things – micromanage other people’s sex lives and threaten us with prison for doing sex the “wrong” way. And as Rosanne Barr points out, married people hardly ever have sex (I think she was kidding, lol) so you’d think conservatives would prefer that for us.
the other Greg
Memo to Jimmy LaSalvia:
Just because you masturbate to large stacks of money, and you think girls have cooties, does NOT necessarily mean you are gay!
jimbryant
Yes, conservatives hate same-sex marriage. They hate it because they don’t want such relationships forrmalized, let alone permitted, even in private. To them, sex between two people of the same gender is a rejection of virility and fertility. It goes completely against the purpose of why man has sex organs.
This is why I appreciate LaSalvia’s efforts. He has worked with the enemy. It is much harder to change the enemy’s mind. He has had some success and that’s why I applaud his efforts.
robirob
There is no place for (openly) gay Republicans at the GOP movers and shakers’ table. These people see gay people as inferior and as easy targets for blackmail, mockery, humiliation, and bullying.
When you are really useful to them they may humor you for a bit (but will never let you know how useful you are to them at the moment), but the moment you are no longer useful they throw you away like yesterday’s trash.
LaSalle was blind to all of this. Maybe because of greed, maybe mommy and daddy issues, maybe blind faith. But it was always there and it is not a new or recent development as he claims.
robirob
Sorry, I meant LaSalvia in my previous post.
Nannie W. Jones
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mikeincleveland
This is the same guy that invited Ann Coulter to their shin-dig claiming she was pro-gay rights. You seen her on Fox over the past six months? Yeah- NOT pro-gay rights. So either LaSalvia was trying his hardest to buy favor into the Fox Network Speaking Circuit crowd to MAYBE win an ally for the cause, orrrrr, he’s horrible at sensing people’s real intentions and reading the kind of person they really are.
Either way- I kinda feel that his public statement is nothing less than a PR career-image makeover so he can naturally try and step back fully into the LGBT community and not be stoned to death.
Classic Melhman Move.
Why don’t these clowns ever think about this stuff BEFORE they throw us under the bus first? At some point or another, you’re going to WANT to come back and sit at the table with the rest of us.
Cam
@jimbryant:
It’s funny isn’t it, after you claimed that this guy has done so much for gay rights, I asked you to post a simple list of what he has done and you choose to pretend that that question was never asked.
I guess that’s your answer.
BJ McFrisky
Do none of you appreciate the fact that LaSalvia was at least making the effort to build bridges, while the rest of you do everything in your power to burn them? Do you not realize that he actually made ground in convincing some Righties that we’re not Satan’s spawn? Are you that brainwashed that the (R) after someone’s name automatically makes him an enemy, regardless of what he stands for?
Thanks, but I’ll always take the side of the man trying to build up relations over the hysterics trying to break them down.
TheNewEnergyDude
@BJ McFrisky: Yes…LaSalvia was “making an effort”, and even he realized that beating your head against a rock until you’re bloody and near unconscious is still more fun and more productive than making an effort to try to connect with a bunch of hateful people. They will be your friend…if they find you useful.
After a while, what’s the point?
mikestrawn
I believe there are Republican gays–and don’t understand why, but I do know that they exist. However, as I’ve said before, I don’t think jimbryant is gay, and I especially don’t think that BJMcFriskey is. Any pro-gay sentiment in their posts seems contrived. I think they troll gay news sites and work for some conservative outfits–maybe the same one.
2eo
@mikestrawn: They’re not, BJ has changed his story about 30 times, one time he was a hardcore republican, now he says he is a libertarian, when he first posted he was a “lapsed democrat”, that’s without even mentioning his relationship inconsistencies.
Cam
@BJ McFrisky: Said “”Do none of you appreciate the fact that LaSalvia was at least making the effort to build bridges, while the rest of you do everything in your power to burn them? Do you not realize that he actually made ground in convincing some Righties that we’re not Satan’s spawn?”
_____________________
Hi BJ, as I asked your OTHER screename “Jim” I will ask this screename “You”
You claim that LaSalvia accomplished things. And in fact you say it quite emphatically, please then provide a simple list of things he accomplished.
Since you seem so convinced that he did something it should be VERY easy for you to find it and post it here under either screename shouldn’t it?
mikestrawn
Thanks 2eo–one thing (other than his views) that makes me think BJMcFrisky is bogus is that whole “Mc” thing that turns the name into a homophobic slur according to some slang traditions. An Irish-American friend of mine, and his family, use the “Mc” as a vehicle for ridicule as in say “Trampy McTramp” to describe a loose women. Even on the Simpsons, the chain bar is called “Tipsy McStaggers” referencing a drunk–see what I mean? From this interpretation, “BJMcFrisky” would suggest a promiscuous gay guy being made fun of behind his back.
BJ McFrisky
@mikestrawn: To what purpose? Why would I . . . oh, never mind, you girls are going to fabricate your own realities, regardless of facts. Have fun with that.
Tyler100
@BJ McFrisky:
BJ, you’d know all about fabricating realities. That’s all you do on this site. You and JimBryant. It’s never the same backstory you provide, never the same details about your life that you care to share. The story is always different, and yet always the same because it’s all lies. Troll.
Scribe38
@BJ McFrisky: Gays supporting the GOP make as much sense as Blacks supporting the KKK. I am black and gay, so I won’t be supporting either hate group (Gop/KKK). If you like cutting your own throat have at it, while the GOP attempts to bring Russian anti-laws to the U.S.
Niall
What an idiot, shocking that it took him this long
BJ McFrisky
Well, at least there’s this: The above comments prove beyond any doubt that your solidarity lies not in our shared sexuality and respective struggles with it, but purely in your liberal politics.
So much for gay pride—apparently it only applies if you’re a registered Democrat.
Stache1
@2eo: It’s simple. How do you know what a Republican is up to. Just look at what they’re screaming against at any given moment.
Cam
@BJ McFrisky:
Once again I notice that you ignored my VERY simple question of…
You Claim that LaSalvia has done things for gay rights, advanced them etc… please provide a list.
You all keep claiming that he has been great for gays but never seem to be able to provide ANY examples. You do realize that this isn’t FOX news, you don’t get to claim something is true just because you said it enough times.
Stache1
@BJ McFrisky: Yeah, because when you keep getting thrown out of the Republican Convention because one or two hate groups object is real proof of that “Bridge Building”. Meanwhile Nazi’s and the KKK gets the welcome mat. That’s just shame.
Ogre Magi
@jimbryant: You are Jimmy La Salvia aren’t you?
jimbryant
Jimmy LaSalvia should be proud of his record. He has done more in a few short years than most of you would do in a life-time.
Let’s face it – most of you are interested in the gay scene only because it provides you with a stream of men. You couldn’t care less about gay rights as a whole. You just want your endless orgasms, your party drugs, and your beer. Pathetic, aren’t you?
Democrats didn’t invent homosexuality. The gay rights movement didn’t invent homosexuality. Homosexual people have been around since time began, and in the most oppressive of social climates. It takes guts to take a stand within an oppressive climate, as Jimmy LaSalvia did and will continue to do.
Meanwhile, most of you can go back to your indulgent lifestyles, mooching off the progress that others have fought for.
Kieran
Sooner or later it may dawn on the GOP (aka ‘The Stupid Party’) that it is not a smart strategy to write-off the votes, money and influence of a solid 5 to 10% of the US population who are gay or bisexual. (Not to mention their friends and family who may be turned off by homophobia)
jimbryant
Kieran,
The percentage of men who are capable of engaging in same-sex activity is closer to 90%. Yes, 90%.
However, same-sex activity between men has been substantially demonized over the years for various reasons. One is that it represents a threat to a woman’s ability to control men. It’s a gender war.
dougmc92
Jimmy just couldn’t get laid anymore as a Republican! Most of us have too much self respect to sleep with guys who stab us in the back by fundraising/voting for anti gay Republicans….that’s why he left the party- he’s just horny- he’ll still vote for those douchebags!
dougmc92
guys- stop feeding the troll- Anita’s son is only here to piss you off!
sangsue
@jimbryant:
Okay dearheart. You’re not gay. You’re just a misogynist. And you’re a joke. On what planet do women control men? In what universe? Did a woman get promoted for a job that you were just dying for?
Cam
@jimbryant: said…
“Jimmy LaSalvia should be proud of his record. He has done more in a few short years than most of you would do in a life-time.”
_____________________
Jim, you and your other screename BJ has made this same comment more than once. And I have asked you a simple question multiple times that you keep refusing to answer.
Please list out exactly what it is that Jimmy LaSalvia has supposedly done as far as accomplishments go. You keep claiming that he has done so much yet refuse to answer when you are asked to name it.
If you can’t back up your statements you probably shouldn’t try to tell the lie in the first place.
TomMc
@jimbryant: “You just want your endless orgasms, your party drugs, and your beer.”
I can’t speak for the rest of the class, but yes – yes, I do.
Sopp Chockey
Know any other homocons/kapofags/Röhmosexuals who *still* insist that their fellow travelers in the Rethuglican Party are really just fine with them being gay? Send them this link to Frei Reichpublich discussing little Jimmy’s departure. If you want to click on it first, don’t say I didn’t warn you; I read the comments so that you wouldn’t have to!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3112863/posts
gjg64
@jimbryant: What has he done to help gay people????? He supported the very people who were anti-gay. He’s more like the character Stephen from Django Unchained.
gjg64
@BJ McFrisky: How does supporting anti-gay candidates help us?