Conservative enough?

Is discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation really a “conservative” value? Not according to Ward Connerly, whom one would be hard-pressed to argue is not conservative enough. He opposes the current effort to deface the California state constitution with anti-gay prejudice; in this interview, mostly about his staunch opposition to affirmative action, Connerly explains his support for GLBT equality:

The government shouldn’t be making distinctions about people on the basis of what they do in the privacy of their bedrooms. And those within my party that try to inject the government into that, they’re not the conservative, I’m the conservative. I’m saying, keep government small, keep government out of people’s personal lives. If you’re going to give benefits to people who happen to be straight, give the same benefits to people who are gay. That to me was a very easy call.

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Cut to the curious kerfuffle over at the Too Conservative compound. Blogger Loudoun Insider wrote a nice rah-rah post a few days ago, about recent growth of the Loudoun County Republican Committee and how the new, improved leadership is making everyone feel welcome. If you follow local politics, you’ll know that there has been sharp dissension in the LCRC over the last few years, with a lot of moderate Republicans either resigning or being refused membership. Although much of the displeasure was over development and land use issues, a good deal of it was also due to the dominance of an extreme “social conservative” faction headed by former Delegate Dick Black.

It was this faction, closely associated with Patrick Henry College, that pushed for a resolution demanding that the Supreme Court reverse its decision in Lawrence v Texas, and turned what was advertised as an informational meeting into a noisy circus of gay-bashing that was as embarrassing as it was frightening. Equality Loudoun was founded soon afterwards.

Even at that meeting there were a few courageous individuals who spoke up, but clearly this was not a safe or welcoming committee for openly GLBT Republicans. We would be delighted by evidence that this has changed, and that our Republican members can fully participate in their chosen political party at the local level. I have personally lobbied for such participation with individuals, but given the atrocious behavior of some of the candidates and LCRC officials, some serious wariness is to be expected.

So, here was a nice post about how different things are now, and what happened? The anti-gay trolls showed up and peed all over it. As I said in the comments, it’s not a good sign that an LCRC District chair, a person assigned to do outreach in the community and to be a public face of the party, launches hostile, sneering attacks on Equality Loudoun any time an issue of GLBT equality is raised. Although it’s heartening to see so many other commenters repudiating this garbage, a statement by party leadership that denigrating attacks on a segment of the community does not represent the kind of inclusive committee they are interested in building would go a long way toward changing the image of the LCRC. Their silence gives the impression that the new leadership approves of such conduct just as much as the old leadership did.

If this sort of hostility is still considered to be “conservative” by those steering this ship, they need to think again. Please. The people spouting it are part of a movement that is now so far outside the mainstream of American society that they have to call for a boycott of McDonald’s. I don’t think they have much of a future to offer to any political party.

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8 Responses to Conservative enough?

  1. gstone says:

    When discussing Ward Connerly, you were onto something we were in agreement. Then the train ran off the tracks as usual.

  2. David says:

    Maybe you could be more specific as to why that is.

    You are in agreement with Connerly because you think government should not be in the business of determining the worth of personal relationships, or..?

  3. gstone says:

    David:
    You and I both know your looking for a controversy. Having never even been in a turnip truck let alone fallen out of one, I will pass.

    Your post was created on July 14th. So far, you and I are the only ones to comment. That’s two people in 11 days. Why ? Because people know manufactured outrage when they see it and simply don’t care.

  4. David says:

    Greg:

    That’s a pretty comical take on the situation, given that you were the first commenter to jump on the bandwagon with the anti-gay nonsense over at TC, and then continued to drag it out with your several other comments.

    It looks to me like there’s plenty of controversy over there without any help from me. You all were having a catfight over that post long before the issue of GLBT inclusion (or the lack thereof) was raised. This appears to be your new talking point after you, a known LCRC district chair, were called on the carpet for attacking our nonpartisan organization. Did your leadership finally call and tell you to knock it off? I did notice how your argument changed rather abruptly to this new ‘you’re just looking for controversy’ one.

    The fact is, your behavior makes the LCRC look bad (i.e., like the same old Dick Black “purity test” committee that we’ve come to know and love), but your leadership can’t afford to alienate the far right delusionals either. That’s a tough spot.

    I guess my post just isn’t all that controversial. Sorry about that 🙂

  5. David says:

    You never did answer about where you agree with Connerly.

  6. gstone says:

    David:
    Just think if one of us gets hit by a bus this thread will lose 50% of its participants. Lets do the math, 5 posts divided by 11 days = No one cares.

  7. David says:

    Correction: No one cares + disagrees with my analysis. Except you.

    Tell me again – why are you here? Not to talk about Ward Connerly and real conservative values, apparently.

  8. Pingback: A new Loudoun County Republican Committee? : Equality Loudoun