WISCONSIN: Yet Another Faked Homocon “Hate Crime”, GOProud Stood By It

Joe.My.God. reports:

Last week the wingnut blogosphere exploded on the claims of a gay Wisconsin GOP campaign worker who claimed that he’d been brutally beaten for being a gay conservative.  From the right wing Daily Caller:

Kyle Wood, a full-time volunteer working for GOP House candidate Chad Lee, was hospitalized for injuries suffered during what he said was an assault at his home.  Wood told The Daily Caller that vandalism preceding the assault, along with his attacker’s statements during the incident, suggested his sexual orientation and his politics each played a role. “I was getting ready for work and there was a knock at the door,” Wood emailed The Daily Caller late Wednesday. “I opened it, and a guy wrapped a ligature around my neck, slammed my head into the doorway, and smashed my face into a mirror, telling me ‘You should have kept your [f*******] mouth shut.’”

“He then kidney-punched me, while at the same time saying I was ‘warned,’ and continued to beat me,” he added. Wood said his attacker’s reference to a warning likely pointed to graffiti he found painted on his car last week. The vandalism included the phrases “house trained republican faggot,” “traitor,” and “ur like a jew 4 hitler.” Those slurs, he explained, were references to him being a gay Republican working to help Lee, a straight GOP candidate, defeat the openly gay Democrat Mark Pocan.  After he discovered the graffiti, Wood wrote an open letter on Facebook to the unknown vandal. “If you understand either freedom or me at all,” he wrote, “you would that this will only make me work harder. … You can think whatever you like about me, but I will not be bullied into voting for a gay man simply because I am gay.”

There were so many holes in Wood’s story, not the least of which were the “injuries” that were clearly inconsistent with his claims, that most LGBT news sites, including this one, did not report the story.  My “silence” on the “attack” spurred GOProud president Jimmy LaSalvia to taunt me on Twitter, ultimately telling me to “rot in hell” for my disbelief.

Today came the inevitable truth. 

Kyle Wood, a campaign worker for the Republican congressional candidate Chad Lee, today recanted his statements about being assaulted and choked at his home on Oct. 24, according to Madison police. The department updated its incident report late Monday afternoon after Wood met with detectives. Captain Joe Balles, commander of the South District, confirms that Wood recanted his allegations of the beating. Although he would not go into detail about the case, Balles said, “I updated that press release because I felt it was imperative we get something out there because of the politically charged background this was happening in.” He said that the department will do its “due diligence” and discuss with the district attorney’s office whether any charges will be filed against Wood. ”We’re in the victims business,” he says. “We really need victims to come forward. We don’t take matters like this lightly.”Earlier Monday afternoon, a spokesman for Rep. Mark Pocan and an attorney representing his partner, Philip Frank, said they were considering suing for libel over claims that Frank threatened Wood.Pocan is running against Lee for the 2nd Congressional District seat being vacated by Tammy Baldwin, who is running for U.S. Senate.

This latest bit of outrageous homocon fakery makes claims of being pushed off a bike or having a brick thrown through a window pale in repulsive comparison.  THIS time, the husband of a U.S. House candidate was smeared. Kyle Wood will surely get what is coming to him. But the worst part of his despicable crime is that now our enemies have yet another reason to suspect all future anti-gay violence.

MSNBC Coverage Of Homocon Event

GOProud’s Jimmy LaSalvia Backs GOP’s Anti-Gay Platform On CNN

Dan Savage: On Booze, Meth, Suicide… And GOProud

Via Dan’s Slog: 

Gay people abuse drugs, alcohol, and tobacco at higher rates than straight people do. We also commit suicide at higher rates. The haters on the religious right argue that these higher rates of self-harming behaviors are proof that the gay “lifestyle” is inherently dangerous and unhealthy. And since legalizing same-sex marriage or banning anti-gay job discrimination might result in more people choosing the unhealthy gay “lifestyle”—because being gay is a choice—society should discriminate against gay people for their own good.

So… the haters only discriminate against us because they love us and want us to be happy and healthy. See how that works?

The haters have it backwards. It’s not that self-hatred in many gay people causes personally-destructive behavior. It’s that the external hatred all gay people have to endure—discrimination, oppression, bigotry, and rejection by family members poisoned by “faith”—can lead to substance abuse, punishing sexual excess, and suicide. Being gay doesn’t damage us. It’s the way we are treated for being gay that leaves many of us damaged. Johann Hari said it best:

Being subjected to bullying and violence as children and teenagers makes gay people unusually vulnerable to depression and despair. The homophobes then use that depression and despair to claim that homosexuality is inherently a miserable state—and we shouldn’t do anything that might “encourage” it. They create misery, and then use it as a pretext to create even more misery.

Exactly. And new research shows that equality—not discrimination—makes gay people happier and healthier. (And yet the same folks who’ve insisted that they oppose equality for gay people because they worry about our health and happiness aren’t coming out for marriage equality. Strange.)

I’ve been out for a while and I’ve seen my share of damaged gay dudes destroy themselves. Watching a friend drink himself to death or drug himself to death or fuck himself to death—or all three-at-once himself to death—isn’t pretty. And here’s something I’ve noticed about the self-hating, self-destructing gay guys I’ve known: it wasn’t good enough for them to destroy only themselves. They had to destroy other gay men too. Using meth wasn’t enough—they wanted their friends to use meth too. Abusing alcohol wasn’t enough—they insisted that their friends match them drink-for-drink. And spinning out of control sexually wasn’t enough—they wanted their friends to join them down at the bathhouse. (And for the record: having been damaged by hate and homophobia as a child explains but it doesn’t excuse self-destructive behaviors in adulthood. You’re responsible for the choices you make.)

Which kindasorta brings me to my recent dustup with GOProud. The hard-right gay Republican organization—a rightwing front group that exists to pinkwash the GOP—endorsed Mitt Romney last week. Romney, of course, opposes marriage equality. Romney supports DOMA. Romney has pledged to write anti-gay bigotry into the U.S. Constitution. Romney opposed the repeal of DADT. Romney opposes the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Romney opposes adoptions by same-sex couples. GOProud’s endorsement of Romney, while not a surprise, was annoying, and it prompted me to send out this tweet: “The GOP’s house faggots grab their ankles, right on cue. Pathetic.” The boys at GOProud accused me of using a hate term and claimed that I had bullied them. For the record, boys, this is what the bullying of an adult looks like. Politically-active adults taking the piss out of each other—and you guys have called me all sorts of lovely names—isn’t bullying. And “faggot” is a word I’ve used to describe myself (on MSNBC!), it’s a term I’ve used to describe my husband (in books!), it’s a term my friends and I use to describe each other (all the time!). “Faggot” isn’t an insult in my book—that’s why I had to stick the word “house” in front of it.

Anyway, mixing it up with GOProud last week got me thinking about why a gay man would endorse—much less “commit significant resources” to help elect—a man who has pledged, if elected, to do as much harm as he possibly can to gay people. I mean, what kind of faggot supports a politician who would do him harm?

Oh, right: the same kind of faggot who would harm himself with drugs or alcohol or sex. The kind of gay men who don’t like themselves or other gay people much. But while most self-loathing, self-destructive gay men are content to abuse booze, drugs, or dick, the self-hating GOProud boys abuse themselves with politics. And just like gay meth addicts who aren’t satisfied harming only themselves, the boys at GOProud aren’t satisfied harming only themselves. They want to harm other gay people—they want to harm all gay people—by getting Mitt Romney elected. And just like your meth-addicted friend who pushed the drug on you, or your drunk friend who mocked you for stopping at four, or your sexually out-of-control friend who insisted that you were a prude if you didn’t play the come dump with him down at the bathhouse, the GOProud boys want you to abuse yourself the same way that they’re abusing themselves. They want you to vote for Mitt Romney for the same reason your meth-addicted pal wanted you to use that stupid drug.

Because they’re damaged.

Looks like the homocons just don’t get the message.

Michael Musto On GOProud

Joe.My.God. reports:

“So a bunch of sef-loathing gays endorses someone who wants to rewrite the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, and when someone attacks them for it, they insult his looks? And they reduce my career, without even addressing the issue at hand? I was hired as an entertainment columnist in 1984, but expanded that from day one to include gay (and other) political issues, as well as doing feature stories and eventually blogs on those topics. And I’ve fought self-loathing political crap, even angrier at the self-defeating bigots like LaSalvia who are smelling things up from within our own ranks than at the ones outside. Do I look like a Muppet? Yeah, but how is that relevant? Are the “professionals” in politics the ones who mock each other’s looks rather than try to find some rational defense for their own behavior? - Michael Musto, responding to GOProud’s attack on him.

Here’s what started it all. Jimmy LaSalvia: “Have you seen Michael Musto lately? We aren’t going to take serious political advice from a human Muppet. Musto should stick to writing gossip pieces about Lindsay Lohan, and leave politics to the professionals.”

Moron Of The Week: GOProud’s Jimmy LaSalvia

Again, I don’t want y’all bitching about how intolerant I am of gay republicans, because I’m not. It’s okay for LGBTs to have different political ideas than those from the left. But what I can’t really put my head around is why would someone endorse somebody who’s clearly against all of his/her interest?! 

That’s the case of this week’s new inductee Jimmy, co-founder of GOProud (along side with fellow “Moron Of The Week” Inductee Chris Barron), a group of LGBTs conservatives, which this week endorsed Mitt Romney to win this years Presidential Elections, cause you know, Romney is clearly an Ally for the LGBT Community, right?

Jimmy argues that although he and Romney have their differences on LGBT Rights (on basically everything!) he’s more concern about the economic issues, which for him Obama has performed so [not] poorly on, and that Romney would do way better.

Do I need more reasons to induct this guy to this list?

Tweet Of The Week: Dan Savage On GOProud’s Hypocrisy On “Gay” Slurs

Faggot: it’s a word I’m not allowed to use in reference to the disgusting quislings at GOProud. But they can use it: huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/08/ton…

— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) June 21, 2012

Here’s is what the article he links to, on The Huffington Post, refers to: 

Here’s the tweet he posted that caused all of the latest backlash against Dan:

The GOP’s house faggots grab their ankles, right on cue: thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/goproud-endors…. Pathetic.

— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) junio 20, 2012

Well, I’m kinda surprised that people are surprised that Dan used that kind of language. anyone who’s familiar with his work should know better.

Besides, ain’t ”faggot” like the “n” word? That only those who fit the description are the only ones that are allowed to use them?

And looks like faggots are far more pissed at that faggot than those that aren’t faggots, right?

GOProud’s Jimmy LaSalvia Still Thinks Mitt “Magic Underpants” Romney Likes Gay People

“WTF”-But-Predictible Act Of The Day: GOProud Endorses “Moron Of The Week” Inductee Mitt “Magic Underpants” Romney

Joe.My.God. reports: 

GOProud has endorsed the man who signed a hate group’s pledge to destroy gay families via the federal constitution.

• “Not only does President Obama not understand how the free markets work – he is openly hostile to free market capitalism,” said LaSalvia. “President Obama’s repeated attacks on Governor Romney’s private sector record underscore this President’s fundamental lack of understanding of how our economy works. Instead of demonizing free markets, President Obama should be focused on creating an economic environment that encourages free market investments and creates jobs.” “It is clear that the ‘hope and change’ of candidate Obama in 2008, has been replaced with ‘jealousy and envy,’” said LaSalvia. “Obama’s divisive attacks appeal to the absolute worst in Americans.” GOProud is the first and only organization representing gay Americans to endorse Governor Romney’s Presidential bid. “The truth is that this election is too important to wait or to sit on the sidelines,” continued LaSalvia. “We plan on spending every day between now and November working to make Obama a one term President.”

The above-linked press release notes that GOProud co-founder Chris Barron dissented from the endorsement. Barron is backing Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.

What GOProud Really Wants

Joe.My.God. reports:

Not only does GOProud oppose a federal anti-bullying law, they are cloaking their support for school vouchers by claiming it would protect gay kids. In fact, what GOProudreally wants is to further erode the crumbling public education system by having the government redirect funds to private religious schools. Or as in the case of the Santorums, pay the parents themselves for home schooling. All this “protection” talk is just a smokescreen, folks.

“Moron Of The Week” Inductee Andrew Breitbart Dies At 43

Before you even start ranting against me for writing such a “inappropriate” title for this post, you need to be familiar with Breitbart’s work, and although I’d never wished for him to die nor I’m happy for his passing. However, as Christopher Hitchens would have said: “Give them the credit and fame they earned when they were amongst us” (Hitchens might not have said those exact words, but he indeed practiced it with everyone he criticised, i.e. Jerry Falwell). And besides, I gave the late Senator James Forrester the same honours.

NBC Los Angeles reports:

Breitbart was walking near his home in Brentwood, Calif just after midnight Thursday when he collapsed according to his father-in-law Orson Bean. Someone saw Breitbart fall and called 911. Emergency crews tried to revive him and rushed him to the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center, Bean said.

According to Joe Jervis, Andrew’s father-in-law, Bean, was blacklisted during the McCarthy era for attending Communist Party meetings and was also a vocal proponent for Proposition 8.

Even his last Tweet shows his combative online persona. 

Now, I love how these history revisionists just like to think we won’t remember people’s actual work and fame. Andrew wasn’t the most loved and supported in the GOP, much less in the left. He wasn’t a role model nor a hero!

CNN: GOProud Banned At CPAC

Chris Barron Steps Down At GOProud

Joe.My.God. reports:

After a week of relentlessly bad publicity for the organization he co-founded in 2009, Chris Barron is stepping down as chairman at GOProud. Here’s the spin from their press release.

• Today GOProud, an organization of gay and straight Americans seeking to promote freedom by supporting free markets, limited government, and a respect for individual rights, announced that they were restructuring their Board of Directors. “Given the tremendous growth and success of GOProud in our first two and a half years of operation, we are restructuring and expanding our Board to meet the needs of a bigger organization,” said Christopher R. Barron, co-founder and outgoing Chair of the GOProud Board. Barron’s term as Board Chairman expires on December 31, 2011.

• “My role in the day to day management of GOProud will continue as the organization’s Chief Strategist and I will remain on the Board as Chairman Emeritus,” continued Barron. “It is with great excitement that I announce that conservative coalition builder and former CPAC Director Lisa De Pasquale has been elected interim Chairman of the GOProud Board of Directors. Lisa brings a lifetime of experience within the conservative movement and is the perfect person to oversee the expansion and restructuring of GOProud’s Board, as well as to help in refining GOProud’s mission and to aid in building a bigger, better and stronger organization.”

Is anybody buying this? Anybody? I’m betting that one of GOProud’s backers forced this change after the Rick Perry scandal.
As noted above, Barron’s replacement will be Lisa De Pasquale, whose Wikipedia entry describes her as an event planner and the director of CPAC from 2006-2011.

• “I am truly honored to be elected interim chairman of the GOProud board,” said De Pasquale. “The next several months will be important for their growth. Along with the GOProud staff, the Board will help refine the organization’s mission, develop a strategy for making Obama a one-term president, do substantive activities across the country, and build coalitions with conservative organizations, lawmakers and activists.” “One of the first steps the new GOProud Board will be taking is to expand,” continued De Pasquale. “We will be inviting many of our Advisory Council members to join the Board of Directors. We need their support, their talents and their advice in a more formal capacity to continue to be able to build on the successes of the last two and a half years.”

“Moron of The Week” Inductee Andrew Breitbart Tells Why He Resigned From GOProud Over Outing