CPAC To Allow GOProud, John Birch Society to Continue Sponsorship
Several socially conservative organizations have threatened to boycott one of the largest gatherings of conservative activists of the year if a group of gay Republicans is allowed to serve as a participating organization at the event.Social conservatives, including the National Organization for Marriage among others, staged a walk-out at a meeting of board members of the Conservative Political Action Conference, according to multiple board members, to protest CPAC’s decision to allow GOProud to join the event as more than just a vendor organization.
Those groups put enough pressure on the American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC, that officials put GOProud’s fate, along with that of the ultra-conservative John Birch Society, up for a vote. Results made available to board members on Wednesday showed the board voted to allow both groups to continue their affiliation with CPAC.
I’d like to see the inclusion of GOProud as a victory, but it isn’t over:
That could send socially conservative groups packing and cause a rift in the CPAC board. GOProud has its enemies on the board of directors. Board member Cleta Mitchell is stridently opposed to allowing the gay group to participate and has led the charge to kick them out of the event, according to other board members.
All you need to know about CPAC is that they’re more upset over the inclusion of gay people than they are by their continuing embrace of the John Birch Society. Where are the enemies of the JBS on the board of directors?
So don’t kid yourself: the Birchers and the radical right lunatic fringe still have a stranglehold on it.
See also previously here on LGF: Religious Right Groups Call on CPAC to Eject GOProud, Like Buckley Ejected the John Birch Society