Tyler Bilbo, Columnist
Ideology: Partisan Democrat | Writing from: Georgetown University

As a sexual minority within the indisputably homophobic conservative movement, gay conservatives face an unenviable set of challenges that escape the rest of the LGBT community. However, despite the disdain garnered by gay conservatives by their liberal counterparts, political ideology can function independently of sexual orientation. As the rise of gay right-wing organizations shows, conservative political thought can be reconciled with a more liberal view of homosexuality. To suggest otherwise would unnecessarily exacerbate the predicament of gay conservatives.

Given their unique placement in our political culture, gay conservatives have had to mobilize as their own faction. The Log Cabin Republicans, a partisan organization that advocates for gay rights within the Republican Party, has historically been the most visible collection of gay conservatives. In recent years, however, Log Cabin’s conservative bona fides have come under fire from other gay conservatives who bemoan the organization’s willingness to support insufficiently conservative Republicans who happen to support gay rights.

Enter GOProud. A new organization that targets the same audience as Log Cabin, GOProud has styled itself as a more conservative alternative to the Log Cabin Republicans. In reality, however, GOProud and Log Cabin serve two entirely different purposes: while Log Cabin is a legitimate gay rights organization that effectively advocates on behalf of the gay community’s most conservative members, GOProud couldn’t care less about the fight for LGBT equality.

Look no further than the two organizations’ respective webpages that outline their legislative priorities. While the Log Cabin Republicans restrict their focus to the most important political issues that affect gay and lesbian Americans, GOProud incorporates a laundry list of other conservative causes that they place on equal footing with the types of causes. In a ten-point list of their priorities, it takes GOProud until point number seven to even address the types of issues that consume legitimate gay advocacy organizations like Log Cabin.

GOProud’s alleged legitimacy as a gay advocacy group hinges on its ability to assimilate into the conservative movement. While many gay rights advocate decry this strategy as a crass “sell-out,” this approach does have its merits. Despite Log Cabin’s good work on behalf of gay conservatives, their singular focus on gay rights issues has inevitably led them to support some of the party’s most moderate members. In the current Congress, only one Republican (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen) is a reliable conservative vote who is an unabashed supporter of gay rights. Other pro-gay Republicans like Illinois’s Mark Kirk and California’s Mary Bono Mack, are some of the 111th Congress’s most moderate Republicans who are unable to reach out to the country’s conservative movement.

GOProud, however, is not taking advantage of its contrast against Log Cabin’s moderate image to reach out to previously unreachable conservatives. At last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), GOProud attended but did not seize the opportunity to challenge the level of homophobia that plagues the contemporary conservative movement. Instead, they participated in a tepid panel about mobilizing conservative voters with technology. Although I did not see the discussion that took place, I cannot imagine that such a forum would intersect with the type of advocacy that GOProud is capable of advancing on behalf of gay conservatives.

GOProud cannot restrict its focus to endearing itself to the conservative movement, but rather be more proactive advocates for one of the country’s most marginalized political constituencies. Their avoidance of gay issues at CPAC last week was an inexcusable display of cowardice that ultimately hurts the gay rights movement. Until they use such a fruitful opportunity to challenge the conservative movement’s homophobia, GOProud and their gay supporters will unfortunately remain the tactless sell-outs that they are.