Gay GOP Group Attacks Gay GOP Presidential Candidate For Being Gay

GOProud, a gay Tea Party GOP group, has again attacked Fred Karger, America’s first openly-gay presidential candidate, essentially for being gay and for discussing LGBT-related issues, such as marriage equality. Karger, a Republican, has been barred from participating in Republican presidential debates, such as the recent one televised on Fox News, despite the fact that he apparently met the qualifications demanded by Fox.

The Advocate reports that “executive director Jimmy LaSalvia told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I would love for there to be an openly gay, credible candidate for president who was out there making a case for why they would be better than Barack Obama.

“Unfortunately, Fred Karger is playing a stunt, and his stunt has run its course. His whole shtick is … running around the country with a rainbow flag, saying ‘I’m the gay guy,’ ” LaSalvia reportedly said. “But he hasn’t made a case about why he should be president of the United States.”

GOProud has a history of attacking Karger.

In May, The Raw Story noted GOProud “fiercely denounced and dismissed gay GOP presidential candidate, Fred Karger of California.

“Fred Karger’s candidacy is a bad joke. He is not a credible candidate,” GOProud‘s executive director Jimmy LaSalvia told Raw Story in an email. “For one, I’ve never heard him articulate why he would be a better president than Barack Obama, and he spends all his time talking about how homophobic the Republican Party is.”

“It seems to me that he’s probably running in the wrong primary,” LaSalvia said. “Maybe ‘Mr. Pro-Marriage Equality Karger’ should run in the Democratic primary against ‘Anti-Marriage Equality Obama.'”

And there’s the issue. Jimmy LaSalvia, co-founder of the Tea Party Republican group GOProud, doesn’t like the fact that a Republican is supporting marriage equality. Go figure.

(Chris Barron, LaSaliva’s co-founder, is gay and married to a man. Go figure, again.)

The Bay Area Reporter in May also reported bias, noting, “Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of the conservative gay Republican group GOProud, doesn’t believe Karger should be added to the polls or asked to the debates.

“I think his 15 minutes are up,” LaSalvia told the B.A.R. “Now that the race is on and the credible candidates are launching their campaigns, Fred should find something else to do. His run for president stunt has run its course.”

For the record, Fred Karger’s website states the Republican candidate has said,

“We have to discourage companies from sending jobs overseas… I want to work with these corporations to incentivize them to keep these jobs in America.”

“I am a fiscal conservative; I come from a finance background. I want to work to strengthen our economy. I believe in the private sector.”

“I want to elevate [education] to number one again, to put attention on it and get public discussion. I think we need to make school more interesting and fun to get kids excited.”

“I support Obama right now on the international coalition in Libya, if we can get in there without ground troops, if we can get rid of Gaddafi, who is the ultimate terrorist, who has done great damage not only to his people but our own, then that would be a success.”

“I want a path to citizenship for immigrants already living in the country, as well as greatly improve border security to discourage future law-breaking.”

“We need to explore alternative energy, wind and solar power. My home state of California is going to have a third of all power from renewable sources by 2020.”

“I feel that we should immediately begin discussion and planning to lower the legal voting age in the United States to either 16 or 17 years old.”

“We should then encourage our schools and school districts to teach these young people about elections and the campaigns on the local, state and national level while they are happening.”

Certainly more issue-discussion than LaSalvia gives Karger credit for. Is LaSalvia afraid of a gay Republican on the campaign trail or in the White House? While tNCRM is decidedly liberal, progressive, and Democratic, we certainly believe in equality of opportunity, evidently, unlike LaSalvia.

(image: Karger campaigning for President in Iowa in 2010.)