by Chris Bodenner
"Last week, after the announcement that [Right Wing News] is sponsoring Homocon, people started asking me why RWN chose to promote that event. After all, I'm against gays in the military, I'm a strong supporter of Prop 8, and I'm very much in favor of a Federal Marriage Amendment. So, why back a gay group that doesn't agree with me on any of those issues? ...
[T]here's a world of difference between saying, "This is the Republican Party's position on this issue" and saying, "This is the Republican Party's position on this issue and to be a Republican, you have to agree with it." A political party that holds the former position can be both principled and have a big tent, while a political party that holds the latter position is doomed to purge heretics on one issue after the other until it dies an ignominious death. Additionally, no matter what your race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation may be, you should be welcomed into the Republican Party and the conservative movement. If there are people who don't agree with that, if there are people who think a gay conservative or a gay Republican is a contradiction of terms, then we're just never going to see eye-to-eye," - John Hawkins.