1.16.14 Editor’s Desk

1.16.14 Editor’s Desk

SteveBlanchardHeadshotOn Jan. 13, Jimmy LaSalvia, the founder of the gay-powered Republican group GOProud, announced he had left the Republican Party and the organization he founded to become an Independent. LaSalvia penned a short, well-thought blog about his decision on his website, and it was immediately picked up by LGBT news outlets.

With that news, the LGBT internet awoke with slams about his looks, his hair, his personality and his past defenses of the GOP’s historically anti-gay stances.

Not exactly a productive response.

LaSalvia, like everyone else in this country, has a right to his political opinions. I swing much further left than he does and it’s rare that I agree with his diatribes against our President, the Democratic party, or the praises he has heaped on Republican presidential candidates the past few election cycles.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t respect his decision to share his political journey with the world.

“I just don’t agree with the big-government ‘conservatives’ who run the party now,” LaSalvia wrote. “The other reason I am leaving is the tolerance of bigotry in the GOP. The current leadership lacks the courage to stand up to it-I’m not sure they ever will.”

While LaSalvia doesn’t go into detail, one can guess that he’s referring to the ongoing Republican stance against marriage equality. However, he goes on to say that he worked hard to “help create an atmosphere on the right where conservatives can openly support gay Americans and even support same-sex marriage.”

While a handful of Republicans do support LGBT rights-Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Republican Pinellas County Commissioner John Morroni, for example-it’s hard to deny that the party as a whole has an awful track record on LGBT equality. LaSalvia admits this.

“There is more work to do to root out the anti-gay and other forms of bigotry in the party,” he wrote, adding that his voter registration changed to “no party.”

It’s a journey not so different than Charlie Crist’s, who told Watermark in our last issue that he was wrong to support the ban on marriage equality in Florida and issued a sincere apology. In that case, many LGBTs are also reluctant to offer Crist forgiveness for his evolved stance and view his long switch from Republican to Democrat as opportunistic rather than heartfelt.

I, for one, applaud LaSalvia’s announcement. Not because I see it as a blow to a political party with which I am not affiliated. But because he is confident enough in his decision to share it with the world and to continue fighting for what he believes.

It’s similar to when an individual leaves an abusive relationship. He or she believes they can “change” the abuser, until an exit from the relationship is finally realized. Should we chastise the abused person for taking so long to leave or celebrate the fact they’ve finally found their own voice?

With news of LaSalvia’s resignation, I checked out the GOProud website to see how the organization handled his exit.

“We want to take an opportunity to thank our co-founder, Jimmy LaSalvia, for all of the work he has done in the party and the movement,” the group said in a statement.”We’re sad to lose him, but everyone must follow their conscience. At GOProud, we remain proud Republicans, and proud Conservatives and we will continue to work to represent our members as both. We’re making tremendous strides toward a more inclusive party, and look forward to much success in 2014.”

While I may not understand GOProud-or the Log Cabin Republicans-I can hope that the members stay true to their mission to convince the party to embrace LGBT equality. This month even conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said that marriage equality is an “inevitability,” so there are strides being made.

LaSalvia’s decision to leave the GOP is his alone. The motivation behind it may or may not be the reasons he stated. But ultimately, only he knows where he’s headed politically and I understand that there are many more issues out there than LGBT equality.

Instead of blasting him for supporting a party that doesn’t support LGBT equality, maybe we should encourage him on his journey, and hope others on both sides of the political spectrum can find their own voices as well.

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