Cenk Uygur Tries to Get GOProud's Chris Barron to Explain Why He's a Republican
As David informed us earlier this week, CPAC is losing significant chunks of the gay-bashing right over their invitation for GOProud to attend their convention this year. Cenk Uygur attempted to get their chairman, Christopher Barron to explain why he's a Republican in the first place given the way the party benefits from attacking the LGBT community.
UYGUR: All right. President Obama has said many times if you want to go forward, you put it in "D." If you want to go backwards, you put it in "R." Get it?
All right. Now, the president and the Democrats made history last week. They repealed "Don`t Ask, Don`t Tell," and that is a huge step forward for gay rights.
But, as always, the "Grand Old Party" is stuck in the stone age. Two major conservative groups, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council, are boycotting the conservative political action conference this year. They`re out -- they`re sitting it out because GOProud, a national organization of gay conservatives, was invited to the event.
For more on this, let`s turn to the chairman of the board of GOProud, Christopher Barron.
All right, Chris. First, let me get it out of the way. Why on God`s green earth are you even a Republican?
CHRISTOPHER BARRON, CHAIRMAN, GOPROUD: Why am I a Republican? Well, first off, I`m not just a Republican, I`m a conservative Republican.
And I`m a conservative because while I was born gay, I wasn`t born to believe that government has all of the answers. In fact, I`ve seen throughout my life that, in fact, government is often the problem, because I believe in free markets, because I believe in a strong military defense, because I believe in the power of the individual. That`s why I`m a conservative Republican.
UYGUR: Right. I understand that. And are gay people -- do they have opinions that range from liberal to conservative on economic matters and other matters? Of course.
BARRON: Absolutely.
UYGUR: Right. I get that.
But what I don`t get is how you can, with a good conscience, vote for a party that does not like you? They don`t like who you are. They don`t like your identity.
BARRON: First off, I completely and totally reject that. We`re, for the second year in a row, participating in CPAC, the largest --
UYGUR: Congratulations. Two years in a row. How about all the other years?
