The College Fix

Recently, a big to-do has been brewing over a threatened boycott of this year’s CPAC by certain organizations upset at the admission of GOProud. In case you didn’t know, GOProud is a conservative group that, among other things, supports the legalization of gay marriage and the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

It’s no surprise that there’s going to be a few people wound up about a gay rights group attending a conservative convention like this one. That said, I’m really disappointed so many major players like the Heritage Foundation are willing to obstruct progress over something as minor as this.

What bothers me the most, though, is the continued hypocrisy of people that call themselves conservatives and yet are so against gay rights. Let’s take a quick review of a few conservative tenants that I think we can all agree on.

Small government, low regulation, high personal responsibilities and individual rights, right? Is there anything in there a conservative would disagree with? I’m inclined to say not. If we assume that a true conservative follows these basic tenants, then how could he or she ever be against gay marriage? Really, I would think conservatives would be against government involvement in marriage altogether, no matter the gender of the participants. But at the very least, I’d hope that they would realize the equality of all people and respect their individual choices.

If you really believe that homosexuality is a sin, well, that’s your right, even if I disagree with you.  However, sin should not be prevented or punished by the government unless it also breaks some constitutionally permissible law. We live in a free country, where out governing body is legally separated by the authority of any church. Christians and others shouldn’t  legally force individuals with different beliefs to conform to their own.

If God truly disapproves of homosexuals, let Him deal with it. I assure you, he doesn’t need us to do it for Him. In the mean time, I recommend that we all remove the logs from our own eyes before complaining about splinters. Gays aren’t a threat to our country. They’re not running up the national debt or bailing out banks or pushing outrageous healthcare programs at us. They’re not plotting terror attacks in the mountains of Pakistan or threatening the annihilation of Israel. We have enough real opponents and enemies in the world, we don’t need to be making up boogie men in our midst.

In fact, we should be doing the opposite right now. At a time when conservatives must unite to get our country’s economy and foreign policies back on track, the last thing we need is infighting over issues like this one. We should gather like-minded allies, regardless of their sexual orientation and other preferences, which is exactly what CPAC purports to do.

Homosexuals might be a minority, but they are still a significant group–and they vote in very high proportions. The conservative movement can not afford to continue making needless enemies of homosexuals and their social allies. Embracing true conservative values and supporting gay rights would undermine a major liberal voting base and bring more voters to the conservative side. Groups like GOProud are full of intelligent and productive members and CPAC is stronger for hosting them.

Those that are willing to set back the conservative movement because of minor issues like this need to reevaluate their priorities. Or perhaps they would be better off attending the next liberal conference, where they will find more support for the government interfering in peoples’ personal lives.

Mark Miller is a Publication Management senior at the University of Georgia.

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