Coulter Wants to Woo the Gays

The conservative columnist criticized liberals for co-opting gays and wanting to destroy families at CPAC

Ann Coulter courtesy of CPAC

During the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday, conservative columnist Ann Coulter gave a speech bashing liberals, and sharing her thoughts about why the right wing should embrace gays. GOProud, a conservative gay group, caused controversy when they wanted to attended CPAC much to the dismay of several religious groups – a few of which boycotted the event.

Coulter spoke about the importance of a gay presence in the conservative movement, using it as an opportunity to blast liberals who she accused of trying to capitalize on the gay rights movement and destroy families.

“Liberals want to use gays as a cat’s paw to attack the family because liberals want families destroyed,” said Coulter during her speech, according to a CNN report. “I am as born-again evangelical Christian as they come…the gay argument is why do conservatives act like our sins are worse then their sins…and no, of course not… I would like gays to be part of conservatism just the way women are without there being a special designation for it, that’s what I’d prefer. …The left is trying to co-opt gays and I don’t think we should let them, they should be on our side.”

But given the outrage over a conservative gay group like GOProud’s inclusion in CPAC, an event spotlighting former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Phyllis Schlafly, both of whom have been outspoken against marriage equality and DADT, saying homosexuality is an “abomination,” Coulter’s wanting to woo the gays over to the right – however surprising to some – may be more of a pipe dream in the whole of the conservative movement in America. Many conservatives would rather not have had gay righter wingers included in the conference. Both the Family Research Council and Concerned Women of America refused to attend because GOProud was present.

Andrew Breitbart, however, seems to side with Coulter. As a member of GOProud’s advisory council, Breitbart attended the conference. “The truth is that it is liberals in America who are bent on dividing people, on forcing people into ideological boxes based merely on their race, religion, sex or sexual orientation,” said Breitbart in a press statement. “I applaud GOProud’s strong, principled conservatism and admire their courage to defy the left’s stifling demand for group conformity.”

The conservative gay group also recently made a statement against taxpayer funding of abortion, which would impact organizations like Planned Parenthood that risk shutting down without the federal funds.

As for Coulter’s new-found sense of gay (conservative) pride, she added that she actually has a lot in common with gay people: “We like the same music, we like the same cocktails and we like a lot of the same men.”