The Republican Party continues to be torn asunder by gay politics...

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While candidates for the RNC chairmanship are trumpeting their "traditional values" to bolster votes, key allies like the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the National Organization for Marriage are pulling out of American Conservative Union's massive conservative gathering, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), because of the inclusion of the gay group GOProud.

This moment may not be a sea change, but it is indicative of things to come, and puts gay pressure on Republican heavyweights like Newt Gingrich, Marco Rubio and Ron and Rand Paul.

""CWA has decided not to participate in part because of GOProud," said the group's president, Penny Nance.

FRC senior vice president Tom McClusky echoed her remarks, "We will no longer be involved with CPAC because of the organization's... movement away from conservative principles." Right wing organizations like Liberty Counsel, the Center for Military Readiness and American Principles Project have also turned their backs on CPAC for its GOProud invite.

This isn't the first time CPAC has faced anti-gay criticism from its former allies: the group came under heavy fire last year, when it first invited GOProud, and it seems the group itself is split on how to proceed: an internal vote to include GOProud won by the slimmest of margins.

GOProud seems unperturbed by the opposition, and chairman Chris Barron released a statement earlier this month insisting, "We are excited to be participating in CPAC again this year. CPAC is the most influential and important gathering of grassroots conservatives in the country and an event we are proud to support." Whether the other participants will support them, however, remains to be seen.

CPAC boasts a star-studded line-up of Republican politicos looking to spread their conservative message, and this year's event boasts the aforementioned GOP figures, as well as Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, Sen. Jim DeMint, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, to name a few. These leaders' dedication to the event doesn't come from their support for GOProud, of course -- they want attention and accolades. But that doesn't mean Gingrich and the rest can't use CPAC as an opportunity open the GOP's tent.

"By bringing in GOProud, CPAC was effectively saying moral opposition to homosexuality is no longer welcome in the conservative movement," said boycott supporter, and leader of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, Peter LaBarbera. "Shame on CPAC for defending the absurd proposition that one can be 'conservative' while embracing moral surrender – in this case the idea espoused by GOProud of the government granting 'rights' and benefits based on sinful sexual conduct long regarded as anathema to biblical and Judeo-Christian values."

This battle isn't simply about gay people, though. It's also about the libertarianism that's sweeping the nation. "[ACU has] gone libertarian, that's their focus," said Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver. "Libertarianism is right on the economy, often wrong on national defense, and doesn't care about social conservatism. Libertarians only respect one leg of the Reagan revolution, and you can't stand for long on one leg."

But, as we learned this past election, libertarian thinking has been gaining steam, and while not necessarily "gay-friendly" at the moment, their small government trend could help pull the Republican party out of people's bedrooms.

Rather than eroding conservatism, CPAC, however begrudgingly, is expanding its definition. It may not be the most progressive -- you won't find CPAC fighting for gay marriage -- but at least it's something.

If CPAC's participants want to move their movement forward, they owe it to increasingly vocal gay Republicans to explicitly address their political wants and needs. The odds of that, sadly, are unlikely: none of the participants listed on CPAC's site have a great record on gay rights.

Gingrich, for example, recently compared equality to part of a "secular socialist agenda," and Rand Paul has spoken out against the "dangers" of "two mommies." And, in the end, FRC and the others' boycott probably won't have an immediate impact on the Republican party's social conservative baiting: the GOP won't turn its back on FRC over this little boycott.

But that doesn't make this schism any less important: it illustrates the slow, but sure, integration between Republican gays and their party peers, as well as the waning influence of "traditional values" groups like FRC, who, once upon a time, could have forced CPAC's hand. Now they're finding themselves impotent in the face of evolving attitudes.

GOProud's participation in CPAC isn't monumental, nor will it change the Republican party's cultural direction, but at least it's a development, one that represents a small success for gay people of all political leanings.

Now, let's hope Gingrich and his allies see the changing scene and realize that equality's the ticket to ultimate political success, instead of simply using groups like GOProud to further their personal ambitions.

I suppose, though, that the latter possibility puts the ball in GOProud's court: will they be content simply to be invited to the ball, or will they use the opportunity to put some pressure on those they call comrades? The choice is theirs, but if they want to do the right thing, they'll use their new-found place in the party to make a progressive change.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore's Flickr gayrights.change.org

 by Andrew Belonsky who is a journalist living in New York City.