'This is the line in the sand'

APP founder Dr. Robert George

Five organizations have joined the American Principles Project in boycotting the Conservative Political Action Conference this year over the inclusion of a homosexual activist organization, GOProud.

American Values, Capital Research Center, the Center for Military Readiness, Liberty Counsel, and the National Organization for Marriage have joined APP in sending a letter announcing the decision to American Conservative Union chairman David Keene, the chief organizer of CPAC.

APP announced its own withdrawal from CPAC last week, as WND reported.

The boycott announcement comes as CPAC's board of directors is voting on whether GOProud will continue to be permitted to participate in this year's CPAC. GOProud was a sponsor of last year's conference, and is currently listed as a participant in the upcoming conference in February.

Last week WND reported that GOProud coauthored a letter with a handful of Tea Party leaders urging Congress to ignore social issues.

GOProud "stands in diametrical opposition to a core principle of conservatism," according to APP President Frank Cannon. Like other homosexual agenda advocates, GOProud supports full participation of homosexuals in the military and opposes federal laws upholding one man-one woman marriage.

"Social conservatism is one of the three pillars of conservatism, along with strong national defense and fiscal responsibility," Cannon told WND. "APP supports all three pillars."

"This is the line in the sand," said Cannon. "True conservatives and conservative organizations are rejecting the efforts to destroy conservatism from within by those attempting to marginalize social conservatism."

"If the CPAC board and chairman persist in abandoning faith, family and traditional core values, we must abandon CPAC," said Cannon.

Other conservative organizations have told WND they are considering joining the boycott or are protesting GOProud's participation by alternate means.

Americans for Truth about Homosexuality President Peter LaBarbera told WND his group would "probably" join APP. LaBarbera's organization is explicitly devoted to fighting the homosexual political agenda advocated by GOProud.

"It's important for us to attend CPAC to reach young conservatives," LaBarbera said. "But we don't have to participate formally to do that. We can also hand out protest literature outside the conference."

A CPAC board member told WND the GOProud vote was originally to have been announced Monday, but the process has apparently been delayed.

"The advisory vote of the ACU board will be complete when we receive the votes of two board members who have not yet sent in their votes," Keene wrote to WND. "We expect the voting to be completed within
the next few days."

"I don't believe the board members voting have been influenced in the
slightest by the supposed boycott," said Keene.

Keene declined to respond to WND's inquiries about whether he thinks GOProud should participate in CPAC, and whether opposing the homosexual agenda is a core conservative value.

"We have to be careful not to include in any official capacity organizations whose core purposes are grossly offensive to any element of our conservative coalition," said a CPAC board member who voted against GOProud. "Marriage as a union between one man and one woman is a central part of the culture of conservative issues we built a movement around with many long years of hard labor."

"Among other things this organization has savagely attacked Sen. Jim DeMint, which doesn't seem to me an appropriate behavior for a group that's going to participate in CPAC," the board member told WND. DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, is a hero to social conservatives.

"GOProud is not really conservative, even on fiscal matters," said LaBarbera. "They support a big government gay agenda. They support a huge expansion of the federal government's role in society merely by redefining the definition of the word 'spouse.' Extending health insurance benefits to domestic partners is going to cost the taxpayer. I wonder if CPAC has any idea what GOProud's policy agenda would cost the U.S. treasury."

"We would certainly attend CPAC if GOProud does not participate," Cannon told WND. "We enjoy the opportunity to meet with fellow conservatives, but at some point we have to draw the line at groups that want to tear down the people and issues central to the social conservative movement."