News

Log Cabin Republicans Statement on Exclusion from CPAC

February 19, 2015

Washington, D.C. - In the wake of increased inquiries as to whether or not Log Cabin Republicans would be participating at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) organized by the American Conservative Union (ACU), Log Cabin Republicans National Executive Director Gregory T. Angelo issued the following statement:

"The American Conservative Union has the right to invite or not invite whoever they want to the Conservative Political Action Conference, but they should be honest about the reasons why. The ACU is fond of hiding behind a fig leaf stating gay people are welcome as guests, but the ability to buy a ticket to CPAC was never what our debate was about; indeed, I will be attending CPAC, as will hundreds of other Log Cabin Republicans members and supporters. Make no mistake: Log Cabin is actively being prohibited from sponsoring CPAC. For our organization, this has always been about contributing to CPAC as sponsors or in some recognized capacity. Time and again, when we showed the ACU that we met the criteria for sponsorship, the reasons for our exclusion changed. The only conclusion that can be made is that the organizers of CPAC do not feel gay people can be conservative-a position opposed by the thousands of Millennial CPAC attendees who have been asking Log Cabin Republicans for months if we would be participating at this year's event. We owed it to them to explain why we are not."

Discussions with the ACU and its new leadership began in July of 2014, at which point Log Cabin Republicans was told CPAC participation would be difficult because Log Cabin is a "Republican" organization rather than a "conservative" organization. When Log Cabin Republicans contended that regular CPAC participation of other explicitly Republican organizations was common, the ACU stated Log Cabin Republicans was not "conservative enough," prompting Log Cabin to send the ACU the following list of conservative positions the organization has taken over the past two years alone:

• Obamacare repeal
• Comprehensive tax reform
• Pro-Growth Budgeting
• Privacy rights
• Permanent Bonus Depreciation tax cut
• Second Amendment
• No Obamacare exemption for Congress
• Preserve the Sequester
• Making tax reform a priority in the 114th Congress
• Pro-energy, pro-business policy (fracking)

"We are just as conservative as anyone else at CPAC-I dare say even more conservative than many; the only difference is that we are gay. Remarkably, in 2015, that's all the ACU needs to know to shut an organization out," Angelo added. "Incredibly, among the greatest ironies at CPAC 2015 is that Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson will be honored with a Freedom of Speech Award at this year's event, when Log Cabin Republicans was one of the only conservative organizations with the guts to defend him in the aftermath of his notorious comments to GQ Magazine in 2013. If anyone should be honored with a Freedom of Speech Award at this year's CPAC, it should be Log Cabin Republicans."