Gay Republican Candidate Accuses Conservative Conference of 'Discrimination'
Fred Karger, the first openly gay Republican presidential candidate, has filed a discrimination complaint against a major conservative group for barring him from their conference.
Karger, of Laguna Beach, Calif. is a gay activist, and feels he was excluded from the American Conservative Union's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C.
Karger, a GOP candidate who has not received much publicity, intended to attend the event which publicized itself as "the largest gathering of conservative leaders and activists in the country." He felt that because his Republican credentials were "impeccable" - he's been the senior consultant for the campaigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Gerald Ford - he should be allowed at the conference.
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"CPAC has denied my request to purchase a booth at their trade show for the second year in a row," read Karger's complaint.
Although CPAC has previously included gay advocacy groups like GOProud at their conference in the past, the withdrawal of family-oriented groups such as The Heritage Foundation, the Media Research Center, the Family Research Council, and Concerned Women for America, has prompted the conservative conference to adjust its stance to align more with voters.
GOProud's stance is an "affront to the GOP platform, conservatism and, most importantly, the Word of God," Americans for Truth's Peter La Barbera told WND.com.
Statements like these caused CPAC chairman Al Cardenas to start a "comprehensive vetting process on each CPAC participant," which necessitated the removal of gay agenda groups, and the denial of Karger's same-sex marriage platform.
The only homosexual presidential candidate to get on state ballots, Karger insists that he is being denied a human right, despite his views clashing with those of CPAC and many of its participants.
Because of the lack of media attention to Karger's bid to "throw a wrench into Romney's run," the former consultant has tried numerous ways to get noticed, including releasing 12 years of tax returns at the George Romney Institute for Law and Public Policy at Adrian College.
