CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, has been an annual gig for me for years. But this year I concluded it was not my place and I declined to participate in the various venues at the event for which I was invited. Yes, the reason I declined was the inclusion of GOProud, a group identifying itself as representing “gay conservatives and their allies,” as a sponsor of the event. And it’s the reason why some of the nation’s most important conservative organizations — the Heritage Foundation, the American Family Association, Concerned Women of America, Family Research Council, Media Research Center, and the National Organization for Marriage — did not participate.

The founder and chairman of GOProud removed any doubt on my part that not participating was the correct decision by dismissing these groups as “losers,” “clowns” and “not relevant.”