Dan Savage Drops F-Bomb

He criticized conservative gay group GOProud this week

When gay conservative group GOProud endorsed Mitt Romney in the presidential election, columnist Dan Savage had some harsh words. But one word in particular drew the ire from LGBT advocates. “The GOP’s house faggots grab their ankles, right on cue,” he wrote. “Pathetic.”

But is it really okay to use the F-word, even if it is coming from one gay person to the next?

Here’s what inspired the statement: “GOProud is prepared to commit significant resources to help make Mitt Romney the next President of the United States,” says Lisa De Pasquale, interim chair of the GOProud Board of Directors and the former director of the Conservative Political Action Committee.

In the 2010 midterms, GOProud was the first organization representing gay Americans to run television ads against Democratic candidates. And while we tend to agree with Savage’s point – that the group is supporting a candidate who is against same-sex marriage and other critical LGBT rights issues – the F-word doesn’t seem to be the best way of criticizing the group. It’s especially disturbing coming from the founder of the It’s Get Better Project – an initiative that fights against anti-gay bullying. Call us crazy, but is Savage’s statement really that far off the mark from what bullies used to taunt every day?

GOProud is the first and only organization representing gay Americans to endorse Governor Romney’s Presidential bid.

“We don’t agree with Governor Romney on every single issue – indeed we disagree strongly with him on his support for a federal marriage amendment and we have urged Romney publicly to take bolder and more conservative stances on tax reform, entitlement reform and spending,” says Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud Executive Director. “Given the vote on our board, obviously not everyone in our organization will agree with this endorsement, and we respect that.”

GLAAD has yet to issue a statement over the use of the word “faggots.” What are they waiting for?