Gay Conservative Jimmy LaSalvia on Leaving the GOP (And Why You Should, Too!)

Jimmy LaSalvia shook up the conservative world when he and fellow former Log Cabin Republicans staffer Chris Barron co-founded GOProud, a gay political group that sought to align LGBT and conservative causes.

For several years, GOProud created tremors in the right-of-center political landscape, with the group's participation at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2010 and 2011 generating friction among the party's rabidly anti-gay fringe and its more inclusive -- and culturally attuned -- mainstream membership. When shady dealings behind the scenes resulted in GOProud's exclusion from CPAC in 2012, LaSalvia and Barron doubled down and did their best to support the Romney presidential campaign -- despite the Romney camp ignoring and marginalizing GOProud.

Eventually, LaSalvia came to a pair of intertwined realizations. The first: The Republican party has been irrevocably hijacked by what he calls the "crazies," the out-of-touch but influential extremists who have all but rendered the GOP's candidates for national office unelectable. Barack Obama's re-election in 2012 sent up a red flag that while the "crazies" might be influential enough to commandeer the Republicans, they are not influential enough to sway America's voters to their side.

An "autopsy" on the 2012 elections undertaken by the GOP determined that the party needs to embrace modernity and inclusivity, but the facts on the ground have not changed since Mitt Romney's defeat. So far, the 2016 election is shaping up as a repeat of 2012, with a large (and, critics say, circus-like) field of prospective candidates giving loud voice to retrogressive social views. Gays are, of course, a main target of the hard-right's ire, especially given the Supreme Court's finding last June that marriage equality is a right belonging to all American citizens, not just the heterosexual majority.

LaSalvia's second realization is that the GOP never was, and never will be, a party with a tent large enough to welcome GLBT conservatives. His attempts to be a "team player" had not succeeded at convincing that hard-core anti-gay right that men who love (and marry) men can also be standard-bearers for the traditional conservative values of personal responsibility and limited government. The reflexive bigotry of that wing of the party is far too deeply ingrained -- and LaSalvia eventually concluded that there is simply no hope that the GOP will ever become a party that embraces the realities of the 21st century.

That led to LaSalvia's public exit from the Republican party and his registering as an Independent -- another event that sent seismic ripples through the conservative world. It also led to (and inspired the title for) his new book, "No Hope," an account not only of LaSalvia's career and political philosophy, but also of the behind-the-scenes clashes between GOProud and the Republican establishment in 2012.

LaSalvia names names (and, on occasion, calls names -- though, as he assures the reader, none that his targets don't deserve). He doesn't gussy up his opinions, or hide his message behind circular and meaningless prose. This book is LaSalvia as himself: Witty, determined, and unafraid to employ plain language. It's also a portrait of the gay conservative as a "normal person," an American tired of governmental overreach into his personal affairs. In "No Hope," LaSalvia makes his case for the book's subtitle: "Why I Left the GOP (and You Should, Too)."

EDGE has long covered LaSalvia's efforts to give America's gay conservatives a voice. It was with his accomplishments in mind that EDGE recently conducted an interview with the former Republican about his career, his book, and his newfound liberation to be his most authentic self.

EDGE: You made major waves when you publicly quit the GOP. Have those waves subsided some, or is there still shock in the conservative community over your having left the Republican Party and become an Independent?

Jimmy LaSalvia: Even though I left the party over 18 months ago, a lot of people are still surprised that I am no longer a Republican because I was the ultimate GOP team player for many years.

I was recognized as the country's top gay Republican, but that wasn't the reality. As a right-of-center gay American, I am actually the ultimate outsider in our closed two-party system! In the end, I am like most people in America, and I have come to realize that neither party represents me.

EDGE: I think you lay out your thinking and goals in "NO HOPE" very clearly, explaining why and how a gay conservative can and should be part of the actively engaged political right wing, despite prejudicial thinking from both the left and the right that gays and conservatism don't mix. Are more people in the establishment going to "get it" as a result of the book?

Jimmy LaSalvia: Most people on the right and the left will certainly have a clearer view of what my goals and motivations were in the work that I did. I will get some personal satisfaction out of that. We'll see if they finally "get it," but I don't think it matters if they get it anymore. It's just too late.

There are so many Republicans who are culturally modern in their views, but they tolerate the bigots in their party because they think that the right point of view will eventually prevail. The problem is that it didn't happen fast enough, and now the GOP brand is rendered unacceptable by most Americans. It's now an untenable coalition that includes the tolerance of anti-gay and other types of rank bigotry.

I hope the good people in the Republican Party will realize, as I have, that their energies are better spent helping to bring free-market reforms to the electoral system so that more points of view are represented and so that you don't have to join one party or the other in order to participate in the process.

EDGE: You make a convincing case in "No Hope" for the GOProud strategy of telling your intended audience what they need to hear, but also waiting until the optimum moment to express the message. Has that moment arrived for gay conservatives? Is that thinking behind the timing of your book?

Jimmy LaSalvia: Yes, and yes. In fact, that moment has arrived for all the culturally modern people in the Republican Party, gay and straight. It's time to tell them that they are wasting their time. Look at the lengths I went to to help the party. Look at how I compromised myself in order to be a team player. The message to them is stop compromising your principles. It's not worth it because, where the GOP is concerned, it doesn't ever really get better.

EDGE: In "No Hope" you describe how the GOP has been lost to what you call "the crazies" -- the hard-right social conservatives who really just wish everyone who's not straight, white, and Christian would shut up. Let's imagine that someone from "the crazies" managed to get into the White House. Realistically, what kind of damage could they do?

Jimmy LaSalvia: Well, that's just not a realistic hypothetical situation! What more Republicans need to understand is that none of them, not normal Republicans and not the crazies, will be elected to the White House because too many Americans find their party unacceptable. That's what happens when bigotry is tolerated. The crazies are holding back the party and have damaged the GOP to the point that I don't think they'll ever win a national election again. It's just too late for them.

EDGE: Your book describes the systematic isolation and marginalization that GOProud suffered for years by the very people you were trying to help. Did leaving the Republican Party feel like calling it quits on an abusive relationship? Is that a fair characterization?

Jimmy LaSalvia: That's a totally fair characterization. I get it. I mean, how many times are you going keep going back for more after you get kicked in the teeth by the ones you are trying to help?

Honestly, it may be a little more like an abusive sibling. The parents, the "establishment" leaders, tolerate the abusive sibling at the expense of the good kids because they can't bear to show the abuser tough love. They don't show favoritism to the good kids either for fear of inciting a reaction from the abusive kid. They publicly pretend that the abusive child isn't damaging their family in hopes that the rest of the world will think that they are normal. The GOP is just one big dysfunctional family!

EDGE: There's a sense in "No Hope" of real liberation: You're free to name names and call people out for specific instances of bad behavior, bigotry, and ineffectual leadership, even going so far as to revisit the Cleta Mitchell "nasty bigot" flap and reveal a private nickname for Reince Priebus that summarizes his lack of courage in confronting the party's extremists. Do you expect backlash or pushback from your former fellow GOP members over the book? Do you care?

Jimmy LaSalvia: Oh, I am sure there will be lots of attacks from conservative GOP loyalists. That's what they do if you are not a team-player, they attack. I'm sure that many of them will say that I was never truly part of the team or not a real conservative. Whatever. I couldn't care less about what they say about me. As the saying goes -- I don't have any fucks left to give!

That's why I am free to say it exactly how I see it. At the end of the day, that's the ultimate message of the book, too. Quit caring what others think and quit contorting yourself in order to be a team player in our broken two-party system. Everyone should feel the wonderful freedom that I feel, the feeling of being a free-thinking independent.

EDGE: "No Hope" is an enjoyable read, in part because it's written in such a casual and person-to-person way. Is this your natural writing style? Had you considered a more academic approach to your writing but set that aside because it might be too dry, or inaccessible?

Jimmy LaSalvia: All politics is personal, and I wanted to demonstrate that fact with an unvarnished personal account of my journey in politics. I do think that readers will relate to and enjoy my story because it's so personal.

Look, wonky, analytical political books are a dime a dozen. Even most of the "personal" politician memoirs are guarded and calculating. My book isn't like that, because there is an emotional component in politics. Too many, on the right especially, fail to recognized that.

I am so proud of this book because its raw honesty is more authentically me than the GOP team player me ever was. When you have to walk on eggshells to avoid offending others on the team you support, then you aren't being yourself, no matter how much you agree with what you're saying. I'm excited for readers to finally really get to know me.

EDGE: The 2016 elections seem to be shaping up in some ways as a repeat of 2012, with scads of contenders for the presidential nomination crowding the GOP field and GLBTs being, once again, in the crosshairs of most, if not all, of them. Do you anticipate a similar circus-like atmosphere to result on the right? (Already I've heard the phrase "Republican clown car" coming back into use, a phrase I first heard as the 2012 Republican field was taking shape.)

Jimmy LaSalvia: I do. That's why my memoir is being published when it is. There will be lots of examples in the presidential race this fall that will demonstrate, in real time, the points I make in the book. People will read about my experiences over the last decade and realize that nothing has really changed when they see the 2016 race play out. They will conclude, as I have, that the GOP has failed to evolve and is too culturally out of touch to win a national election.

EDGE: One notable entry into the GOP field in 2012 was openly gay candidate Fred Karger, who had no expectation of winning the nomination but who, like you, wanted to demonstrate in a real world manner that being gay and being conservative are not mutually incompatible. Do we need more Fred Kargers? Or would the LGBT community be better served by heterosexual candidates who reassure their supporters among the hard social right that gays are normal people, too?

Jimmy LaSalvia: It's a waste of time to work within the GOP at this point. It's too late for the Republican Party. Let's all move on and work to make our country better outside of the GOP and the two-party system.

EDGE: Let's imagine that in, say, 2024 a gay conservative is elected president. What would his or her agenda have to include (and not include) in order to tick all the boxes for you?

Jimmy LaSalvia: I definitely think that it's possible for a right of center gay person to be elected president in the future, but I don't think it will be as a Republican. Remember, no openly gay Republican has even served in Congress since former Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) retired in 2006.

Hopefully by 2024, as your question suggests, a candidate's sexual orientation will not be any different than their race or gender. It will just be part of who they are and it will not be a factor in the votes of vast majority of Americans. Then their agenda can be an inclusive, pro-growth agenda that's good for our country and all Americans.

EDGE: What prevents you, Jimmy, from entering the political arena as a candidate yourself -- say, for Congress?

Jimmy LaSalvia: That hasn't ever been something that has moved beyond just a fantasy in my thinking because a traditional path in politics, one of elected or appointed office, just wasn't within the realm of possibility for me, a gay conservative from a red state. Of course, neither was the possibility of marriage! Times change. Maybe it's something I'll think seriously about in the future.

"No Hope," from Skyhorse Publishing, hits shelves on Oct. 6. For more on Jimmy LaSalvia, please visit http://www.normalnation.org