GayandRight Hits the National Media....

Hey, we're in the CanWest papers today....

When Fred Litwin started a blog called "Gay and Right" a few years ago, he got three kinds of e-mail.

There were the gays who were ticked off that he was conservative.

There were the conservatives who were ticked off that he was gay.

And there were the gay conservatives who were elated to have found a kindred spirit.

It was the latter messages, and their encouraging abundance, that inspired Litwin to found Gay Dominion, a website through which he hopes to organize a network for gay conservatives in Canada - and to try to get the attention of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives.

Litwin wants to dispel the notion that the very term "gay conservative" is an oxymoron. Gay Dominion stands for "limited government, low taxes, free markets, the merit principle, personal responsibility, and the equality of gays and lesbians," declares the website (gaydominion.wordpress.com).

On the other hand, it opposes "rampant political correctness, myopic religious intolerance, moral and cultural relativism, anti-Americanism, and the tearing down of western civilization."

"If some crazy preacher from Alberta wants to rail about gays and lesbians in the Bible, let him," says Litwin. "Free speech is way too important to have it be abridged by people who take offence at the slightest, little thing."

Litwin, who by day, runs a record label called Northern Blues Music, says he used to be a diehard "lefty" who organized anti-nuclear protests. But the horrors of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the experience of being in business, convinced him to become a self-described "free-market libertarian."

People shouldn't be surprised that some gays and lesbians hold small-c conservative views, he says. "Gay people are just ordinary people like everybody else, so why shouldn't they be concerned about taxes and the safety of their communities, and a whole variety of issues that concern other Canadians?"

Litwin hopes to build a base of enough like-minded individuals to hold a public meeting to discuss the group's future. He doesn't want it to be too closely allied to any political party. Nevertheless, he hopes eventually to establish a visible presence of gays and lesbians within the Conservative party.

He officially launched the site at the Conservative party policy convention in Winnipeg in November, and he says the reception from rank and file Conservatives has been good. In fact, most of the negative feedback comes from the gay community itself, he maintains.

"Left-wing and gay bloggers seem to go crazy over this stuff, because they seem to feel that gays can only be left wing."

Still, Litwin is disappointed the Conservative party hasn't reached out to the gay community as much as it has to other demographic groups. The Conservatives have spent much time and energy trying to attract the votes of ethnic minorities and women, for example.

There's more at the Canwest site...