An Intolerant Republican Party Just Killed a Moderate Candidate

by Michael Jones · 2009-10-31 08:52:00 UTC
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Dede ScozzafavaDede Scozzafava, the actual Republican nominee for the U.S. House seat in New York's 23rd Congressional District, was forced to suspend her campaign three days before Election Day because of a coordinated campaign by consevative activists to brand her a liberal because she supports, among other things, marriage equality.

Major anti-LGBT Republican superstars, from Rick Santorum to Sarah Palin to Steve Forbes, rallied around one of her opponents, third party candidate Doug Hoffman, who they saw as more conservative. For them, the issue was less about Scozzafava's background as a state legislator, and more about the fact that she's a moderate Republican. And moderate Republicans are being purged from the GOP like pariahs.

In her endorsement of Hoffman, Sarah Palin said, "The Republican Party today has decided to choose a candidate [Scozzafava] who more than blurs the lines." But it wasn't so much that Scozzafava blurred the lines, as much as she committed the cardinal sin of supporting LGBT rights as a Republican. As a state legislator in New York, she supported a bill that would have allowed marriage equality to move forward in the Empire State.

Whether or not conservatives win this seat with Hoffman, one thing is clear: there is no longer any room in the Republican Party for moderates. No Arlen Specter. No Dede Scozzafava. Perhaps no Charlie Crist. And just remember the way the rabid right treated former GOP Utah Governor John Huntsman after he said he supported civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.

As much fun as it is to watch conservatives eat their own, it's also sad that there is really no room in the GOP nowadays for someone to support equal rights. Conservatives like Palin, Santorum and others might be celebrating Scozzafava's downfall today, but the larger message it says about their party is that it really is the political party of choice for those who want to support discrimination against LGBT people.

(Image courtesy of Dede Scozzafava for Congress.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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