Ann Coulter Is Not the Joan of Arc of the Gay Rights Movement

There's that old line about how the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Is that how it is with Ann Coulter, the vitriolic right-wing pundit who for more than a decade has made a name for herself by taunting progressives like the world were a fourth-grade playground?

Case in point: Coulter has perhaps unintentionally started a feud with some of the more socially conservative elements in the Republican Party. Whether it's the folks at WorldNetDaily, or (the latest) the folks at The American Family Association, Coulter has uncovered a schism that lies at the heart of the GOP. And that schism revolves around whether gay people deserve to have their existence recognized.

No joke. Coulter set off this riff by accepting an invitation to speak at a conference put on by GOProud, a fairly new group of gay Republicans. When news of her speaking gig at GOProud broke, the folks at WorldNetDaily immediately uninvited her from a conference that she was scheduled to appear at on how the right wing could 'take America back.' WorldNetDaily's founder, Joseph Farah, said that Coulter "clearly does not recognize that the ideals to be espoused there simply do not include the radical and very 'unconservative' agenda represented by GOProud." Meaning that from Farah's perspective, simply speaking before a group of gay conservatives is tantamount to throwing America in a landfill and calling it a day.

Coulter responded by calling Farah "a publicity whore." Please tell me that somewhere, a pot just called a kettle black ...

But now The American Family Association (AFA) is getting in on the act, joining with Farah to blast Coulter as a 21st century version of Benedict Arnold. They find her ability to speak before gay people untenable, and want to see Coulter dumped from the GOP.

"Endorsing homosexual behavior is not a conservative position, period. Supporting special rights based on aberrant sexual behavior is not conservative, period. Supporting either civil unions or marriages based entirely on using the alimentary canal for sexual purposes is not conservative, period," said the AFA's Bryan Fischer. Sounds like the tone of someone who is quickly losing control of the dominant theology in his party.

But Fischer didn't stop there. He then went on to compare Ann Coulter to Joan of Arc, a patron saint who will legitimate homosexuality and create an avalanche of sexual liberation if she's not stopped. Seriously.

"Coulter justifies her Benedict Arnold impersonation by saying she speaks all the time in hostile environments, such as Harvard. OK, Ann, how exactly is this a hostile environment? You're being welcomed as a heroine, as the Joan of Arc of homosexuality, literally the poster child for "Homocon 2010." You are the goddess of gayness for the moment," Fischer concludes.

Excuse me while I clean up the breakfast I just ate from my keyboard.

Am I happy that Ann Coulter is speaking before GOProud? Perhaps happy isn't the right word. Ambivalent sounds more like it. GOProud calls Coulter the "Judy Garland" of the right wing. Personally, I still see her as the woman who all too easily called people who disagree with her "faggots" to loud applause from her followers, and said that lesbian high school students are nothing more than "irritating" whenever they try to attend prom with their girlfriends.

But at the same time, for the first time ever, I'm starting to think Coulter might be useful. Heck, if just her recognition of an LGBT group's existence can cause the right-wing to turn on her, maybe she can be part of the catalyst that explodes the GOP, and their larger and larger gay schism, into the public sphere. That might not make her Joan of Arc. More like a tempest in a teapot who might create enough cracks within the GOP infrastructure to help separate the radical religious crew away from the fiscally conservative and libertarian crew for good.

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