Breitbart feuds with Republican gay group over 'outing'

Reactions to republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry's widely-criticized "Strong" ad have continued to roil right-leaning groups and spark controversy among conservatives. Today Andrew Breitbart resigned from his post on the Board of Advisors of Republican gay group GOProud.

Breitbart was reacting to the group's controversial decision to "out" Republican pollster and Perry staffer Tony Fabrizio. GOProud's Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia revealed Fabrizio's sexual orientation to the world on Friday via Twitter and an article at The Huffington Post.

LaSalvia Tweeted, “I’ve just about had it with faggots who line their pockets with checks from anti-gay homophobes while throwing the rest of us under the bus.” Later he specified that he was referring to Fabrizio. GOProud cofounder Chris Barron also outed Fabrizio on his own Twitter account.

GOProud issued a statement this morning, saying, "Tony Fabrizio is not the victim here. Tony Fabrizio has lined his pockets for years with money from gay groups and is now one of the chief architects of a campaign strategy – not just an isolated television ad – intended to demonize gay people in order to score political points."

It was in response to this decision that Breitbart, who edits Big Government, Big Hollywood, and several other conservative websites, released a statement of his own, resigning from his position as an advisor to GOProud. "I have a zero tolerance attitude toward the intentional infliction of vocational and family harm by divulging the details of an individual’s sexual orientation as a weapon of political destruction," he told The Daily Caller, "As an 'Advisory Board member' I was not consulted on this extreme and punitive act."

Fabrizio has stated that he did not support the ad, but was unable to prevent its release.

(Photo by Mark Taylor via Fickr Commons)