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Swimming upstream as a black, gay conservative

Robert Traynham is a frequent NOWist and an msnbc ContributorJust wrapped up a really good conversation with today’s NOW with Alex panel – Karen Finney,

Robert Traynham is a frequent NOWist and an msnbc Contributor

Just wrapped up a really good conversation with today’s NOW with Alex panel – Karen Finney, Katrina Vanden Heuvel and Steve Kornacki.  As always, the conversation was smart, funny and at times heated – but all in a good way.  The way conversations should be when you’re speaking with adults about serious topics.  One of those topics was about me being a gay conservative and how I could defend a party that wants an America from the 1950s as opposed to today.


To be clear, I can’t defend some of the issues that some within the Party hold near and dear to their heart.  I can only defend what’s in mine: I care deeply about the right for all Americans – regardless of sex – to fall in love and marry whom they wish.  I care deeply about the unborn in this country.  I care deeply about a smaller government that operates on less of my tax dollars.  I care deeply about an America that gives everyone the opportunity to attend whatever school and choose whatever profession they wish.  I care deeply about a society that respects everyone’s different beliefs – culturally and fiscally. And I also care and want an America that understands that just because I may think differently than you does not mean that we have to lose respect for each other.

A special thanks to my NOW posse for allowing me to express myself in the manner that some call moderate, others call conservative, others still call libertarian, and what I call, just plain being me.