Former Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe Leads GOP LGBT Push-Back Against "Outrageous" Effort By Republican Congressman To Prevent Party Funding Of Gay House Candidates

Former Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe is the most prominent co-host on a new joint fundraising effort for two gay Republican Congressional candidates, after last week's "outrageous" comments by Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) that the national GOP party should not fund gay candidates.

Forbes' anti-gay views were made public last week by Politico, and were quickly knocked down by many other Republican leaders.  Forbes expressed his concerns that GOP Congressmen are required to contribute money to the National Republican Congressional Committee ("NRCC"), and could thus be forced to support candidates that go against their moral beliefs.

The invitation from an ad hoc joint fundraising group for the two gay candidates cited in the article - Carl DeMaio in San Diego and Richard Tisei in Massachusetts.  Both are touted in the article as "promising openly gay" candidates for seats currently held by Democrats.

In the Washington Blade, Kolbe called Forbes' comments "outrageous" and called for NRCC leadership to "condemn" them.

Tisei and DeMaio have yet to file the paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (as of this writing, it is not listed on the FEC's website), but the invitation from the newly-minted Equality Leadership Fund (reproduced below, courtesy of the Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time site) and donation web page are up and running.

Kolbe is among 13 co-hosts listed, but the only one with an honorific in front of his name.  He served southern Arizona in Congress between 1985 and 2007, acknowledging his homosexuality midway through his tenure.

  Fundraiser for Equality Leadership Fund

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