GOProud Leader Says Liberals Talk About Gay Marriage To 'Distract' From Economy: VIDEO

Jimmy LaSalvia tried last night to explain why he and his allies in GOProud, a gay conservative group, endorsed anti-gay marriage Mitt Romney.

"[Romney] has [in the past] demonstrated that he believes we're a part of America" and the marriage debate is simply a distraction, LaSalvia told The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur.

"I know that you want to talk about this issue and the president wants to talk about this issue because the president's record on jobs and the economy and the debt crisis is indefensible," he said. "And I know that's why all the liberals in Washington and across the country want to talk about issues like gay marriage and contraception and everything else to divert attention from the issues that are facing us all."

Later, while discussing gay foreign policy advisor Richard Grenell leaving Romney's campaign after a conservative firestorm, Uygur declares, "[The Republicans] don't like you, Jimmy; they hate you!"

Watch Uygur and LaSalvia hash it out AFTER THE JUMP.

Cenk Uygur Pulls Back Curtain on MSNBC in Video Explaining His Departure: VIDEO

In a 12-minute-video, Cenk Uygur explains why he turned down a new, larger contract at MSNBC.

Said Uygur: "I stopped listening to their advice in April. Why?...I got pulled in, and they told me, it was actually one specific person, the head of MSNBC...I was just in Washington, and people in Washington tell me that they're concerned about your tone..."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Watch: Cenk Uygur on Michele Bachmann's Extreme, Anti-Gay Record

Cenk Uygur takes on Michele Bachmann's extreme positions on social issues like gays and abortion during her recent trip to Iowa, and going way back during her first days as a Minnesota lawmaker.

Incidentally, Cenk refers to a moment when Bachmann hid in the bushes during a gay rights rally in Minnesota. I went back and dug through my archives to find the post I wrote about it back in April 2005. That was like anti-gay gay boot camp for what she's doing now.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Watch: GOProud's Chris Barron Says Conservatives Support Gays Despite Exodus from CPAC

MSNBC's Cenk Uygur speaks with GOProud's Chris Barron again about additional defections from CPAC such as NJ Governor Chris Christie and Rep. Jim DeMint (R-SC), asking Barron why GOProud continues to associate with groups that don't like them because they're gay.

Spits Barron: "I know that you hate the fact that there are gay conservatives. I know you can't stand the fact that there is a group of people that have wandered off the liberal plantation, that don't play your victim identity politics."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Towleroad Guide to the Tube: #811

BLACK SWAN: Make-up tutorial.

JULIAN ASSANGE: "States have national security concerns, we do not. We have concern for human beings." FORA TV.

CENK UYGUR: Ann Coulter called me "retarded" for attacking GOProud's Christopher Barron.

STEPHANIE ABRAMS: Dirty weather report.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

Cenk Uygur Asks GOProud's Christopher Barron Why He's a Republican: 'They Don't Even Like Who You Are'

MSNBC's Cenk Uygur talks to GOProud's Christopher Barron about the conservative exodus from CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) over GOProud's participation. 

Asks Uygur: "How can you with good conscience vote for a party that does not like you? They don't like who you are. They don't like your identity."

Claims Barron: "The conservative movement is absolutely welcoming to gay people....I have an easier time being openly gay with conservatives than I do being a conservative with gay people."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...