Gay Republican candidate Fred Karger has been refused a seat at the GOP Convention, the SF Chronicle reports:

Even as Republican leaders say they're eagerly wooing all candidates to the state GOP convention Sept. 16-18 in Los Angeles, Karger says his request to attend and address the party activists has apparently been refused.

"I have been waiting for my invitation, and it never came," Karger, 61, a 38-year resident of Laguna Beach (Orange County), told The Chronicle last week. "And I called up a couple of weeks ago and explained my position."

That's when a party official, Karger said, left a "terse" message: "The schedule is completely filled."

The paper notes that Karger was shut out of CPAC earlier this year as well:

Karger was all set to attend the national Conservative Political Action Conference, where he had arranged for a booth and even provided his credit card to pay for it. He was surprised to get a call saying "Fred was no longer invited … because there were no booths available," Miniter said.

Miniter called to check – inquiring about booth rental for another group – and suddenly, "they were more than happy to rent to us," he said.

Jimmy LaSalvia of GOProud, a the gay conservative group that has been shut out of CPAC as well, trashed Karger in the Chronicle piece:

"Unfortunately, Fred Karger is playing a stunt, and his stunt has run its course. His whole schtick is … running around the country with a rainbow flag, saying 'I'm the gay guy,' " he said. "But he hasn't made a case about why he should be president of the United States."