First, Glenn Beck goes off the conservative reservation by declaring that same-sex marriage is no threat to America by saying: “I believe that Thomas Jefferson said, ‘If it neither breaks my leg or picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?’”

Then, the notoriously homophobic Ann Coulter gets booked to headline next month’s “Homocon,” an event put on by GOProud, a group of gay Republicans. Coulter’s willingness to talk to gay Republicans got WorldNetDaily’s editor Joseph Farah in such a spin he canned Ann from the upcoming Taking Back America event in Miami.

Now, Coulter is firing back, calling Farah and his cohorts “fake Christians who are trying to get publicity,” during an appearance on the Fox News show The Red Eye.

Thanks to her, they’re certainly getting a lot of publicity.

Farah responded in a column in WND:

Coulter called me a ‘publicity whore’ for my decision. But look who is on television talking about this—throwing mud, name-calling, smearing not only me but my entire staff. I will not engage in the kind of ad hominem attacks that have made Coulter so famous and that are making her even more of a media darling in this age of reckless anger and character assassination for the sake of entertainment. Every day, since we made this decision at WND, I thank God for giving me the clarity of mind and discernment to make the right choice.

Honestly, I believe that both Coulter and Beck, while I disagree with them on 99.9 percent of what they say, can see the writing on the wall: the next generation doesn’t see any problem with gay and lesbian relationships. These are people who are paid well to know their audience, and if they see potential in a younger demographic, then they’re going to play to that demographic.

Coulter and Beck may seem to be “going off the reservation,” but in reality, they are pioneers for an emerging group of conservatives who have their eyes set on other prizes. They realize the tide is shifting, if ever so slowly, on the issue of gay and lesbian rights, and they are positioning themselves to take advantage of the new paradigm.

Whether or not Farah (and those who continue to cleave to an anti-gay theology) are indeed “fake Christians” is a judgment I’ll leave to God, but they do run the risk of becoming totally irrelevant if a new crop of young conservative consumers see them as bigoted and hopelessly out of touch with the mainstream.

Meanwhile, GOProud has announced it will again be a sponsor for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February 2011.

Let the conservative infighting rage on…