After years of trying, the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay Republicans, are sponsoring CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) this year and will have a presence at the event. The sponsorship was announced on Wednesday night at a meeting of the D.C. Log Cabin chapter.

From the Washington Blade:

“I couldn’t wait to share this news with all of you as so many of you have been asking me about this for probably a better part of a year now,” Angelo told the gathering, which included Jose Cunningham, the gay chair of the D.C. Republican Party.

“I’m happy to say, I’m pleased to say, I’m honored to say that this morning Log Cabin Republicans was accepted as formal sponsors at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference,” Angelo said.

His jubilant announcement came one year after Angelo and LGBT conservatives criticized the American Conservative Union, which organizes the annual CPAC event, for rejecting Log Cabin’s request to become a sponsor on grounds that it wasn’t conservative enough and didn’t submit a proper application.

Last year’s rejection followed similar rejections of Log Cabin’s request to become a CPAC sponsor over the past several years. CPAC officials in past years had also refused to accept as a sponsor the conservative LGBT group GOProud.