New York’s 23rd District is facing a special election, now that GOP Congressman John McHugh has been picked to be Obama’s new Secretary of the Army. And guess who GOP leaders have lined up to carry the flag?

Dede Scozzafava, one of the very, very few Republicans who has ever actually voted for gay marriage. She’s not just sort of pro-gay marriage—she says gay marriage is a civil right! Scozzafava is so far to the left she scored just 15 percent in the Conservative Party checklist.

Now if the people of the 23rd district picked Mrs. Scozzafava in a fair and open primary election, that would be one thing. But what kind of backroom, cigar-chomping, Albany deal-making line of thinking made key GOP leaders decide it was a great new idea to promote to national office the lone gay marriage Republican?

Think about what a coup this would be for the Tim Gill/Ted Olson/Steve Schmidt wing of the GOP: the first GOP congressmen elected in the Obama era—is a zealous pro-gay marriage Republican! This would be breaking new ground for the gay marriage movement. And Dede, she’d be a guaranteed media star! All of this is part of a deliberate, Gill-crafted new strategy to try to make it appear that opposition to gay marriage has crumbled.

But it’s not true!

It’s not a done deal yet. Michael Steele, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, was elected on a platform of promoting life and marriage. He has to sign off on this deal. There’s still time for him and local NY GOP pols to pull back from this precipice and choose a nominee who reflects our voices and our values.

Fight back: Take a minute to tell Michael Steele: No backroom deals to sell out marriage voters. New Yorkers, send a message to the county Republican chairmen from the 23rd District, too.