The rules have changed and the LGBT left has not caught up. I hope this time they are listening. What it means to be gay and political simply isn’t one-sided any longer and the hair-on-fire fear tactics against Republicans just isn’t working either. LGBT organizations that once proclaimed to represent all gay people with an ever-growing inclusive umbrella of categories are now openly far left with pure hostility towards any dissent or free thought. It has become a routine complaint from those of us on the right, but in the recent year alone the distinction has become profoundly defined. As far as the mainstream LGBT world is concerned, there is no other way to think or see things.
But that is becoming less and less something they are able to control. The Gays for Trump movement by itself forced the media to recognize that gays on the right were not merely the stereotypical fringe element the LGBT media has always defined us as being. Milo Yiannapolous made it simply impossible to wave a dismissive hand in the direction of gays on the right with outdated titles such as ‘self-loathing.’ Milo cannot be described as anything but a proud openly gay man and the left simply does not know what else to do with him but demonize him.
160 children’s book authors signed a statement to Milo’s publisher Simon & Schuster objecting to his book deal stating: “We the undersigned pledge to continue to advocate tolerance, acceptance, love, diversity, and equality, and respectfully ask you to take an irrefutable stand against hate.“ Hate? Tolerance? Diversity? We don’t even know what the book is about yet and they assume they will oppose it. This is the literal definition of prejudice and their reaction is how you define bigotry. Adam Morgan of The Guardian declared he would refuse to review any book published by Simon & Schuster for 2017 because publishing Yiannopolous is ‘wrong.’
Since when is publishing a controversial media figure ‘wrong?’
Ironically if the left had not had such an utter (and continued) meltdown over the very existence of a point of view they imagine they will oppose, only those of us on the right would have ever heard of his book. Now he is likely to sell huge numbers of copies and make a ridiculous amount of money from their press alone.
Milo Yiannopolous is Jewish, Catholic, gay, openly boasts of exclusively dating black men and has a Muslim boyfriend of 10 years yet the left is terrified he doesn’t embody ‘diversity’ enough. Let’s say his book is nothing but mean things that make people cry. Have you ever watched Kathy Griffin? Sarah Silverman? Margaret Cho or any other liberal icon that has made a living exclusively saying mean things about people? Dan Savage became famous in the gay world by being obscene, aggressively sexual and intentionally counter-culture to even mainstream gay culture (just like Milo is today). The left used to celebrate the outlandish counter-culture warriors who used profanity in public. Now they dance between scolding 1980’s era disapproving librarians and rabid book burning censors.
President Trump may be many things, but an anti-gay super villain? Vice President Mike Pence, who despite never-ending repetition has never actually voiced support for conversion therapy, is a conservative Christian who in 2004 expressed views on marriage held, at the time, by Barack Obama, both Bill and Hillary Clinton and the majority of currently-in-office Democrats. He has no agenda for LGBT in the slightest and has no authority to do anything about it if he had one. Trump is the first president to walk into office supporting Same Sex Marriage and has openly expressed support for Transgender people. And yet:
What exactly are they resisting? Who is challenging anyone’s status as ‘human?’ The LGBT left had another meltdown over the LGBT section being removed from the White House website but ignored that every other page disappeared as well because the entire website was being revamped for the new president. And while LGBT media panicked over the idea Trump might revoke President Obama’s various LGBT executive orders, he hasn’t even stated he wished to do so. Trump is likely the most pro-LGBT president in our history (reasonably going backward to Reagan) in that he genuinely just sees us as Americans rather than a special interest group (and still proudly held the rainbow flag supporting Gays for Trump).
In fact, Trump was the only candidate to speak out against the Pulse Islamic Terrorist Attack truthfully. While Hillary blamed ‘hate’, Trump recognized the true threat; currently the only actual threat to gay people in the world.
And that, I think, is the source of all of this nonsense. LGBT do not need special protections, laws, rights or recognition any longer (if we ever did in the first place.) Politics no longer separate between pro or anti-gay in any tangible way. The most conservative Republicans are vocally supportive of and interact daily with gays in their own party. It is simply absurd to pretend there is an ‘us’ and a ‘them’ any longer.
The truth is the only divide is between being progressive and being something else altogether. I am a conservative libertarian because I support small government and personal liberty. My sexuality simply isn’t involved. There is no force in the country capable of denying me any right any other citizen has and no effort within my own political party to deny me a voice. I would not consider myself a Trump supporter, but I certainly am not afraid as a gay man, or a Jew for that matter, because I am a rational person. There is simply nothing to be afraid of.
And this is what the LGBT left must understand. You cannot protest away a voice you don’t wish to hear. You cannot ‘shut down’ speech and expect your own to be respected or valued. You cannot demand censorship and claim moral high ground in fighting ‘intolerance and hate.’ You simply do not own gay people, our thoughts, or worldviews. No amount of twerking on top of cars is going to make your fantasies of a 1980’s era Moral Majority, Jerry Falwell, totalitarian anti-gay police state true. If you choose to declare any person or policy you oppose as ‘anti-LGBT’ and demand LGBT are in immediate danger your views will never be heard on their merit alone.
If you could calm down for a moment and objectively look at the situation you would realize you simply have a president you disagree with and you’ll have another opportunity to change that in four years.
In the meantime you have to realize average Americans live with and around gay people and are looking at your antics with bewilderment. So are many of the gays themselves, myself included. We aren’t discriminated against, there has been no spike in hate crimes (in fact the majority are faked), there are no rights even up for debate let alone threatened to be taken from us. And for the record, the rioting, car burning, window smashing and irrational screaming in the streets is not making your cause any more sympathetic. We live in a time when being gay is an interesting part of who you are and it simply does not determine your political affiliation or future.
Being a gay Republican just isn’t a big deal any longer, you need to get over it.
The more the LGBT world pushes to the left, the less average people will relate to it and the easier it will be to ignore it all as nonsense. There is nothing the LGBTQIAP+ world represents that I even identify with any longer. What was once a place of proud freedom and expression is a sad, fearful, hair-trigger sensitive group of perpetually outraged and bitter people clinging to a movie version of what the 1990’s was like.
The truth is more and more gay people don’t want any part of it. The world has changed. Hopefully the next generation of gays will realize their independence and individuality are more important than loyalty to an outdated and bigoted movement still fighting battles won decades ago.
This kind of bigotry and ridiculously ignorant lashing out only demonstrates to the world why we exist in the first place. The LGBT movement is one of literal hate and remarkable bigotry and I, like so many other gays, simply don’t want it representing us any longer.