The Gay Republin Activists Are Makg Inroads Wh Tmp's Team

Contents:

• THE ANTI-INTY POLICS OF GAY NSERVATIV
• GAYPATRT
• THE GAY REPUBLIN ACTIVISTS ARE MAKG INROADS WH TMP'S TEAM
• ‘GIRLS GAYS THEYS’ SHIRTS AREN’T OBSCENE: DON’T LET NSERVATIV REWRE HISTORY
• CAN YOU BE A NSERVATIVE GAY?
• POLYAMORY, THE GAY “CONSERVATIVE,” AND “THK OF THE CHILDREN"
• TMP PRI: GAY REPUBLINS ON WHY THEY'RE BACKG THE PRINT
• GAYS HAVE A PLACE TMP'S REPUBLIN PARTY NO MATTER WHAT TEXAS GOP LLS 'ABNORMAL'
• ‘GAY’ NSERVATIV: YOU N LEARN OM MILO’S TELLECTUAL HONTY AND TEGRY
• PROMENT GAY REPUBLINS HELPED SMOOTH THE WAY FOR MARRIAGE BILL

THE ANTI-INTY POLICS OF GAY NSERVATIV

A gay hairstylist om New York Cy, Straka don't f the profile most people probably thk of when to the rters who stormed the Capol.

GAYPATRT

Distct om the long history of gay Republins who worked to make the GOP more clive and tried to ph a morate directn, the ntemporary LGBTQ right has stead helped sharpen the Republin Party's extreme edge and perhaps even emboln s anti-LGBTQ 's rise to fame — or famy — says a lot about what gets tractn nservative circl the days and how that's shapg the GOP. The "extremist left, " Straka argued, had bee nsumed wh a "cult iology" that se racism, sexism, and homophobia everywhere.

THE GAY REPUBLIN ACTIVISTS ARE MAKG INROADS WH TMP'S TEAM

And Straka and other LGBTQ nservativ have ntued to make anti-tablishment, anti-inty arguments — such as attackg the strong alliance of most LGBTQ anizatns and the Democratic Party that they dismiss as "Gay Inc. ” This is a ncept as old as edy self, and has a special place the history of gay rights and gay acceptance generally, which we should not want to be erased.

But s rurgence was also met wh ntroversy over the *gasp* problematic jok, pecially sensive gay jok that peppered s -long n. Pants were too big, hair was out of ntrol, and most of the untry thought gay relatnships (not marriage, relatnships) should be illegal.

‘GIRLS GAYS THEYS’ SHIRTS AREN’T OBSCENE: DON’T LET NSERVATIV REWRE HISTORY

1996 Congrs sought “to exprs moral disapproval of homosexualy” by passg the Defense of Marriage Act by 342-67 the Hoe and 85-14 the Senate. And the midst of a natnal ntroversy about gay people and civil rights shows like Friends and Will and Grace flourished.

Supporters hold up a gay pri flag for Republin printial ndidate Donald Tmp on October 18, 2016 (Gee Frey/Getty Imag). While pictns of gay life films and TV seri typilly portray LGBT+ people as polilly-active progrsiv, there is a growg swath of LGBT+ nservativ real-life, some of whom hold far right iologi — a juxtaposn that often shocks those enunterg for the first time.

That might seem particularly peculiar given that many of the ias currently beg poed by the far-right promote racial hierarchi, transphobia, and even anti-gay sentiments.

CAN YOU BE A NSERVATIVE GAY?

This recent report highlights a signifint divi that has existed and persists wh the LGBT+ muny — whether we have moved beyond the shared experience of margalizatn that gave rise to the movement, or if we have entered to a "post-gay" era. However, gay men have played a pivotal role promotg some of the most discsed topics nservative polics — cludg an ia known as "the great replacement" theory.

It may shock rears to learn that a gay French sociale and artist named Rend Cam ed the "Great Replacement" theory, an ia which has been promoted far right circl. Cam has been photographed proudly marchg alongsi Neo-Nazis, makg him an even more bizarre figure than openly gay nservative provotr Milo Yiannopoulos. Among those promotg the ias are Jordan Peterson; gay polil mentator Dave Rub, who if has not directly promoted Great Replacement theory has promoted transphobic and anti-lbian rhetoric; venture palist Peter Thiel; and Sam Harris — all "members" of the Intellectual Dark Web.

POLYAMORY, THE GAY “CONSERVATIVE,” AND “THK OF THE CHILDREN"

Some of the tras had already been cultivated by specific subsets of the gay muny long before Milo Yiannopoulos, Dave Rub, or Great Replacement theory were wily known.

This is more than jt njecture and a body of empiril rearch explor the threads of discrimatn wh LGBT+ spac based on genr, race, age, and abily which alce and form hierarchi of bety wh gay culture. Most gay men e to realize early on that, wh gay culture, there is premium placed on beg whe, young, physilly f, and attractive by Wtern European cultural standards. My own work has sought to look at this, and also ask why some gay men choose to date only those at the top of this hierarchy.

When Rend Cam penned the "Great Replacement" theory, he may have merely been exprsg opns which whe gay men were g as jtifitns for holdg racist iologi long before he published his book.

TMP PRI: GAY REPUBLINS ON WHY THEY'RE BACKG THE PRINT

Ined, numero social media acunts exist that are voted to exposg racism on gay datg apps — for stance, GrdrWhileBlack, which posts screenshots on both Twter and Instagram page.

While the gay and LGBT+ muny may seem like an odd place for the seeds of right-wg extremism to take root and sprout, the culture that has been built post-Stonewall is one that has been creasgly modified and, as such, creasgly exclive. An addnal mechanism that has allowed far-right iology to seep to the gay muny , ironilly, om the succs of the gay rights movement promotg gay marriage.

GAYS HAVE A PLACE TMP'S REPUBLIN PARTY NO MATTER WHAT TEXAS GOP LLS 'ABNORMAL'

The term post-gay was ed ially by Pl Burston, a Brish News Journalist, who, when terviewed, said he "meant tongue--cheek, not the way has been taken recently. On the ground, this has played out a variety of surprisg ways — om promotn of QAnon by LGBT+ persons, gay men openly g racial slurs on datg apps, and the general adoptn of thorarian posns which margalize those at the bottom of the LGBT+ world. Here the Uned Stat, we've had parallel velopments wh gay men promotg ias that naturalize hierarchi of bety—claimg that their bety standards are not socially nstcted but natural, and even a product of human evolutn.

The clu groups like Gays For Tmp and Twks4Tmp — a psdo-movement started by a Gateway Pund ntributor — addn to the on that have existed for s (i. In terviews that I have nducted wh nservative gay figur, they reerate that they want to be seen as equal to — not distct om — their straight unterparts. Feelg rejected, the men found a warm embrace om nservative iologu — such as when gay fluencer Christian Walker, son of former football player and polician Herschel Walker, took to Twter nouncg Gay Pri ftivals; or, former Brebart employee Milo Yiannopoulos' sensatnalized behavr, some of which was directed at the larger LGBT+ muny.

In my ethnographic work on gay culture I've met many men who layed g out, myself clud, bee of the "body fascism" or "toxic masculy" that exists the gay muny. Moreover, the early epimic phase of a new vis, monkeypox, that is affectg MSM muni, gay men seem to be clgg onto the hyper-dividualism which has proved so harmful to limg the spread of other diseas like HIV/AIDS and COVID-19.

‘GAY’ NSERVATIV: YOU N LEARN OM MILO’S TELLECTUAL HONTY AND TEGRY

He has also -eded numero anthologi cludg "The Gayborhood: From Sexual Liberatn to Cosmopolan Spectacle, " "Fotten Founrs and Other Neglected Social Theorists, " and "Studi Symbolic Interactn: Subcultur.

March 24, 2022June 1, 2022“The only way the gay rights movement n succeed makg society accept homosexualy as natural, normal, moral, and healthy is to first -Christianize that society … and they are makg headway. Five years and one Tmp term later, the promotn of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transexual (LGBT) inti is mastream Amerin nservatism.

Jt an electn cycle after Tmp spontaneoly held a gay pri flag, the 2020 Tmp team began sellg LGBTQ-clive “Make Ameri Great Aga” merchandise  rabow lors, which would dot nservative events durg the mpaign year. LGBT polics would reach the Tmp Whe Hoe as well, wh the print toutg his global effort to crimalize homosexualy worldwi and appotg Ameri’s first openly gay bet member  Richard Grenell. I n remember stg there, listeng, and vowg to not allow that to stand … Now, 29 years later, we were at an event where the former print of the Uned Stat and first lady are welg , and hostg 600 fluential gays, lbians and their straight alli.

PROMENT GAY REPUBLINS HELPED SMOOTH THE WAY FOR MARRIAGE BILL

In 2008, he began volunteerg for the Log Cab Republins, the untry’s most famo nservative gay anizatn, and over Obama’s tenure, he climbed the ladr to bee the group’s print. Now, wh Tmp prepared to take the oath, Angelo and a handful of gay nservative activists thk they have a rare, if not unprecented, advantage over their liberal progrsiv sprt to tch up — or refe to al wh Tmp’s staff directly — the gay activists on the right believe accs to Tmp’s Whe Hoe will make them bellwethers for the entire LGBT movement. Most of all our terviews, Angelo relished that this week, LGBT Amerins will have their first Republin print who isn’t openly hostile to ’s posns on LGBT rights have been ntradictory, but his gay supporters pot out Tmp ma several posive overtur durg the mpaign — even holdg a pri flag on stage — givg hope he will re anti-LGBT people around him, like his vice print, Mike Pence.