Say what you want about gay Republicans — god knows we do — but they really do have it tough. On the one hand, they’re part of a party that openly and sometimes zealously denies them their civil rights. On the other hand, the gay community would disown them if it could.
Buzzfeed crashed the Party’s premier partay, Homocon, during the Republican National Convention and talked to some of these political unicorns about what makes them tick. There seems to be a lot of talk about “limited government” so we’re assuming the irony of their party sticking its nose into their bedrooms is lost on them. But there we go again, proppin’ up a big ole sarcastic tent to throw shade all over their good intentions.
Cam
The Problem is, groups like Log Cabin pretend that the Republican Party isn’t the party as it exists today.
They talk about personal responsibility and yet the party supports massive giveaways to corporations. They talk about love of the middle class and yet the GOP fought for only ONE tax increase, the payroll tax, the ONLY tax that solely hits the poor and middle class, while they fought for tax reductions for every single tax that effected the wealthy. That is a direct attack on the middle class.
My favorite is how they will lie to cover up the bigotry in the GOP. Log Cabin, during the last presidential election actually stated that Senator McCain was not against gays adopting, and that he had NOT voted for an AZ state bill that outlawed it.
They left out two things.
1. John McCain isn’t a member of the AZ State Legislature so COULDN’T vote on that bill.
2. McCain DID make commercials supporting the ban on gays adopting.
So Log Cabin knew that McCain was opposed to gays adopting and yet LIED to the gay community to trick gays into supporting a candidate.
That isn’t about trying to make inroads into the GOP, that is about being an anti-gay group shilling for a party that currently hates gays.
Fitz
Here, I’ll translate. I was raised by assholes, I speak the language:
“I got mine, fuck the working class”.
Alexa
Unlike being gay, being Republican is a choice. They have it tough because they choose to – no sympathy for them here.
Aidan8
I can understand being gay and conservative. I cannot understand being gay and supporting the GOP. The two are very different. Even if I identified as conservative, I couldn’t support a party that explicitly seeks to oppress me and my partner and all of our LGBTQ friends and family. I have conservative gay friends who see the GOP for what it is and refuse to endorse it. I wish GOProud and LCR would do the same.
Cam
@Aidan8:
So well said.
PrettyLittleLiar
Some of these guys aren’t even Republican so much as they are Libertarians. And I agree with @Aidan8, being gay and conservative does not mean that you have to support the GOP.
brent
The gay community would disown gays who have an outreach program to republicans. Would the gay community disown gay democrats who have outreach programs to blacks and hispanics? No of course not. Well i am pretty certain that republicans will change their views alot sooner than blacks change there’s. As for GOP taking advantage of gays there is some truth to that. Of course the democrats take advatage of blacks. They want they’re votes but shut up about gay marriage.
brent
@Fitz: You described republicans and they’re motives. Let me explain democrats and they’re motives FREE STUFF!
Cam
@brent: said…
”
The gay community would disown gays who have an outreach program to republicans. Would the gay community disown gay democrats who have outreach programs to blacks and hispanics? No of course not. Well i am pretty certain that republicans will change their views alot sooner than blacks change there’s”
______________
You have been on multiple posts attacking Blacks and Hispanics. We all know that NOM’s strategy was to try to drive a wedge between gays and other minorities because it was in their own papers.
The thing you seem to miss is that the GOP is currently virulently anti-gay and yet blacks currently support it at near 0% and Hispanic support for the GOP is at historically low levels.
On the other side, the NAACP has come out in support of gay marriage and a recent poll in Maryland about gay marriage pegged black support at nearly 60%.
So…nice try troll.
Little-Kiwi
how fitting that this piece comes out the day the GOP releases the new “Obama is going to force gay marriage onto your family!” TV ad.
Gay Republicans, this is why your party and your own piece of s**t families don’t love you or respect you – because you don’t love or respect yourselves and you’re complete wusses. Your problem isn’t that you’re gay, your problem is that you’re complete f**ing wimps about it.
http://youtu.be/hrv31BCGeqY
Your party promotes bigotry and prejudice against you, and you support them anyway. This is why your lives are miserable.
It’s your own damn fault you losers.
CHris Barron is pathetic. The man gets married in a state where it’s legal, do ENTIRELY to the work of Liberals, and all he does is SLAM LIBERALS.
he didn’t work for Equality. He didn’t champion it. He didn’t take part. He sat back complaining about liberals then went out and reaped the rewards of the hard work liberals do.
so, know this Gay Republicans, you’re unloved, you’re not accepted and you’re barely tolerate. not because you’re gay. but because you’re cowards who don’t have the balls to stand up for yourselves.
we gay liberals don’t have that problem.
NateOcean
Hey, I was *in* Tampa last week, and I can tell you at least two (perhaps three) of those guys in the video were hogging the slings at the gay bath house in Ybor city.
brent
@Cam: I’ll eat my hat if blacks vote in the majority for gay marriage in maryland.
Mark
Gay Republicans?
Mostly like they are self loathing racists. How dare government give something to somebody that didn’t work as hard as I did? Mostly they are also self diluted because they probably got plenty of government help. Public education, Pell Grants, Stafford Loans…
We need to smother them in liberal kindness so that they can see the light.
brent
@Little-Kiwi: Oh yes you do. When it comes to standing up to republicans you show all the courage in the world. But when it comes to standing up to blacks, hispanics and muslims you brave liberals shrink and make excuses. And as far as liberals doing all the work in making gays acceptable. What do liberals do? they put on exhibition type stunts like kiss ins at public restuarants. Do you have an idea how stuff like that makes it diffucult to get straight people to vote for gay marriage. It took me forever to convince my mother that not all gays are like you see at pride parades. So thanks alot liberals.
ncman
@brent: Does your mother also think that all straights are like those at Mardi-Gras and Spring Break parties?
Cam
@ncman: said…
”
But when it comes to standing up to blacks, hispanics and muslims you brave liberals shrink and make excuses.”
_____________________________
Isn’t it funny that the GOP is always denying that it is a rac ist party…..and yet there you are attacking other races and religions.
Thank you for proving that the GOP is a party full of bigots.
NOM stated in papers that were found, that it was trying to create trouble between gays and minorities. Once that information got out publicly I would think that you trolls would try to be less obvious in your tactic.
Cam
@Cam:
That was directed at Brent, not NCMAN
brent
@Cam: When you say that there is a strategy to drive a wedge between gays and other minorities do you include mormons among those minorities?
Ewan
@brent: Awww, poor you. Everyone else is ruining your quest to rebrand us as straight men that like dick. My heart bleeds.
brent
@ncman: She would probably think that of college students on spring break. But get serious you know what i’m talking about. The only image that many straight people have of gays is seeing them on TV at gay pride parades.
brent
@Cam: Yes and it’s alright for you to critcize white people and their homophobia but we can’t criticize anyone else.I thought you said you liberals don’t feel sorry for gay republicans because being a republican is a belief not who you are. While religion is a belief. If you don’t have to be a republican then you don’t have to be a muslim. One person said i can’t see being gay and a republican. While can that person see being a muslim and being gay.And by the way what is NOM? If i’m part of that group could you tell me what the intials stand for?
Gigi Gee
@brent: Re “democrats and they’re motives” – perhaps we’ll start taking you seriously once you learn the difference between “they’re” and “their.”
Re “It took me forever to convince my mother that not all gays are like you see at pride parades.” I took my mother to Pride last year in Toronto and she saw gay: cops, cowboys, firemen, nurses, leathermen, teachers, nudists, paramedics, stock brokers, politicians, doctors, bankers, drag queens, real estate agents, liberals, conservatives and at least 10 different religious denominations represented. Oh my. Not sure which of these represented groups dear old mom found so distasteful but it’s time both she and you realize that The Gays are a very diverse community comprised of people from all walks of life. Your internalized homophobia, along with your racist ideals, are really holding you back. Time to grow a pair and stop being a sniveling like Kapo troll.
brent
@Ewan: Naw, the straight guys who like d— are all democrats. In fact they have a name for it …being on the down low
danSFBA
@brent: OMG, Where to start with your claims? Blacks and Hispanics do not support gay marriage by narrow margins, mostly for religious and generational reasons, which is also true of the public in general. Unlike Republicans or self-hating Log Cabin/GOProud types, however, hispanics and especially blacks vote overwhelmingly for democratic lawmakers that do support not just marriage equality but equality across the board for LGBT Americans. The Republican Party is adamantly anti-gay in many respects and supports laws as it’s party platform that are completely anathema to what the intended purpose of GOProud is in the first place. Why you bring up muslims in this discussion is just strange to me. It’s not typically Muslims that go around trying to lobby the government to deny rights to their fellow citizens.
As for trying to get people to vote in favor of gay marriage, the rights of other people should NEVER be put up to a popular vote and that is the point that many of us on the left are trying to make. If your mother judges and stereotypes all gays based on the actions of people who do “kiss in’s” or march in gay pride parades, does she also judge all heterosexuals by the actions of people at spring break or mardi gras festivities? Perhaps she should look in the mirror before she makes blanket generalizations about entire groups of people.
BJ McFrisky
It’s true that most conservative gay men would identify as Libertarian more than Republican, but there’s no point in trying to explain that to liberals. The bottom line is, if we’re not jumping up and down and screaming how proud we are while waving a rainbow flag and demanding marriage rights, then in the eyes of the gay community, we’re being baaaaad gays. Trust me, I’ve been there.
LubbockGayMale
As a 61 yr old GWM, for years I voted Republican, primarily to protect my economic interests. I always figured I was ornery enough to defend my gay interests, and had little trouble there UNTIL the Bushes arouse and the GOP became a religious sect. And now, the GOP wants to deny me my civil rights AND my right to earn a living???? Hell no!
The only guarantee if Romney/Ryan ticket gets elected is that they and their pals will see lower taxes, and the rest of us will need some lube.
LubbockGayMale
As a 61 yr old GWM, for years I voted Republican, primarily to protect my economic interests. I always figured I was ornery enough to defend my gay interests, and had little trouble there UNTIL the Bushes arose and the GOP became a religious sect. And now, the GOP wants to deny me my civil rights AND my right to earn a living???? Hell no!
The only guarantee if Romney/Ryan ticket gets elected is that they and their pals will see lower taxes, and the rest of us will need some lube.
Shadeaux
@BJ McFrisky: I really don’t think that’s the part we would like for you to explain. I don’t understand supporting them when they don’t want you to have rights to your partner’s property in case of death or visitation rights (that alone, if you’re working, should be enough to make you want to protect what you’ve worked for all your life). In some states, it’s OK for them to fire you from your job, they can beat and kill you with saying you made a “pass” at them, and get off with little to no jail time or probation… Most of the laws are spearheaded by Republicans. That’s the part that we don’t get. I have heard some say, the economy is more important, but my health and well being is more important to me. I guess we all have our priorities, but I’m gay and I don’t think any straight person is better than I am and I just can’t see smiling in your face and helping you make me less than. It just doesn’t make sense.
muscl954
IDIOTS!!
Whew! Now that I got that off my chest… did these men actually listen to the words coming out of their own mouths? The Republican party screams ‘LIMITED GOVERNMENT!”, but their actions say “lets enact laws (government) to limit the rights of gay people. Let’s enact laws (or repeal existing protections)to prohibit gays to serve in the military, or to offer domestic partner benefits in Federal Government. Let’s enact laws (or repeal existing protections)to prohibit a woman’s right to choose. Really??? Limited government?? I guess that means limit the governing to restrictions on personal freedoms. I will never in my life understand the “Gay Republican”.
muscl954
@LubbockGayMale: LOL! Lots of it!
jeff4justice
And Democrats think there progressive while the Dems have moved more and more to the right by supporting these lie-based wars, drone attacks, NDAA, the NSA total surveillance society, SOPA/PIPA, attacks on medical marijuana users, attacks on protestor’s rights, the TSA, Monsanto taking over the FDA, etc…
A vote for the 2party system is a vote for warmongers, Monsanto, Goldman Sachs, and the Federal Reserve.
The 2party system and its blind supporters are a total joke.
LadyL
@brent: Assuming your question is sincere, NOM stands for the National Organization for Marriage, a political organization launched in 2007 that opposes same-sex marriage.
*
And just so you know, I’m an African-American lesbian. I tell you this since you seem to think that all the commenters on this site are white males only.
*
I find your remarks incredibly insulting and ill-informed. Long before I found the courage to come out of the closet, I challenged anti-gay bigotry (and the pass expected for it due to “religious beliefs”) among my family members, coworkers and acquaintances, reminding them that the same venomous strategy of intolerance against gays–very handy as a fund-raiser for the GOP–was once directed against Black people. For much the same reasons.
Having long since come out, I still have these conversations from time to time with Black people, though these days they’re more likely to be strangers I encounter on public transportation or elevators or grocery lines. For the most part my family and friends have changed as the culture has changed (and my coming out to them has been a large part of that enlightenment).
President Obama’s public support of marriage equality has also gone a long way toward encouraging African-Americans to realize that gay is not a “white” thing, but a human thing, that our blood is in this too.
Soulard
@LadyL: I just had to join Queerty so i could log in and thank you for your words.
Rockery
Gay republicans… A sad bunch!
FreddyMertz
@Alexa: ROFL!…I almost choked on my saliva reading that.
tdx3fan
They support limited national government…
So, how do they justify Romney and Ryan pushing for a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage in the constitution!?!
Changing the constitution to cover something that it has never covered and screwing over states rights in the process seems like the government is expanding like never before.
brent
@danSFBA: Blacks and hispanics are against gay marriage by narrow margins? You need to re-think that one. They voted 65% in north carolina and 70% in california. Not what i call a small margin . I should say those are the margins that blacks voted. Sel-loathing GOProud. Really i just watched a video of them on youtube and they out and happy to me. As for being in the closet and being self-loathing i think that would better apply to blacks and hispanics on the down low. You can accuse the GOProud of many things but i don’t think being in the closet and self-loathing is one of them. If you are in GOProud and log cabin that means you are out of the closet. As for my mother i used her as an example but it is something i have found among many straight people. You try and talk to them and you have to spend considerable effort to get over the gay pride parade stereotypes. AS for putting marriage up for a vote all rights are voted on. Slavery, right of women to vote.congress and the state legislatures voted on them.
brent
@muscl954: I tend to, not always but tend to support republicans because they support Milton Friedman.And what does abortion have to do with it? DO the democrats support a man’s right to reproductive choice. NO As for laws that directly affect gays i look closely at the candidates who run for things like the state senate. If i see a huge difference i’ll hold my nose and vote for the democrat. I don’t include Mitt Romney in that. I figure his position on gay marriage is about the same as Obama’s four years ago. Liberal gays had no problem voting for Obama in 2008 so i have no problem voting for Romney.Limited gov. to me includes the right to own guns, something the democrats are hostile too.
brent
@LadyL: Well i was accused of belonging to it and didn’t even know what it means. I am really sorry you find me insulting. I have to admit i sometimes try and insult people when ifeel a double standard is applied. For example liberals have no problem saying the most insulting things about white people and white guys, not to mention all the insults mormons have to deal with.I would hope you would be as sensitive to those concerns. ANd why are GOroud treated so badly. You sound like you do outreach work to african-american communities. Well good for you maybe you will see progress someday. But you should also support GOProud for the same reason. They are trying to change minds just like you are. As for hard facts it is a fact that in the recent elections in california and north carolina blacks did vote in a higher % than whites for a ban on gay marriage. No lie
brent
@Rockery: No a very happy and out bunch. Gay minorities living on the down low now that’s a sad bunch.
brent
@Alexa: I think i understand you’re point, being a republican is a choice so no sympathy. Don’t ask for sympathy, just defend against unwarrented charges.I guess it would be the same on abortion. since abortion is a choice there should be no sympathy for the woman. Right
brent
@Soulard: Of course you feel bad when liberals on this post insult whites and mormons?
brent
@tdx3fan: Well i don’t support it. But i also know it won’t happen
stadacona
Paul Ryan is HOTNESS. Obama is a fugly jigaboo.
LadyL
@Soulard: Welcome–and thanks for the kind reply.
Papi Balenciaga
@brent:@stadacona: Stupid Phucking Idiots.
Mjl-428
@LadyL: I’m in well agreement with Soulard. thank you.
@brent: attacking much????
Little-Kiwi
hey brent, ya little coward, i don’t need to “stand up to blacks and latinos” – you see, we liberal gays who aren’t cowardly racist pieces of crap like yourself actually interact with non-white people on daily basis. we’re accepted, understood, and we stand in solidarity with one another.
i’m sorry that your own white family never showed you such grace.
Little-Kiwi
Brent, my mother and father march with me in the pride parade every year. I don’t understand. My mum and dad march in the parade, and you had to convince your mom that you’re not like those gays that march in parades?
wow. your mom sounds like a piece of genuine worthless white trash.
Little-Kiwi
hey gay republicans, prove that you’re not cowardly little wimps.
feel free to post the URLs to your own websites where you show us all what great pro-Equality work you and your Republican family members are doing.
that oughta be hilarious.
LadyL
@brent: I happen to live and work in an African-American community, so my “outreach” is basically me taking a deep breath, looking people in the eye, and leveling with them–and trying to get them to level with me. Sometimes that approach yields positive results, sometimes just argument–but I think it’s important to try to get people to think.
*
I don’t know your age or upbringing, brent, but when I was a child my people were still struggling not just for a place at the American table but the right even to be in the room–the passage of the Voting Rights Act was HUGE, as it declared once and for all that ALL Americans, including Black Americans, had a voice and the right to be heard. It meant that regardless of skin color, ethnicity, economic standing or level of social and political influence, your vote counted every bit as much as anyone else’s– which was another way of saying your life, and the quality of your life, mattered every bit as much.
Or so we thought. Because that right is once again under assault in a number of states where, supposedly to address voter fraud, voter suppression is being used to cherry pick voters and votes; laws have been specifically designed and enacted– by white male Republicans– that target senior citizens, students, immigrants, poor people–and yes, Black people: anyone who voted in significant numbers for Barack Obama in 2008 and would be expected to do so again in 2012.
Traditionally, White men have made the rules, set the boundaries and run the show in American life. Notice that each election year the GOP has never been shy about reminding White people, particularly White males–most especially White straight males–just who used to be in charge around here. From Reagan’s “welfare queens,” to the infamous 1988 Willie Horton ad, and now the talk about “welfare cheats” and Barack Obama as the “food stamp President” –all of this has been deliberately designed to appeal to White anxiety and resentment about Blacks “taking over.”
*
Meanwhile, we Blacks have had our own anxieties…
Traditionally–especially during the turbulent and uncertain civil rights years–Black people have sought to reassure White America that we are capable of being as law-abiding, family-loving and socially and morally upright as we perceived them to be. In the bid for acceptance and respect from White America, many Blacks embraced the dominant culture’s religious and societal values–including, sadly, their hypocrisies, double-standards and prejudices.
The Black Church, long a place of refuge and solace for African-Americans, also reinforced a narrow understanding of what was an acceptable way to be, particularly with respect to our sexual identities. Presenting ourselves as Upstanding Citizens was the order of the day–we were never allowed to forget that White Folks were watching (and judging) us.
This is why one of the great and key figures of the civil rights movement, Bayard Rustin, was driven away from it–and to this day Brother Outsider remains marginalized, a human asterisk too many Black schoolchildren never heard of. As a proud, openly gay man he was considered a major liablity at a time when we couldn’t afford to take any chances. If you truly want to understand why Black Americans have had such difficulty coming to terms with the truth about human sexuality, and how that confusion and denial has contributed to homophobia in American culture, the story of Bayard Rustin would be a good place to start.
*
Many of us still struggle with a half-buried sense of unease about our place in America. There is enormous pain and resentment among Black working class and poor, who feel devalued, left behind and left out of mainstream American life; but even among the Black wealthy (and whatever is left now of the Black middle-class) there is the fear that gains we worked, marched, fought and died for could be taken away again.
All of this to say, brent, that these issues are long-standing and complicated, and not as simple as liberals being against White people and giving Black people a pass.
Little-Kiwi
i never get why GOP-voting closeted white boys think “blacks and latinos” are the enemy.
i’m white. i’m super liberal. i live and interact with black and latino and non-white people on a daily basis. while being openly, visibly and identifiably gay.
so far, so good. blacks and latinos, brent, aren’t the reason your family doesn’t want a gay son.
danSFBA
@brent: I think it is you that needs to get some updated information. Nationally, the number of African Americans that say that they support gay marriage is at 59%, since the 2008 prop 8 initiative, the number of blacks in California that support gay marriage has gone up drastically and that was before Pres Obama came out in favor of gay marriage. In the hispanic community, those numbers are becoming even more favorable to gays. You make one very big false assumption in respect to president Obama’s former position on the issue. Unlike Romney nor any other Republican candidate, before the Pres. came out as personally in favor of gay marriage, he NEVER supported any state initiatives to constitutionally ban gay marriage and did not agree with DOMA nor did he support a federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. As for your mother, again, she needs to stop blanket generalizations of gays unless she also likes to be stereotyped as a Walmart shopping, jesus loving, red-stater who lives in a trailer park and hates “de gays” she sees on the tv. The problem is not the rowdy and jovial behavior that individuals choose to engage in at pride parades, the problem is your mothers ignorance. Her dislike of gays is generational and it will likely take several years for that kind of bigotry to die off regardless of how people choose to behave in public.
I fully understand that many rights were voted on, but I meant specifically that the rights of fellow citizens should never be put up to a popular vote, especially to take rights away from other people. Many of the the freedoms that the gay community now enjoys are not due to votes but rather to courts. It is through the courts than many of the rights and freedoms we now have have been affirmed as protected by the Constitution and should never have been denied to begin with.
One more thing, can you tell me specifically how the democrats are hostile to gun ownership? Passing common sense gun regulations were you must get a background check and a license is unreasonable to you? It just sounds like more fanatical rhetoric on your part where you feel that even basic safety regulations are somehow a threat to take away your guns.
Cam
@brent: said….
“@Cam: Yes and it’s alright for you to critcize white people and their homophobia but we can’t criticize anyone else”
_______________
And once again you prove that the GOP party is full of bigots and Rac ists. I NEVER criticized “White People”, I criticized “The GOP”.
Isn’t it funny that YOU took my criticism of the GOP as a criticism of Whites? You are proving my point.
Little-Kiwi
Cam, Brent hates black people to distract from the reality that all the white people in his family, and life, hate gay people.
it’s distractionary nonsense that plebes do every day.
brent
@Little-Kiwi: I don’t interact with minorities. How do you know that? I’m gonna bet that you complain alot about white christians who are opposed to gay rights, but that’s it.
brent
@Little-Kiwi: She has a much different attitude now. You said you’re parents are supportive, good, so are mine. You didn’t say if they were from the beginning, if they were you’re lucky. Most gays have to explain things to their parents, it takes time.Oh, i’m pretty sure you would love my mother, she voted for Obama.
brent
@Little-Kiwi: What do oyu mean you interact with minorities every day. I pretty much do the same. I ride public transit, sit next to minorities, talk to them. Is that what you mean by interact. As far as being out i have have had quite a few african-americans start talking about the bible. When i tell them i’m gay they usually don’t react in the most positive way. Is this what you mean by interact? As for my republican parents, my Obama loving mother might be amused by you’re comment on her.
brent
@danSFBA: Well you are right obama never supported the constitutional ban. But it is also true that Cheney said he didn’t agree with Bush on that in the debate with John Edwards in 2004. I remember pointing that out to gay liberals and they didn’t think it was a big deal. I also think that if Cheney were president right now and took the same position Obama took the reaction would be different. He would be accused of pandering. As for my mother i have metioned that she had a difficult time with sterotypes, but i never said she hated anyone. She and i don’t agree with politics. I’m more Milton friedman she is more FDR. And yes she did vote for Obama. Can you be white trash and vote for Obama? Guns, i was trying to make the point that gun owners believe as strongly in theirately. rights as they perceive them as gays believe in their perceived rights. If you go to an NRA meeting you will find gun owners believe as passion
Aidan8
@brent: I recommend you read Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine” It’s an eye-opener and may give you a fuller picture of the economist with whom you identify.
Patsy Stoned
Gay Republicans…gotta love it. I’ve seen less flipping, twisting and tumbling at a gymnastics meet.
Little-Kiwi
i call your bluff, Brent.
just because you hate black people isn’t the reason you don’t have the balls to show yourself.
c o w a r d.
Little-Kiwi
all the white christians in my life support LGBT Equality. as do the non-whites, incidentally. hating black people won’t make your dad accept you, kiddo.
brent
@LadyL: I thank you for you’re response and for taking the time to write such a nice letter. You really don’t know anything about me, so i will tell you that i love reading about history, including black and world history. For example i have recently read a book on Thurgood Marshall and also Robert Mugabe. I am also aware of who Bayard Rustin is. I have several books on the history of famous gays and he is listed. Also BArbara Jordan was believed to be a lesbian. In you’re letter you seem to think i should be more tolerant towards minorities and their religious beliefs, but i found it curious that you didn’t mention mormons. My problem was after prop. 8 was passed liberal gays came don hard on mormons. they called for boycotts,protests in front of mormon churches, the burning of the mormon book. There was even a group called Bash Back! When i would ask liberals why they didn’t protest or bash back at other minority religions they were oddly silent. SO im curious do you approve of the tactics against the mormons? and would you support similar tactics against the black or hispanic churches.Islam is also known for intense homophobia, would you support the burning of the Koran, in the same way liberlas burned the morman book.
brent
@danSFBA</I forgot to answer your point about blacks and hispanics being more pro gay. Well if it is true it hasn't showed up in the voting booth. The recent vote in north carolina doesn't reflect that. But if what you're saying is true then we should see evidence of it in November. There are several states that are having elections on gay rights. So i hope you are right but i will not hold my breath.Now you talk about polls on minorities changing they're mind but when i point out similar evidence that young republicans are more open minded liberals are very quick to dismiss it. So my question to you is do you think it would be a good thing if young republicans became more open minded on gays or is that such a threat to you, would you prefer they not be more open minded.
brent
@Little-Kiwi: What do you mean, show myself?
brent
@Little-Kiwi: When did i say that the people in my life don’t support gays. I have not seen my father since i was a young kid, so i don’t know what he thinks of gays or anything else for that matter.
LadyL
@brent: Firstly, my reply to you was not an appeal for tolerance of the religious beliefs of Blacks and/or other minorities. Do you not recall my saying previously that I challenged my Black family members and acquaintances for trying to hide their personal prejudices about homosexuality behind religious dogma?
I was to trying to illuminate the roots of Black homophobia, and how the desire for acceptance by the dominant group can corrupt.
Add to that the long-standing problem of ignorance within Black communities about mostly hidden Black LGBT lives, the stranglehold of the Black Church on everyday Black life, and the unfortunate need for a historically demoralized people to find another “alien other,” another scapegoat, to make themselves feel better about their lot and their insecurities…. Add all these things together and you have a kind of “perfect storm” of cultural intolerance. No longer as monolithic as it once was, but the need for education and outreach obviously remains.
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As to why I didn’t mention Mormons–um, was I supposed to? As an African-American of–cough–a certain age, I felt reasonably qualified to address your obvious resentments towards Black homophobia–at least, I hope it’s Black homophobis you resent, and not merely Black people generally. As regards the level of anger directed at the Mormon Church over Prop 8, well, I’d say much if not all of it was entirely justified. (And it is important to realize that the anger has been at the tactics and behavior of the LDS Church, not random Mormon individuals in general.)
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The more one knows about the wealth and organizing power of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sheer hypocrisy of a “religious” organization that defended polygamy but stood ready to deny a basic right to another group of people, the depths to which the Mormon Church sank in its quest to strip away marriage rights from same-sex couples, and the terrible damage the Mormon Church has done to its own LGBT faithful–not to mention its heartless contribution to gay teen homelessness and suicide in Utah–the more outrage one feels. Even some Mormons were disgusted by the actions of LDS, which overwhelmingly funded Prop 8 and the blatantly misleading advertising that stampeded so many Californians–yes, many of them Black and minority–to support it.
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I don’t know this for certain, but I suspect the “odd silence” you encountered in liberals regarding the level of Black support for Prop 8 could be summed up as a whiplash of dismay and confusion, Prop 8 coming as it did right on the heels of an historic election of a Black American President. Certainly many White (and Black) LGBT supporters of Barack Obama, who’d believed in his candidacy and worked so hard to help elect him, must have felt betrayed, blindsided and unsure of how to respond. In those first hours, that’s how I felt.
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Would I support a similar backlash against Black, Hispanic or Islamic churches who did what the Mormon Church did in 2008? Yeah. I would. Any religious organization–regardless of denomination or racial or ethnic makeup–especially one with that kind of money and means, that would single out for discrimination another group of people, and wreak such destruction on their fundamental rights, deserves to get as good as they give. Period.
brent
@LadyL: Thank you for you’re answer. I don’t disagree with most of what you said. I do not hate black people, italk to them everyday, have black friends and have lived in majority black neighborhoods over the years.I should say my attitude about black homophobia is based on personal experience and from voting data. When i lived in black neighborhoods i found many fine people but i noticed the homophobia was more intense than in white communities. The difference in a white community they yell fag from their car, in the black community they say it to you’re face.LOL I also used to work near a park where i would go and eat lunch. And almost every day there was a african-american preacher. And it was almost the same thing everyday, the end times and fags are evil.I would wonder if they every preached about anything else. I have to disagree that mormons were treated fairly. I believe they were scapegoats. If financing is the most important thing then what of the voters. Are we to believe that blacks and hispanics have no mind of their own. They voted that way because of mormons. I think they voted that way because of the kind of preachers i used to see in the park. Hope i don’t annoy you to much.
Little-Kiwi
brent, stop being mad at the rest of us gay people that you don’t have the balls to live a real life.
brent
@Little-Kiwi: I had to go back and figure out what i said to make you mad. I guess you called me a coward and i called you one back. You want to silence me by playinng the race card. Alright, as long as you call on liberals to quit criticizing mormons.
Aheld92
Wow, the gay community is horrible. No wonder society can’t/wont accept us when we can’t even accept ourselves! You people commenting on this thread are HYPOCRITES! You expect acceptance and tolerance from the rest of the world, yet you throw people in your own community under the bus! Gay republicans have their right to their opinion, as do Gay democrats! (personally both parties are horrid, libertarian here)