A gay journalist who found himself on the receiving end of a backlash over what many saw as a puff piece on Milo Yiannopoulos has ‘come out’ as a conservative in response.
Chadwick Moore says he knew he was stepping into controversial territory when he agreed to write a profile for Out on Yiannopoulos, the Breitbart editor who is often called a provocateur, which is putting it mildly.
Related: Colby Keller tries to explain, again, why he voted for Donald Trump
Yiannopoulos’ role in the harassment of Leslie Jones got him booted from Twitter, and his targeting of transgender students and undocumented students has caused concern for student safety and incited protests and now riots at the colleges where Republican groups on campus invite him to speak, most recently at UC Berkeley.
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Many felt the profile was too friendly to Yiannopoulos, resulting in a letter condemning the piece signed by a number of LGBTQ media representatives.
Moore says that the reaction he received over his piece, and what he sees as an attack on free speech from the left, has caused him to no longer identify with liberals. He has come out in an article for the New York Post, titled “I’m a gay New Yorker – and I’m coming out conservative.”
“After the story posted online in the early hours of October 21, I woke up to more than 100 Twitter notifications on my iPhone. Trolls were calling me a Nazi, death threats rolled in and a joke photo that I posed for in a burka served as ‘proof’ that I am an Islamophobe,” he writes. “I’m not.”
Death threats and trolls are unacceptable from all sides, but they can also sadly be claimed by both sides. If you’re looking for a group entirely free of despicable elements, you will have to remain unaffiliated for life.
“All I had done was write a balanced story on an outspoken Trump supporter for a liberal, gay magazine, and now I was being attacked. I felt alienated and frightened,” he writes.
“I realized that, for the first time in my adult life, I was outside of the liberal bubble and looking in,” he continues. “What I saw was ugly, lock step, incurious and mean-spirited.”
Related: Is the White House intentionally trolling LGBTQ Americans by threatening their rights?
Aside from trolls, he was receiving a cold shoulder from his friends and mentors.
This interpersonal drama, combined with anonymous hate, promoted him to take a hard political right turn.
As a white, cisgender male, it should be noted that Trump’s attacks on refugees and immigrants won’t touch him. The administration’s rollback of transgender protections undertaken by Attorney General Jeff Sessions won’t hurt him either.
Moore says he is against both the travel ban and many of Trump’s Cabinet picks.
He makes no mention of the Republican plan to pass “religious freedom” laws, such as the First Amendment Defense Act, that would allow for discrimination against the entire LGBTQ community. Trump has said he would sign FADA should it pass.
He remembers returning to the bar after getting snubbed there by his friends, and he hit it off with a stranger.
“As so many conversations do these days, ours turned to politics. I told him that I’m against Trump’s wall but in favor of strengthening our borders. He called me a Nazi and walked away. I felt awful — but not so awful that I would keep opinions to myself,” he recalls.
Related: Meet the alt-right frathouse creeps ‘The Proud Boys’
Not everyone has reacted poorly.
“I’ve already told my family, and it’s brought me closer to my father,” he writes. “He’s a Republican and a farmer in Iowa, and for years we just didn’t have very much to talk about. But after Trump’s inauguration, we chatted for two hours, bonding over the ridiculousness of lefties. But we also got serious: He told me that he is proud of my writing, and I opened up about my personal life in a way I never had before to him.”
“I’ve made some new friends and also lost some who refuse to speak to me,” he continues. “I’ve come around on Republican pundit Ann Coulter, who I now think is smart and funny and not a totally hateful, self-righteous bigot. A year ago, this would have been unfathomable to me.”
And in case you were wondering, it seems Moore’s date went well.
Thanks! He was lovely. I'm still sore. https://t.co/KyYpIlJ9q0
— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) February 12, 2017
Image via Twitter.
GorgeousNotGeorge
All you had to see was he is now agreeing with Ann Coulter. Defending his profile of Milo the Fascist is mildly amusing. He justifies his own conservatism by focusing on those who turned their backs on him. The truth is Conservatism doesn’t mean you have to be stupid enough to believe Milo or Ann Coulter (she is just a shrill that sells books). In the end, it’s all about money for some of this conservatives.
James Hart
Good for Mr. Moore.
There are plenty of gays who are libertarian conservatives, liberal Republicans, moderate Republicans, conservative or moderate leaning independents, and conservative Democrats.
On average, about 20% (one in five) of gays vote Republican.
We’re here; we’re queer; we’re conservative; get used to it.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
The loud left wing extremist are killing liberalism and the democratic party. Shut these fools up before they chase of any more votes.
DCguy
I love the way you pretend you care what happens to the Democratic party. You probably shouldn’t have posted so many right wing posts here if you wanted that phony post to work.
dwes09
I love it when we see the odd inability of the regressive to understand the use or plurals. It is extremists, not extremist. That we see this so much among the right implies that these people are not native English speakers nor necessarily here in the US. It adds evidence to the notion that many of these regressive posters are poseurs; neither here in the US, nor gay.
That said, opposition to a loud right wing extremist (Milo specifically) is reasonable and hardly “loud” in its own right. As for “chasing away votes”, you were never a democrat, nor likely was the author mentioned in this article. Thoughtful folks with a progressive past would not suddenly refer to their ex-comrades as “lefties”, nor would they suddenly be unable to see through the cynical hatred of Coulter! He is being as disingenuous as you are.
James Hart
You’re right.
The Democrat tent is getting tinier and tinier.
jjose712
He is a liar. He was conservative way before that. If you are conservative at least have the guts to own it.
Anyway being conservative is not the same that being a Trump supporter, you need a good extra of pathetism to go there
NateOcean
Exactly!
“Oooh, somebody liberal said something that hurt my feelings. I guess I’ll become a conservative!”
mujerado
It sounds like he’s found a new group to be against. What is it about turning conservative that makes it OK to slander “lefties” as a group? Do we suddenly begin all to look alike? I’m against 45 and his whole administration, and I consider myself a liberal, but I don’t go around slandering conservatives as a group, any more than I would slander gays or Muslims or any other group. I guess politics is just different.
dwes09
He is obviously being disingenuous, and never was progressive.
DarkZephyr
Exactly. He was too chicken sh*t to be honest about what he believes, but since he is now on Milo’s nasty jock many are exercising their free speech to call him out for supporting such a mean spirited person, so I guess he figures “why bother faking it anymore?” You don’t have to be liberal or a “lefty” to see how monstrously Milo treats Trans people and racial minorities as well as most of his fellow gay men and take issue with it
DCguy
This is the same fake Log Cabin Victimology crying again.
This guy was ALWAYS Conservative, but now he is crying the whole “Waaaaaaahhh!!!! The mean liberals were mean to me so I have now changed all of my political beliefs because they posted comments.”
Listen to what he is claiming. He is saying he was liberal but a few comments on social media made him change all of his beliefs.
No, he was a right winger, his puff piece on a racist proved that, and now he is using the same line that anti-lgbt bigots and racists have been using since the Tea Party formed. (If you don’t let us be bigots and racists, YOU aren’t tolerant!)
lauraspencer
I’m a registered Democrat since 1996. I did not vote for Clinton and voted for Jill Stein instead. Full disclosure, I was a Sanders supporter. What I have heard and how I have been treated from my more “progressive” friends who believe there was only 1 right way to vote has made me question how liberal and open minded Dems truly are. My friends think if you didn’t like Hillary than you must support Donald. I do not like Trump. Even after defending my choice numerous times I’m still seen as the bad guy. I understand how Chadwick Moore could become disillusioned and in his search for answers shift his thinking. Until people start respecting other’s differences and choices nothing is going to improve.
dwes09
Given the nature of the electoral college system in the US, and the clear history of the results of supporting third party candidates for progressives (if you are being honest about this), voting for someone like Jill Stein seems naive. In the case of this election there was really only one STRATEGIC way for centrists or those left of center to vote.
And disdain for a less than wise choice by your friends CLEARLY would not change the nature of progressive thought or the value of social progress. You, in your comment, cast doubt on your characterization of yourself in the same way as Mr. Moore does.
Juanjo
No Laura, your friends have criticized you because as a Democrat you turned from supporting the party candidate and instead voted for a disgusting 3rd party opportunist who had no chance in he!! of being elected. So yes, depending on where you lived you did assist in having Trump elected most likely. You of course, had every legal right to do that and likewise those who know you did had every legal right to tell you why you were wrong for doing so. Your freedom to speak and act is not a freedom from criticism for you words or actions. I have never understood exactly what delusional train of thought allows people both on the left and the right, as well as, elsewhere to think that somehow they have a freedom to say and do as they please and not be criticized for their actions or words.
lauraspencer
Thanks for the response dwes09 and juanjo. You proved my point. I’m to blame. Yeah, right. For the record I live in NY. A state that would go Democrat. I was hoping to make change for the future so that we wouldn’t be trapped between only 2 parties choosing between bad and worse. Hillary wasn’t an option for me and that is why I supported Sanders. Just because someone is a party’s candidate does not mean you have to support that particular candidate. If the Democratic party didn’t choose the candidate that excited their base it is the party’s fault and not mine.
dwes09
All I did was point out what I see as a fairly obvious disingenuousness. Something you do nothing in your response to counter. You seem to see any sort of criticism as “disdain” (which in this case certainly creates disdain). Democrats almost never refer to their compatriots as “dems” or “libs”, as those are undeniably the dismissive terms of the right. Nor would progressives necessarily embrace an unwise choice of vote (so the use of progressive in quotes adds to the appearance of disingenuous on your part).
In the case of the struggle for gay rights, those who do not support our struggle would be hard pressed to show why their position merits respect. And in the case of professional fomentors of hatred and violence like Milos or Ann C., even giving them exposure through a profile that does not excoriate them is suspect of complicity. Similarly, those who would slough off a supposedly progressive viewpoint because someone has a philosophical or political disagreement (even if such disagreement becomes acrimonious) did not have a well grounded position to begin with. We don’t prove your point (though Juanjo is harsher than I am), we simply note reality.
James Hart
You’re right, Laura.
Liberals “claim” to be open minded, but are truly narrow minded.
Doug
Trump’s “Republican” supporters don’t even resemble what the original party stood for anymore. They’re all about taking others’ rights away and forcing others to live the way they do. Meanwhile, they call Democrats “snowflakes” and yet they’re scared shitless of anybody who isn’t white and, in most cases. straight. Trump’s voters are slowly becoming aware of just what a fool they voted for and his support is steadily decreasing. The “gay Republican” is an oxymoron; it’s almost always a self-hating gay man who fights for the same values that have held him down for the last century.
ncimato
How was a vote for Stein “change for the future”? It was a protest vote, changed nothing.
notcisjustmale
Not conservative by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m growing more disenchanted by the left, liberals, and progressives daily. Trump may slink out the back door of the Whitehouse. We’ll still have Pence and a hard right Congress. Unless Pence does something earth shockingly stupid, he’ll finish Trump’s term and two of his own. And we will have all the PoMo TransMafia social justice warriors to thank for it.
dwes09
Please, learn how to think. You clearly have never developed that skill. What EXACTLY does the “transmafia” have to do with an artifact of the electoral college and the inability of way too many republican/evangelical/blue collar workers in market driven failed industries to understand the lies and manipulation of the Trump camp?
If we end up with Pence as president it will be thanks to the manipulative techniques of the right as demonstrated by FOX, Breitbart, StormFront, FRC, NRA and others in using lies and fear to manipulate the electorate,, as well as thanks to the Electoral Colleges excessively weighting low population states. As well as thanks to the “excellent temperament” and “great mind” of Trump.
James Hart
You’re correct.
The alt-left protesters/terrorists are only putting the Democrat Party into a deep grave.
The GOP controls the White House, the Supreme Court, both the Senate and House of Representatives; 70% of governorships; 70% of state legislatures; and 70% of state legislators across the US.
Middle America will NEVER go back to the Democrats until the Democrats purge the anti-American, alt-left protesters from their ranks.
dpk199625
You’re right. The democratic party is now synonymous with rioting, looting, damage to property and anarchy. These people are not against Trump, they’re against America, capitalism and law and order. I never see democrats publicly condoning these unlawful dangerous riots happening all over the country which makes me believe they like that this is happening. And then we have famous people like Madonna talking about how she’s “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House” and you don’t hear an outrage from the left. Yes, Trump is loud, crude and offensive at times, but when you look at his policies that are garnering so much controversy, there’s really nothing controversial about them. Its common sense to vet the people coming here from high prone terrorist nations and to deport any illegal alien criminals. No one is being denied from coming here unless its proven they are a possible threat to our nation and what he’s doing is completely within the law. Oh! and I almost forgot. For the condescending jerks like dwes09, telling people they don’t know how to think, it makes me realize how bitter democrats are and how they’ll have a hard time winning more elections unless they give up their elitist attitudes and personal attacks on others who have different opionons. Good debates don’t come from calling people stupid. Anywho, those are my random, ramblings for this evening. Peace out
Celtic
Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa. So, your drawers get all in a twist and you change sides. Feel better now? And, what the hell do “liberal” and “conservative” mean in today’s jargon anyway? Few of us fit into one bottle. If Moore has gotten this upset about criticism, then he was a self-hating “conservative” to begin with. Milo is a monster. He also is an opportunist. Moore’s support of Milo is Moore’s right. But, to go off the rails? Waa. waa. waa. Perhaps the bigger problem in this discussion is how gays have become so mainstream they have begun to be just a fickle and bitchy as mainstream. (Not that gays were not fickle and bitchy to begin with — some, at least.)
mawbinatl
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
James Hart
“Celtic,” are you Irish?
Shame on you.
Good Irish Americans voted for Trump.
That’s what the polls showed after the election.
Heywood Jablowme
@James Hart: Meanwhile, real Irish people in Ireland (which you’ve probably never been to) regard Trump as insane, and oh yeah a hypocrite – he whined in a government document about how he MUST build a seawall to protect his property there from CLIMATE CHANGE! – which of course he claims not to believe in.
whatevz
many self-loathing Mos will never get all the attention they need, no matter how conservative they pretend to be
James Hart
They don’t have to “pretend” to be conservative.
Maybe they love America, unlike you, who hate it.
whatevz
he has to run to the side that wants to ‘convert’ him, the side that argues he’s gay only because he wants to molest little boys, the side that wants to take rights away from him… because that’s what self-loathing Mos do
Juanjo
Jason dear, criticizing someone for doing everything to Milo but fellatio when writing an article is not bullying. Now publicly attacking on social media because they dropped your daughter’s shoes and clothing line might be bullying if you do it the way the orange howler monkey did.
DarkZephyr
Does Chadwick Moore see r*cism, transphobia and internalized homophobia to be “conservative” qualities? He must.
SeeingAll
Internalized homophobia is easily spotted in gay men who actually want more Muslims coming into their country.
dwes09
Brian dearie, the “gay bullies” are people like Milo who inspire violence against and disdain for their own kind inspired by a desire for money and attention. Gay bullies are people like the right wing politicians in the closet who vote to suppress social progress. And people like you who are moved entirely by their sad neuroses that cause them to desire violence against other gay people (though it is not clear that you are actually gay, and quite possibly just a hetero regressive, it is still humorous that you call others “mentally disturbed”).
Gay bullies are NOT those who support social progress for LGBT people as well as others.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Also Dave Rubin (whose podcasts they used to feature here) finally pinned his true clues to the mast on a Prager University YouTube video. Saw that one coming!.Despite him claiming to be critical but even-handed voice “on the Left”. Disingenuous cünt. Dat Patreon coin calls the tune tho
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
*colours to the mast.
Enatai
There’s more to this story if he’s claiming Coulter is “smart and funny,” and I’m afraid I don’t care about any of it. Good for him but I’m trying to see where the news is here.
Binary Void
Although I can empathize with him being treated negatively for his personal views (I think I lot of us LGBT people can relate to that) I can’t empathize with him being a closeted Conservative. He seems to be describing specific liberals and not all liberals. It’s not the fault of liberals or the LGBT community for his Conservatism. It was his choice.
The whole bit with reconnecting with his likely social conservative (and possibly homophobic) father over how terrible liberals are was very telling. We all look for approval in one way or another but he really seems like he’s proud that his father is noticing him in that way.
There can be crazy liberals out there but that’s not even close to the amount of opposition he’s likely to face in his own party. For some gays, approval and validation from the community they grew up in is everything.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
“Death threats and trolls are unacceptable from all sides, but they can also sadly be claimed by both sides. If you’re looking for a group entirely free of despicable elements, you will have to remain unaffiliated for life.”
True. But the hypocritical hysterics currently squatting over the popular organs of the Left don’t call *their* side’s violence and extremism out either, even tacitly give them the nod; as well as Ignoring or endorsing much of the excesses of the batshit and frankly authoritarian ideological BS — all while being sanctimonious AF. Because as we know to call that out makes you a White Supremacist, coon, uncle tom or various shades of self-hater. I’m beginning to distrust the good reasoning and even the good faith of the Left. And I sure as hell don’t trust, and will NEVER trust the Right — but unlike Dave-integrity-for-rent-Rubin, I mean it. I don’t trust any of them. I’m struggling to not just become cynical AF
Mo Bro
On this site, gay conservatives are viewed as the enemy and are regularly debased and degraded and told to go away and die, while straight liberals are happily welcomed with open arms as allies.
Does this strike any reasonable, sane individual as being “free of an agenda”?
Heywood Jablowme
Aw, Mo Bro’s feewings are hurt again.
Mo Bro
@HeyNoOnWantsToBlowYou:
So, should I do what liberals with hurt feelings do and block traffic, start fires, and assault innocents?
I’m on it!
Heywood Jablowme
Re: his imaginary encounter in a gay bar: “I told him that I’m against Trump’s wall but in favor of strengthening our borders. He called me a Nazi and walked away.”
I’m calling b.s. – that never happened.
Mo Bro
Do you honestly not believe that libs label conservatives “Nazis” with reckless abandon?
I’m calling b.s., because no one—not even a liberal—is that ignorant.
All one need do to educate oneself is observe the signs being waved around at any anti-Trump gathering.
Heywood Jablowme
Nobody would call him a “Nazi” just for THAT. As even he admits – or claims here that he did – Trump’s Wall is a crazy idea. But I’ve never met a real-life liberal who gives a sh*t much about “undocumented” immigrants who are getting hired illegally. Worrying about that stuff is for the rich twits (mostly conservatives) who hire illegal nannies, gardeners and maids. And btw, illegal immigration peaked back in 2007 and more have been leaving since then than coming in. Another FACT that the fact-free Trumpsters never acknowledge.
It’s totally a paranoid conservative fantasy that we liberals are all upset about the poor, poor, pitiful illegal immigrants and want to “let ’em all in” so they can vote illegally.
Heywood Jablowme
And that’s another reason to be suspicious. “Moore says he is against both the travel ban and many of Trump’s Cabinet picks.” And he’s against Trump’s Wall. Damn, he’s a #NeverTrump-er and practically a RINO!
Is there any Trump policy he actually likes? Or is this all about (supposedly) disliking liberals, or pretending to, apparently just to get attention? Oh, and to get Daddy’s approval?
Oh, but he hates trans people? Is THAT the litmus test nowadays?
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Fake ass. He looks NOTHING like that illustration — which is not that unattractive actually.
Donston
Be a “conservative gay” all you want, but if you support Milo’s lunacy you’re a lunatic. He’s not conservative. He’s a flat-out headcase. Even log cabin gays should be ashamed to associate with him. And clearly this journalist was already a conservative and used this nonsense to “out” himself. But let’s ignore the common sense of it all.
JaneSmith76
Listen to what he is claiming. He is saying he was liberal but a few comments on social media made him change all of his beliefs. Fake ass. He looks NOTHING like that illustration — which is not that unattractive actually.
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