“We don’t want to be mean to gays; we want to expose them when they’re being bullies.”
That’s the gist of a decidedly unhuggy Buzzfeed story examining Steve Bannon’s views on homosexuality, in which a Breitbart writer claims Trump’s chief strategist “isn’t out to promote a socially conservative agenda on homosexuality… but he does have an interest in attacking LGBT-rights advocates as a way of attacking the left.”
But Bannon’s and Breitbart’s criteria for when gays are “bullies” is uncomfortably far-reaching.
Related: 10 Most Antigay Headlines Overseen By Trump’s Top Advisor, Steve Bannon
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Still, Bannon reportedly remained on the sidelines while Trump debated signing an anti-LGBTQ executive order. At the urging of Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Gary Cohn, Trump eventually announced he’d preserve Obama’s orders that protect against job discrimination towards LGBT people.
And Bannon has remained on the sidelines as a strategy. (The same can’t be said for transgender rights, which Breitbart regularly opposes in the harshest of ways.)
“I don’t think [Bannon] has very strong views on the question at all … I mean gay rights broadly,” says Thomas Williams, Breitbart’s editor in Rome.
“Probably pushed to it, he would probably say I think it’s gone too far, but he never pushes it, he never vocalizes it — it’s just not on the top 10 list of things that he cares about….
It’s just not one of the issues where he’s going to go to the mat. Regardless of his personal inclination on the issue … you have to pick your battles and it’s just not worth it.”
According to close confidant Benjamin Harnwell:
“I’d say that Steve Bannon … [is] always looking internationally to people that he can work with where there is mutual common interest. He was interested in amplifying the voice of a leading conservative…. I don’t think he wants to wade into (infights).”
Another contributor, the Catholic conservative activist Austin Ruse, says Breitbart’s stance is to attack LGBTQ activists (who they’ve branded the “Big Gay Hate Machine“), but not to get into fights about homosexuality itself:
“The thing about Breitbart and LGBT — and this was discussed — we don’t want to be mean to gays; we want to expose them when they’re being bullies.”
“The big mission at Breitbart is to change the liberal narrative… (not) going after gays per se.”
If their strategy still eludes you, here’s an example.
The very first story Ruse pitched to Bannon centered on Matthew Shepard, who, after his brutal murder in 1998, remains a symbol of antigay violence.
Related: Trump’s Campaign Staff May Be The Most Homophobic Ever
The pitch: Shepard, who was tied to a fence and beaten to death, wasn’t the victim “The Big Gay Hate Machine” wants you to believe he was.
Bannon rewarded the story idea with his highest praise: “HUGE.”
In the published post, Ruse claims “almost everything you think you know about the Matthew Shepard narrative is false.”
Leaning heavily on a sketchy book verging on publication, Ruse insisted Shepard had had sex with one of his killers, and was murdered due to a drug-related skirmish.
He claims the “victim” narrative was dreamed up by “the gay establishment,” and says “the agenda of the sexual left lives on lies.”
According to Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, a progressive media advocacy group:
“When it comes to issues of anti-Muslim sentiment there’s no confusion it’s 100% clear, but where LGBT issues come up, it’s a bit murkier.”
He says that while the site consistently suggests “gay culture is icky and gross and weird,” it’s “not picking up big policy fights” over homosexuality.
“When it comes to gay rights, they seem to have internalized [conservatives’] own defeat.”
In fact, Bannon could even invoke gay rights issues if it helps bolster one of his pet issues, such as stopping immigration.
As Buzzfeed points out, at the very last minute, some language was tacked onto an executive order that aimed to limit refugees entrance into U.S. from seven Muslin countries:
“The United States should not admit … those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation.”
In fact, gay Republican activist Chris Barron, a Breitbart contributor and leader of GOProud, a gay convervative group, consider’s Bannon an ally to the gay community:
“I’m not concerned about Bannon at all,” he says, clearly not representing the larger LGBTQ community.
kehvan
Yeah, well, who likes bullies?
GayForDaddyTrump
““I’m not concerned about Bannon at all,” he says, clearly not representing the larger LGBTQ community.”
Wow, rude
Just because we’re all part of a community doesn’t mean that we all think the same. I’m a Gay Conservative. I /like/ Trump and his administration, and I feel that Chris Barron represents me just fine.
Giancarlo85
How cute. It doesn’t surprise me people like you are willing to sell out your community and country for delusional fantasies. This nasty corrupt administration represents no one but the elite and altright.
By the way, what is there to like about this train wreck of an administration? Do you support the real President? I am referring to Vladimir Putin.
brahbate
Who is Chris Barron??!? ?
dwes09
Of LGBT people who voted, only 15% cast votes for Trump. This is less than the usual 20-25%. So your (and Barron’s) support for Bannon and Trump IN FACT does not represent the larger LGBT community.
Nobody claims we all think the same, and neither the article nor the authors claimed we do. But it is pretty obvious that a vote for Trump is not a vote for either increased enfranchisement or for holding on to the social advances we have made.
Glad you like the Trump administration, they have made it clear the most they do is TOLERATE you, and for most of us (at least those of us with critical intellectual capacity) that is not enough. Let’s see how you feel after however long his administration lasts.
Sorry you find the statement of fact “rude”, but honestly I am not surprised. You likely have difficulty with the difference between facts and imagination.
Juanjo
You are just a nameless entity who probably is not gay and most certainly is a troll.
Dakotahgeo
Then I’d say you were quite the disgusting queen. You and Bannon (Barron???) would make the sweetest queer couple!
jimontp
What exactly do you “like” about Trump? Did you actually like his batshit crazy “press conference” yesterday? He is at least an egotistical bipolar personally. Ranting about press coverage, lying about his huge electoral college victory, and if you think he gives a rat’s ass about gay people, you’re delusional and probably a Russian troll.
DCguy
I love the way the right wing trolls come in here and think that we can’t spot them.
Sweetie, this is an LGBT blog, those of us who belong here don’t announce ourselves by saying things like “I am a gay conservative”
The Mormons tried things like that during the Prop 8 fiasco. They would come on here and say “As a gay man, I really think that……”
So nice try, now go back to reading Breitbart, you’re too stupid to fool anybody here.
Realitycheck
I doubt you are even gay, most likely a paid tRump Troll….. I hope you have sex with tRump and KellyAnne that should teach you!
roscoe_woods
I would be very careful when it comes to Bannon – he will use any means necessary to attack what he sees as the “establishment”. As a prescribed Leninist his loyalties are to Steve Bannon and Bannon alone. He is a dangerous divisive person who is filled with hate for anything even remotely progressive.
Rw
jjsatellite
Thank you.
Giancarlo85
I think Bannon is more along the lines of Reinhard Heydrich.
1EqualityUSA
This administration will fall hard and take the GOP with them, deservedly. February 2018 will be an interesting month.
Realitycheck
Bannon has apocalyptic delusions, he is even more crazy then tRump as we can tell by the way he dresses and doesn’t take care of himself….
Kieran
How do we know this isn’t fake news the President warned us about?
NateOcean
Perhaps “fake news”, perhaps “alternate facts”.
Giancarlo85
Oh puh-lease. You are back here yapping? Putin… I mean Trump… Was elected on the back of fake news. And the Washington Post has been nailing it. They have proof. Not fake news. Making up stories about Hillary running child sex rings out of a restaurant is fake news, buddy! Open your little eye balls. Trump is ruining this country.
dwes09
First of all, significant quotes used come from the content on Breitbart.com itself. So if it is “fake news” Breitbart is the fake source. Second, Media Matters documents everything going to original sources.
You alt-right folks really need to learn how to use your brains. They probably work, though research shows they are less adept at dealing with/evaluating fact and more run by fear, imagined security and emotional appeals.
mhoffman953
@dwes09 So now you’re saying Breitbart is real news? Every other time you say everything Breitbart says is fake. Which is it?
Secondly, Media Matters is funded by George Soros and month ago they created Correct the Record which was a group of people who would go online creating internet profiles to bash Donald Trump and praise Hillary Clinton. This is a liberal think tank group with an agenda. Clearly they have bias.
Also you keep mentioning that study that says “alt-right folks” use fear to make decisions. Can you link to this study? The only thing I can find on Google is a study that studied 90 people on a TV show.
Giancarlo85
Mhoffman, stop trying to act smart. You aren’t coming off as bright. The alt right distortion machine is in full force. Mediamatters actually had evidence behind their stories. Maybe you could try using evidence? The alt right is already being blasted away by viable and strong candidates in Germany and France.
Too bad some Americans are too ignorant to see the writing on the wall.
The alt right, Bannon and breitbart are all desperate losers who can’t halt the inevitable left wing revolution. It may be a velvet revolution, but it will happen. Trump will be the last Republican president and he won’t even last a full four years.
He will do a lot more than four years though, in a federal prison.
Giancarlo85
And who was discussing Soros or media matters? Come on little one, try to stay on topic. I know it is hard.
mhoffman953
@Giancarlo85
“And who was discussing media matters?”
Um…the article does when it cites the Media Matters president Angelo Carusone and so did the person I was responding to in my comment. Did you even read article?
My point was that Media Matters is a partisan group created by David Brock, a man whose ex-boyfriend tried blackmailing him because Brock’s political groups may have been laundering money and avoiding taxes. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107394/Media-Matters-founder-David-Brock-accuses-gay-ex-lover-blackmailing-850K.html
And when you claim any right-wing or conservative person are “desperate losers who can’t halt the inevitable left wing revolution. It may be a velvet revolution, but it will happen”, for there to be a left-wing revolution, they would have to start winning some elections first. Since Obama, Democrats have lost over 900 seats in state legislatures and in this past election they lost the presidency, the house, the senate, and you might as well say the supreme court. Doesn’t sound like a winning revolution to me.
GayEGO
Just use common sense! Trump has none which is obvious by his theatrical hoopla, flip flopping, and lying. I do not see the news media differing on their reports about Trump, only Trump denying what he visibly said on TV.
KaiserVonScheiss
Pure hit piece with no real substance. And Buzzkill? You can’t trust anything those SJWs say.
jjsatellite
Are you engaging in some type of meta sarcasm here ? You’re attached to an incorrect “SJW” definition, the diluted type. Or perhaps you’re deluded?
Giancarlo85
Pure hit post from the typical brownshirt Trumpeter who doesn’t like facts. And I mean real facts. Not the nonsense coming from Sean Spiceboy and this train wreck of an administration.
Former Navy admiral Harward put it well enough… Any job offer from this administration is a s**t sandwich. Harward is a conservative by the way.
KaiserVonScheiss
When you don’t have evidence, just call him a brownshirt.
Buzzkill are full of SJWs and everyone knows it. They post racist, anti-white videos all the time. They post sexist, anti-male videos all the time. Those are facts.
Giancarlo85
So I get it now. You are just a delusional liar who hasn’t opened his eyes over the last month of this train wreck. Antimale, anti white lmao… You are the real racist.
Giancarlo85
You wouldn’t know real facts if they smacked you in the face by the way. Lol. You’re a laugh.
KaiserVonScheiss
“Muh racism…everyone’s racist. You’re racist.” That’s what you sound like. You sound like a petulant child.
Giancarlo85
And you sound like an alt right nutcase who thrives off fake news and cocaine, like your buddy Trump. You are the little child.
dwes09
There is no need to pay any attention to a poster who refers to themselves as the King of Shit. Especially when he seems not to notice the quotes come mostly directly from Breitbart, and there is additional information that makes Bannon’s positions crystal clear.
Something based on the actual words of the person being discussed as well as his associates cannot be labeled as a “pure hit piece”. But the King of Shit has repeatedly demonstrated an inability to understand the meaning of words (preferring the meanings that bubble up from his imagination or that of his manipulators).
Juanjo
Just another troll making accusations with no proof
DCguy
Please detail out your exact problems with it. Oh wait, that’s right, you’re an internet troll most likely from a Moldovan bot farm that the GOP is using.
Your little meaningless quips won’t deflect from the topic. But nice try. And hey, for a foreign troll your grammar wasn’t half bad.
KaiserVonScheiss
@Dwes09
Again, kaiser means emperor, not king. Get it right, monarchophobe.
davidkohl
Extraordinary. I fail to understand how a gay man, or woman, or muslim, or anyone at all practically can claim to approve of the racist, sexist, homophobe in the White House. You don’t have to be left wing to know what is right or wrong. This is not about thinking the same as everyone else. This is about not approving of discrimination and forcing people back into the closet. If that lot of gangsters in the White House decide not to take on LGBT issues it is because they know they can’t win. They will attack the weakest first. In this case Muslims. It brings shame on the Office of the President. Those who support and encourage that odious man are equally guilty.
dwes09
It is called denial. People have an enormous ability to ignore the way things are in favor of the way they would like them to be. This is especially true of the right (as is strongly suggested by both fMRI and clinical psychological research).
GayEGO
Many reasons, my favorite one being – They have been brainwashed by Trump and I call them Trumpsters.
natriley
Calling Gays Bullies is a key part of right strategy which holds that left grievances are made up. The rainbow coalition is made up of cry babies who whine. They don’t want the public to respond to LGBT issues. They are only moderately successful. Anti-gay hatred is so palpable and so mean that fair-minded people end up supporting LGBT claims. The right favors male chauvinism so their hostility is moderated by desire. They want the right to bang an LGBT person and then reject them afterwards.
Giancarlo85
What a shocker the same inane right wing trolls are still here. Surprising they even have the guts to post after the disastrous month Trump has had. And already a major scandal that is spreading like a cancer.
One analyst was right. Trump is likely facing jail time after his impeachment.
Giancarlo85
By the way, you fools hit a sleeping dragon. In the next few years, you will see a left wing uprising throughout the world unlike anything you have seen. You will wish Hillary won instead.
By the way, Trump has basically ruined the right wing in countries like Germany and France. Emmanuel Macron and Martin Schulz are fighting back against the desperate forces of populist treachery.
jason_evans
Haven’t your teeth fallen out yet? Gays for Trump.
GayEGO
Excellent news! I cannot wait to see this happen to Trump!
GayEGO
Odd, I have been out for 57 years and I never met any gay bullies, only straight or homophobic ones. But then, Bannon and his ilk really do not know what they are talking about. Bannon sounds like he is trying to cover up his real feelings and likely would make up stories like Trump and say we were bullies.
dwes09
To the alt right, a gay bully is one that does not know their place. “Help!! That gay man wants full enfranchisement and equal protection under the law!! Help!!” THAT is the cry of the little bullies like Bannon. And the response of the alt-right folks here (who mostly have changed their posting names, though their tone is recognizable) is “don’t worry we are here to lick your holes clean, and acknowledge that you are God’s chosen.”
JoeyRamone
For self-hating homos, being barely tolerated by daddy is equivalent to acceptance.
jason_evans
Gay and homosexual are 2 different things. Gay represents a feminized, politicized and ultimately reduced version of male homosexuality.
Gay is about tucking yourself away into the gay ghetto so that you don’t offend homophobic women by interfering with their ability to prostitute themselves to men.
Heywood Jablowme
Oh, that’s what you’re trying to do? Prostitute yourself to straight men?
Giancarlo85
Oh look it is a self hating gay man… Who hates calling himself gay. the same Jason smeds with daddy issues.
dwes09
As usual Brian (whose name change cannot mask his peculiar pathology) has no understanding of the history or meaning of words. Nor does he seem to understand the most basic dynamics of interpersonal relationships between people.
How do you live with yourself when you hate gay men, all women, and yourself?
jimontp
How dare you make those adolescent, condescending, idiotic statements about GAY? Really? Gay is about being proud and out since Stonewall.
Why can’t we mark you as SPAM? TROLL!
Heywood Jablowme
We’re bullies because we’re always criticizing his “fashion sense” in that horrifying and nauseating photo. A leather sofa, too! OMG.
Riley
It’s obvious by his personal appearance and negative worldview he suffers with non medically treated manic depression. Persons mentally suffering with untreated mental illness, depression, anxiety or shell shock etc. Rather than seeking professional medical help and maturely admitting they have a problem. They always psychologically project monopoly’s, Bug’s Bunny or other people as being the core cause, as a cry for help.
Pneumatikon
Bannon’s position towards “the gay” is similar to mine. I actually think most rank and file gay leaders are traitors to their country and their civilization. I also think you’re heavily indoctrinated, useful idiots. You’ll go into the same stewpot the “homophobes” get thrown into if your “friends” get their way.
Here’s what I think a useful, SANE gay position should be. I aimed my video at the Alt-Right obviously, but I had to formulate the former to properly critique the latter.
https://youtu.be/geOJIUfDmAY
Giancarlo85
You are a useless tool. Traitors? Here is a mirror.
DCguy
What you think is irrelevent, the fact is you can’t back up your “Opinion” with any facts. And secondly, NO gay people think about gays half as much as you do. You are obviously a self hating homosexual who can’t deal with the fact that you are gay.
Sorry Princess, we figured you out.
Terrycloth
President Bannon might stay in office but the orange guy might not last 6 more months. He wants out now…hates it..picks fights , watches tv..makes up stuff , lies .wants a needless wall…we pay for tower security . For his immigrant wife & son…air Force one trips…millions millions…
jason_evans
A needless wall? LMFAO.
alanballs
A screwed up country with fat, stupid “leaders”. Grateful I don’t live there.
jason_evans
Where exactly do you live? Australia, where there is no gay marriage permitted? England, where the gay scene is dominated by drag queens rather than male homosexual desire?
GayEGO
Well! Mary Doogan! You have a lot of balls. Are you a BREXIT or a UK citizen?
jason_evans
Yays for Trump. Gays for Trump!!
Sluggo2007
Just sit on your brown leather couch and masturbate like you normally do.
Realitycheck
All the LGBTQ self hating F.A.G.S that voted for t-Rump are responsible for the lost of LGBTQ rights we are already experiencing and everything else that will come our way….
I hope in the end, there will some poetic justice.
NathanR
It’s very easy to attack a person when you call their activism “bullying” because that makes you “not the villain” in that scenario. Kind of like when preppy kids gang up on the school nerd and say “Yeah, well, he had it coming because he’s actually a jerk himself.” We can’t cope with being the villain, so we make up reasons for why the one we’re attacking is the villain.
Anyone who says “I’m not anti-gay but I want to expose the ones who are bullies” is basically following that same principal. It’s hate disguised as something else so that you don’t look like the bad guy, and anyone who falls for it is probably just as insecure and narcissistic.
Rusty66
Steve Bannon is a fat, smelly, ugly, traitorous HOT MESS in a tattered party dress!
GayEGO
Too funny! Love your comment, hot guy!