Intolerance of Gay Conservatives in Europe
In response to my first post from the Log Cabin “convention” where I re-posted a piece that had initially appeared when we were on blogspot, an Irish reader wrote in, detailing his experiences as a gay conservative on the Emerald Isle and in Germany. It seems gay Germans are just as intolerant as their American counterparts when it comes to understanding their gay fellows.
And not only does Stephen Spillane read GayPatriot, but he blogs as well. Check out his site. Seems there’s a budding Irish GayPatriot for it ’twas on the Emerald Isle that I learned the true meaning of patriotism.
Anyway, without further ado, Stephen’s reflections (which he also posted on his own blog):
I joined Fine Gael (The Irish Conservative Party) back in 2004 before I came out in 2005 during my first year of college. My colleagues in my branch knew me before I was ‘the gay’. When I did come out nothing changed among my colleagues in Fine Gael, and I am still a respected member. In fact I am actively turned to on issues of Gay Rights and that, to see what my opinion is. I have attended national conferences of both the junior and senior parties and spoken at the Junior Conferences and the fact that I am a gay conservative does not effect peoples view of this.
When I joined my college LGBT, I was lucky as the Auditor (Chair) at the time was also a member of Fine Gael, so it was okay in college in my LGBT being a gay conservative. I even ended up on the committee. Outside college its a different world though. I regular get strange looks when I brings up politics let alone Fine Gael among friends. There is no natural ‘Gay Rights’ party in Ireland, most parties are progressive on it. When I say I am a conservative I get strange looks and asked ‘how?’. Its strange like that. Gay people seam to think that just becasue I’m gay I must be a liberal or a socialist.
Fast forward to this year when I moved to Germany. I have not joined the Christian Democratic Party or its youth wing (or its LGBT wing) as I am not long enough here, but here it is acceptable to talk about politics in gay circles in pubs. When I say I support the CDU, I sometimes feel I have to duck or step back. People here dont understand either that you can be gay and conservative. While talking to anyone else straight conservative/socialist/liberal, its a non-issue. I may be asked a few more questions on my reasoning for supporting unions (not marriage!).
Seems he had some experiences in Germany not too different from my own when I surprised my Teutonic peers by defending Ronald Reagan in fluent German.
Seems they couldn’t believe an American who could speak two foreign languages would deign defend the Gipper. But, then again, maybe those European elitists thought I was bitter or something.
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Funny. It was my understanding that Europeans loved us unconditionally until 19 January 2001. What’s more, I thought liberals were supposed to be tolerant. The more you actually pay attention, you realise that liberals (and Kevin) are the racist, sexist, bigot, homophobic fascist bastards.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — April 15, 2008 @ 3:24 am - April 15, 2008
Now see, that’s fascinating to me. More evidence that gays aren’t liberals because of any perceived differences on gay issues, but because they truly do think of themselves as victims. And like single women, who overwhelmingly vote Democrat, they want government to be their daddy and take care of them. Straight men and married women, on the other hand, vote overwhelmingly Republican because they feel able and capable of taking care of themselves and just want government to get out of the way.
And if gays then really are like women in this respect, seems the best thing to do is get em married and turn em into conservatives.
Comment by American Elephant — April 15, 2008 @ 4:18 am - April 15, 2008
I once was called a nazi in a coming out forum. While I quoted Ayn Rand I was called fascistic another time. The leftist gay is up the arse of those that want them dead, to paraphrase Amis.
Comment by southparkrepublican — April 15, 2008 @ 5:02 am - April 15, 2008
Can you be gay and conservative? It depends on what the words mean. Sometimes, “gay” means “a self-accepting homosexual”. Other times, it means “a homosexual with self-consciously ‘unconventional’ or self-consciously ‘anti-bourgeois’ morals, attitudes and politics”.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — April 15, 2008 @ 11:38 am - April 15, 2008
To me, this suggests what the LCR might be better off spending their money on rather than Romney attack ads. I know that they go into great detail explaining what it means to be Republican on their web site, but who really goes there unless they are seeking them out? Maybe they ought to be spending more of their time, energy, and money dispelling the myth that being gay and Republican or conservative is somehow a betrayal to the gay community. I’ve talked to plenty of people online who think they’re liberal just because they are gay, but when you talk to them, you realize they are really more conservative than they think they are.
Comment by NaturallyGay — April 15, 2008 @ 6:20 pm - April 15, 2008
Interesting. Leftists love to play identity politics. Gays have to be socialist, blacks have to be socialist, women have to be socialist etc.
Why is that?! Why is it so difficult for them to understand that Gay, does NOT have to equal socialist. This is something I have dealt with countless times and will continue to do so.
This is my first ever post, I’ve been a lurker for months.
Love the site, keep up the good work!
Comment by John Smith — August 11, 2008 @ 10:19 pm - August 11, 2008