Glenn Beck’s lesbian caller confronts the gay orthodoxy
When you receive successive e-mails from readers forwarding the same e-mail, it’s usually something worth blogging about. A lesbian called into Glenn Beck’s show to share her experiences coming out of the closet. Her story will seem mighty familiar to many of those who read this blog:
since I came out of my conservative closet, I’ve lost a lot of my friends.
. . . .
And in listening to you, in saying what you mean and being true to yourself and true to your country, especially with this last election, a lot of my friends realized when they said are you voting for Obama or Hillary and I said, neither, they think I’m crazy. One of them actually said I’m like a Jew supporting Hitler.
Because she voted for McCain. They compared her to a Jew supporting Hitler? Hmm . . . . Wow, seems the gay left across the land has the same insults for people like us, you know those free-thinking gay iconoclasts who don’t subscribe to the party, er, homosexual orthodoxy.
It sounds like some of her friends comment on this blog:
I feel so alone some days, and I’m lucky enough that, you know, through listening to you and getting back to what really matters in my eyes, being gay’s a very small part of who I am, and nothing of what I am that I lost my friends because they don’t want to talk to me, because they try to get me –
Emphasis added. I guess that’s because, as she puts it, they claim it’s “the gay handbook” that you have to be a Democrat if you’re gay.
And I think she’ll find that if she tries to join a conservative organization, a Republican one, if her experiences are anything like mine, she’ll find a welcome, her worries notwithstanding.
Read the whole thing (or listen)!
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I was hoping someone would send this, I forgot to mention it myself.
Comment by The_Livewire — March 6, 2009 @ 8:03 pm - March 6, 2009
I noted the part of coming out of the closet twice. Seems like it takes more guts to come out as a gay conservative.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — March 6, 2009 @ 8:07 pm - March 6, 2009
I have always marveled at how comfortable I am in my precinct meetings (GOP, of course) where everybody knows I’m gay. I don’t think I ever even literally came out. Maybe I mentioned a guy I was dating at one point. Anyway, they never give me any crap about it (some have even tried to set me up) and all welcomed me.
Contrast that with any night out having a drink or any other social gay event. You’re a pariah if you’re conservative or identify yourself as a Republican.
Comment by ColoradoPatriot — March 6, 2009 @ 9:02 pm - March 6, 2009
#3 Colorado. How interesting, my partner and I lived in this town for almost 20 years, knew all our neighbors, were active in local Republican politics for many years, also active in our local Catholic church. Everyone knew we were gay, knew we were partnered, and no one, ever, had a problem with it, not even our parish priest. It was only our gay liberal friends who couldn’t understand how we could possibly be conservative. Our closest gay friends were also conservatives. And military veterans like us.
Comment by John in Dublin, Ca — March 6, 2009 @ 11:53 pm - March 6, 2009
Where’s the LowerKaseKlan and their obligatory Jewish Nazi comments?
Comment by ThatGayConservative — March 7, 2009 @ 5:28 am - March 7, 2009
Hey, if anyone knows her, tell her I’m on Facebook. (Last name: Kelleher.)
Comment by Julie the Jarhead — March 7, 2009 @ 8:06 am - March 7, 2009
#3 and #4 – I couldn’t agree more. My partner and I are in the deep, deep, south and yet we have no problems at all. Speaking with a liberal friend a couple of weeks ago who lives in LA, he indicated that he didn’t think retirement for he and his partner was possible back in Florida, his home state. His view is that people back here in the south are simply too intolerant and he’d feel unsafe. I’m just baffled by the things he said.
Comment by Scott Lassiter — March 7, 2009 @ 8:27 am - March 7, 2009
Someone might have the answer to this- what would it be like to be gay and black and vote Republican? Or gay, black, and poor and vote Republican? Or gay, black, poor, Muslim, and vote Republican? I bet the Democrats would really go after them.
Comment by A Conservative Teacher — March 7, 2009 @ 9:05 am - March 7, 2009
I think what a lot of lefties fail to realize is that the reason why we as gay conservatives are able to assimilate so well in society is twofold – we don’t throw it in people’s faces all the time (i.e. like the anti-8 protesters) and we don’t behave like a bunch of nellie queens.
Hate comes from fear. If people fear you, they begin to hate you. (Again, look at the Jews of Europe in the 1930s when the Nazis began to demonize them.) If they have nothing to fear from you, they will accept you.
The problem for GayLeftLibtards is that they are so full of themselves and demanding “acceptance” by society in the most vocal way, that they are alienating the very people who would give them acceptance in the first place.
Comments?
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — March 7, 2009 @ 11:06 am - March 7, 2009
One almost suspects it is political useful for the left to perpetuate these stereotypes.
Comment by V the K — March 7, 2009 @ 11:17 am - March 7, 2009
McCain has spent his life trying to protect us all from the world’s new Hitlers.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — March 7, 2009 @ 11:47 am - March 7, 2009
@8:
Hello, everyone … thank you, Bruce and Dan, for this fine blog; and thank you, A Conservative Teacher, for getting me off of my “husky dusky” (as my late father would have put it) and finally posting here after lurking for a year!
I am a gay black man who proudly voted for Ronald Reagan twice, for both Presidents Bush, and for Sarah Palin (well, there was that McCain fellow on the ticket …) I live in one of the self-proclaimed areas of moonbat-infested (in-)tolerance — western Washington State, a/k/a “Pugetopolis.”
I play bridge up in Seattle with a rotating group of 30 folks — there are usually between 12 and 24 there on any given evening. One can always tell the Republicans there because they don’t talk politics in between hands. One can always tell the Democrats there because they talk about nothing but politics in between hands.
One night during the recent Presidential campaign, I was vilified for wearing a McCain T-shirt to my bridge night during the campaign — and yet, I counted *six* Obama buttons on the 23 other people there that evening. Pointing that out was met with sullen silence. I have actually had people tell me, during our state’s acrimonious 2004 gubernatorial campaign, that I should *not* be talking about politics. And those are just the comments *to my face* — I can only speculate as to what was being whispered about me when I was not around.
Clearly, coming out as a black conservative in today’s GayLeft is akin to placing a garlic wreath that has been soaked in holy water around the neck of a vampire. Fortunately, I have enough of a thick skin not to care what the GayLeftBorg thinks of me, because I don’t need their approval — which makes them even more irrational.
Hang in there … the truth will out.
Best to all,
Michael S.
Comment by Michael Simpson — March 7, 2009 @ 11:58 am - March 7, 2009
#12: Michael, let me get this straight. You are a black, gay, conservative, 2-time Reagan supporter, who lives near Seattle, works in education, and thinks nothing of wearing a McCain/Palin t-shirt to play bridge with a pack of opinionated, liberal moonbats? And in addition, you don’t give a cr*p about what gay liberals think and you enjoy that your very existence makes them very, very upset?
Wow. I used to think I was pretty gutsy for being a white, gay, Republican lawyer in San Diego who doesn’t feel the need to apologize for it. But I just realized that compared to you, I’m basically a gigantic, cowardly wuss. I’m Pee-Wee Herman, and you are like Richard Roundtree crossed with Chuck Norris. Gosh, I feel a little star-struck–you are just awesome! Back in 1995 when Ward Connerly was bravely leading the Prop. 209 campaign to end racial preferences in California (and simultaneously making Sacramento liberals’ heads explode if they got too close), my sweet southern belle mother told me something that I have never forgotten–referring to Connerly she said, “Sean, the most courageous group of people in our society are without a doubt, BLACK CONSERVATIVES. It is shameful the way they are treated and criticized.” My mother specifically took the time to point this out to me, even though she’s never been super-political (although she is, of course, a conservative–as all respectable, well-preserved, southern baptist housewives are).
I can’t wait to tell her about you. Apparently, black and unapologetically conservative wasn’t enough–you had to crank it up a notch by being gay too. You’re my hero. So, tell me, when you’re wearing that McCain/Palin t-shirt and you encounter a group of well-intentioned, guilty, white liberals, do their heads just pop right off like bottle caps, or is there significant convulsing, hemorrhaging, and fist-shaking as well? Or do they just start spinning like tops, faster and angrier than Peggy Fleming, as they barrel down through the Earth’s crust in a cork-screw fashion? You should start wearing a Darth Vader costume to your bridge club–that’s probably exactly what the liberals saw when you showed up in a McCain shirt anyway.
Well, my hat is off to you, Michael, and I’m now one of your fans. Now see, you’re a black guy I could see myself worshipping like a deity. Obama? Not so much.
Comment by Sean A — March 7, 2009 @ 2:09 pm - March 7, 2009
@12:
Sean, thanks for the comment. I promise not to get a swelled head over it. (LOL)
I thought that the funniest comment that I got from one of my bridge-playing moonbat friends was during the 2004 gubernatorial campaign, when “Queen” Christine Gregoire was running against Dino Rossi. I came in wearing a “Rossi for Governor” T-shirt and was accused of — wait for it — being a secret Ku Klux Klan member.
I simply smiled, arched one eyebrow, and said “One never knows … do one?”
The head-spinning, mouth-frothing, vulgar tirade that followed rivaled anything Regan MacNeil had to offer in “The Exorcist.”
I laughed all the way through my 90-minute drive home from downtown Seattle.
That’s the interesting thing about the GayLeftBorg: members trumpet their individuality while desperately seeking approval from others, so their associations are involuntary — they HAVE to be a part of something larger than themselves. Conservatives seek their approval from within, so their associations are voluntary — they LIKE to be a part of a group, but they don’t HAVE to be.
We make jokes about “Don’t let the little head rule the big one” (my apologies to our lesbian friends out there) but that is certainly the case in the GayLeftBorg — sexuality overruffs race, which in turn overruffs gender. I have certainly lost more “friends” by coming out as a conservative than by coming out as gay … ironically, the “friends” that I lost were in the gay community, not in the conservative community.
Hang in there … the truth will out.
Best,
Michael S.
Comment by Michael Simpson — March 7, 2009 @ 2:53 pm - March 7, 2009
Michael: Thank you for sharing that experience. It reminds me of another curious facet of the Gay Left: Their assumption that everybody simply shares their politics.
Rarely is it I am in a naturally non-political environment (as opposed to a rally or whatnot) that I hear a conservative bring up politics. It’s almost always a Leftist who just assumes everybody around him agrees.
In gay circles, it’s even worse.
You know someone who writes often (and very eloquently) about this? Jay Nordlinger over at NRO. (Apropos of nothing, by the way, I take every opportunity I can to pass along my favorite Nord quote: “There are some people who would rather homosexuals be stoned to death than that they be liberated by George W. Bush and the ‘Right.’”)
Comment by ColoradoPatriot — March 7, 2009 @ 3:40 pm - March 7, 2009
“One almost suspects it is political useful for the left to perpetuate these stereotypes.”
Interesting comment on a blog where a good portion of those who comment wouldn’t have much to say if they couldn’t repeat asinine stereotypes about liberals.
“The problem for GayLeftLibtards is that they are so full of themselves”
as are “conservatives” look down at at liberals and call them juvenile names like libtards
“we don’t behave like a bunch of nellie queens.”
indeed, damn those nellie queens, if they’d just act normal even Scott Lively would change his mind about us. And if we all learned from Peter Labarbera and Matt Barber even NDT might quit spouting hate.
So conservatives are “free-thinking” and the rest of us are robots (and nellie ones to boot).
No doubt there are aholes that say ignorant things to conservative gays and they are wrong but can you really claim that all the left is like that? Also, there are also those whose life experiences with the right, not because of how they act but because they simply exist, are unable to understand how you could support them. And many here constantly assume that they deserved it or asked for it. Perhaps y’all should consider that many times it’s not the party you support or your political beliefs that are the issue. If both sides would let go of their feelings of superiority we might actually get somewhere. Understand this, you are no better than those on the left you so love to attack.
Comment by a different Dave — March 7, 2009 @ 6:56 pm - March 7, 2009
Just found out, the other day, that there’s a Fredrick Douglas club here in Lakeland. That’s a national organization, isn’t it?
Comment by ThatGayConservative — March 7, 2009 @ 6:57 pm - March 7, 2009
Interesting comment on a blog where a good portion of those who comment wouldn’t have much to say if they couldn’t repeat asinine stereotypes about liberals.
Admittedly, we do stereotype liberals as being mindless drones who hold Democrats to different standards than Republicans, who can’t argue beyond a talking point and can’t back up their assertions of fact with citations except from far-left websites — and rapidly revert to insults and name-calling when called on it.
But that stereotype gets validated on a daily basis here.
Comment by V the K — March 7, 2009 @ 7:28 pm - March 7, 2009
You confuse convictions and principles with “feelings of superiority”. Spare us the “can’t we all just get along?” bullshit because we know you don’t mean it.
<—- Passes ADD some Midol.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — March 8, 2009 @ 2:32 am - March 8, 2009
#19: Ditto, TGC. “Feelings of superiority” is that unpatriotic condition afflicting Republicans in Congress that stubbornly refuse to be “bipartisan” and support every legislative whim Obama cavalierly flirts with (and then passes behind closed doors in the dead of night).
Comment by Sean A — March 8, 2009 @ 3:49 am - March 8, 2009
#14: Michael, the fact that you were accused of being a secret member of the KKK does not surprise me in the least. NOTHING that sloshes out of liberals’ foul pie-holes ever surprises me, having been equated with a “Jewish Nazi” on several occasions myself. Plus, there’s also the fact that the KKK has a HUGE, dynamic membership in the Seattle area, as I’m sure you know. (And not that gussied-up, new-fangled, reich-ish modern Klan–I’m talking about good old fashioned God-fearin’ Klan. Whoo-hoo! I personally prefer my Klan to be more of the “wake up white people!” variety–not so much the German, white-supremacist type, considering my disgust of all things even vaguely European.)
I’m sure you are well aware of this, Michael, but the reason that people like you give moonbats grand-mal seizures is because of your rude, uncooperative refusal to follow “the rules”. And one of their most cherished “rules” is that black people are not allowed to have more than one set of politics. It really irritates them because they simply don’t have the patience to understand you as an individual when they already have a nicely labeled box that you’re supposed to climb into so that their world makes sense to them. In other words, your individuality is a real inconvenience for them when they are right in the middle of trying to celebrate your diversity. It’s just a really big hassle for everyone concerned when all they want to do is celebrate the pigment of your skin, and you pull some stunt like having opinions and beliefs that are inconsistent with the “rules.” Shame on you, Michael. The only worse thing you could have done was tell them that you don’t need their help to get into college (please don’t because then you have to call 911, get an ambulance, blah blah blah..)
It’s unfortunate that you have to lose friends over it, but that’s what happens when someone like you has the brazen audacity to wander off the perfectly charming plantation they built for you.
Comment by Sean A — March 8, 2009 @ 11:23 am - March 8, 2009
@21:
The only worse thing you could have done was tell them that you don’t need their help to get into college (please don’t because then you have to call 911, get an ambulance, blah blah blah..)
Sean — ROTFL …
Flashback to fall of 1977, Matthews Hall, Harvard College where I was self-righteously informed by someone on my dormitory floor that the only reason that I got into Harvard was because I was black — and this was at our first meeting, no less. Once he found out that I was gay AND conservative on top of that … it’s a good thing that I had a quarter available to call the waaahmbulance.
Obviously, the Emancipation Proclamation must have been secretly repealed when I wasn’t looking. Did Al Gore Senior sneak that into the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
Hang in there … the truth will out.
Best,
Michael S.
Comment by Michael Simpson — March 8, 2009 @ 12:33 pm - March 8, 2009
Michael you are not the only Black gay conservative out there. At the moment there are two gay conservative students at Stanford. My son is one of them (he’s Jewish). The other is a black kid from Oakland.
I asked Yishai how Marcus became conservative, I know that I brainwashed Yishai, he didn’t stand a chance.
He said the there was nothing Marcus could do to shock anyone, being gay was ho hum, other antics didn’t get any response. So in high school Marcus started telling people that he was a Republican. THAT got a reaction. Then, being the smart kid he is, he started reading up on what Republicans stand for. He decided that it actually made sense to him. So now it is no longer about shocking people, it’s simply about being who he is.
Comment by Leah — March 8, 2009 @ 6:53 pm - March 8, 2009
“…we don’t behave like a bunch of nellie queens.”
Peter H., it is important to understand that some gay men are naturally more effeminate. That does not make them bad. What is bad, is putting on effeminancy and shrillness to rub it in people’s faces, to strive to make them uncomfortable. This is unfortunately far too common.
A friend of mine, who is naturally somewhat effeminate, recently moved to a small, rural southern town. He told me that in the town’s bar, people are much friendlier and more happy to engage in good-natured conversation than he EVER found in the city. He’s hanging out with country folks while dressed in vintage suits and ties and no one gives a damn. He’s a nice guy. They can tell that. They accept him. End of story.
Comment by 23eagle — March 9, 2009 @ 5:12 pm - March 9, 2009
One of the best comment threads I’ve ever read, thanks for the information/entertainment/supportive thoughts everyone.
Comment by DoorHold — March 10, 2009 @ 1:07 am - March 10, 2009
#24 – 23eagle, I never said that being a nellie queen was a BAD thing. And yes, I do accept the “nature vs nurture” argument that some men are hard-wired in their orientation and mannerisms.
The point is that most if not all your GayLeftLibs are out there throwing their orientation in straight people’s faces and demanding immediate acceptance, and would call it “bigotry” if someone who was straight went around wearing “Straight Pride” t-shirts and throwing their heterosexuality in gays’ faces. Kind of hypocritical, no?
If gays wish to be accepted by society, we need to work WITHIN the framework of it, and not against it. Why do you think so many conservative gays are so readily accepted into their local GOP precincts? Why do you think Dan’s appearance at the LA Tea Party was a cause for celebration rather than disdain?
I’m glad your friend not only found his niche in his town’s society, but also that it proves two points – that the rural parts of the USA are not hotbeds of redneck bigotry, and that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Makes you wonder how different his story is than Matthew Shepard’s.
This is a discussion that I am sure has passionate members on either side, so I’ll just back off now and let everyone else have at it.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — March 11, 2009 @ 11:00 am - March 11, 2009
Michael S. – Thank you for sharing your story. Your bravery should be celebrated. Period.
Although I am straight (yeah, I was born that way) I have ended up isolating myself from Jewish communities because the Democrat Control over most in the synagogues (Conservative, Renewal and Reform) is so stiffling. I actually had an older couple tell me “you really looked more intelligent than to be registered as a Republican” and rarely spoke to me after that – except to extoll the “virtues” of the latest D candidate. Because of their age, I would be polite, but disagree and drew a kippa on the picture of President Bush that I kept on my desk at work. (I was the synagogue Office Manager for over 7 years and a very active member in the first few years…less so during the last few.)
I moved to a CA central coast town for my SO where there are two synagogues – one so liberal I was surprised they didn’t check voter cards to attend and the second had been founded by SO’s ex. He is not really willing to move, we both enjoy the town itself and, now in my “old age”, I have found the computer to be Virtual is Good. Praise the Name of Alle Gorey…lol
That being said – it is good to find commonality and inspiration in the most unexpected places.
Comment by Tamarah — March 12, 2009 @ 1:42 am - March 12, 2009
Peter H. – I am sorry I misunderstood your statement re: nellie queens. My bad.
I couldn’t agree more with everything you said in response!
Comment by 23eagle — March 16, 2009 @ 4:19 pm - March 16, 2009
“Because she voted for McCain. They compared her to a Jew supporting Hitler?”
A better analogy would be a straight person going to a gay bar. Some go because they want to be different or it makes them feel hip/cool. Some go cause they think it would be fun and interesting and some go cause they were dragged into it. No matter what reason how or why your there, the straight person knows that gay bars were created for gay folks and straight people really don’t have a say in what happens. “To get along, go along, right”?
Sure one can share the same ideas and thoughts about different issues. They seem like very friendly group and seem to be having so much fun, so what wrong with that one might ask? What it really comes down to is that you can’t really label yourself as gay just because you go to gay bars. That’s why your friends are giving you weird looks when you’re coming out as a conservative.
When a group claims certain ideologies that drastically oppose other groups from expressing their ideas, you’ve basically sided with the enemy. Do you really believe that Conservatives are fighting hard for Gay Rights or expanding the rights of women, minorities, or extending there hand to help the poor and impoverish. Conservatism is all about one thing, limiting government power. Sometimes its good to and sometimes its not so good. It becomes bad when Conservatives imposes their ideas to prevent equality or social progress. You only have to look in a history book to see which side the conservative view is on and mostly they happen to be on the wrong side. From slavery, women’s rights, prohibition, and George W. Bush. The conservative ship is sinking, save yourselves.
Comment by Leysin — April 9, 2009 @ 1:09 pm - April 9, 2009