Learned recently from a reader about a young gay acquaintance of his who, upon coming out has veered far to the left. From the reader’s recounting of the story, it seems the young man became antagonistic toward the right, not based on upon a sober consideration of conservative ideas, but as part of the acculturation process into his new gay identity. We’ve all seen this before as people come out, they suddenly realize how much they hate Republicans.
It seems more a reaction to what they’re taught about conservatives than a rejection of conservative ideas. Indeed, in talking about their new-found animus against the GOP, they repeatedly misrepresent its policies and act as if the party’s sole purpose for existence were to prevent gay people from living our lives openly. It seems they’re taught to project those anxieties natural to anyone first confronting the challenges of facing his difference onto some Other, be it conservative, Republican, Christian or some other adherent of a Western faith.
“Some gay ‘leaders,'” I responded to our reader, “particularly those heading gay student groups on university campi or otherwise working with young people just coming out seem to believe that one can only integrate one’s sexuality into his (or her) life by becoming an left-wing activist for gay rights and an ardent opponent of all things conservatives and anything Republican.” It does seem that many in our community believe that only when by becoming a doctrinaire liberal can you become a well-adjusted homosexual.
Yet, oftentimes, it seems that the most doctrinaire of liberal gays are the most antagonistic toward conservatives and among the least well-adjusted individuals in our society.
UPDATE: Right after posting this, I had the sense I had used this title previously and I had in a post last August, Ken Mehlman & the Politicization of Gay Identity where I quoted Stacy McCain whose comment bears reposting:
What has changed is that gay-rights activists have turned sexuality into an identity-politics racket, so that any gay person who doesn’t share their agenda is made to feel inauthentic, a traitor to The Cause.
Heh, I used to think being biseexual meant I should support Democrats. That didn’t last long. Don’t get me wrong; if the Clintonite center-right faction was still in charge I’d be tempted. But they are not in charge; the left is.
Center-right cultures are center-right cultures; being non-heterosexual has nothing to do with that.
They’ve just recently come out- it’s sort of kind of a “Right of Passage” thing …
So, BDB, speaking of Ken Mehlman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_P8xWq7-6E
Mehlman is seeming to ask for some folk in the Republican camp to do a little soul searching and to really ask some questions of the folk standing in front of the mirror.
Program helps gay seniors
Sunday, May 29, 2011
By FRED CONTRADA
fcontrada@repub.com
NORTHAMPTON – Between them, Arthur Hacker and Herb Paston have lived 166 years of life, 55 of them together. They were around in the days when being gay in public meant putting your career and your safety at risk, so seeing the turnout at the Senior Center Wednesday for a program catering to older gays was quite gratifying.
“Life was never easy when we were young, so we appreciate the advances made over the years,” said Hacker.
The occasion was the kick-off event by SAGE Western Massachusetts, an advocacy organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender elders. SAGE representatives came with a directory of services, a big chocolate cake and the promise of activities and other events for its underserved constituency. They were warmly welcomed by a crowd that included seniors inside and outside of the gay community.
Before toasting the new enterprise, Director J.M. Sorrell said a few words about the need for an organization such as SAGE.
“The elder generation came of age at a time when they could be institutionalized for being who they are,” she said, adding that many have a mistrust of caregivers.
http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1306567254303920.xml&coll=1
As I always tell people, “Being gay is a biological condition, not a political fashion.”
This is typical; he will eventually grow out of it.
Hardly news, as you yourself note. If there ever was a time when “gay” only meant “erotic attraction to one’s own sex”, that time is long gone. Back in the 80’s I used to be glad I wasn’t a lesbian, due to the utter identity of that identity with radical feminism. Unfortunately, I came to agree with the author of “Androphilia”, that “gay” is a pre-packaged herd identity kit composed of group victimism, anti-masculine feminism and compulsory leftwing politics.
And since it is now the “LGBT” community, I am even less interested. I can understand a group connection among people who, however different otherwise, share a common erotic orientation to their own gender. But once the T got cemented in there, the common ground…such as it ever was…now is about deconstructing binary gender.
But let me not rant on about that!
As I said to my ex recently, I have gotten pretty homophobic over the years, so that, ironically, the only thing I really like about other gay men is that they have sex with guys. As for the rest…Count me out.
Bless. This young man sounds like a product of groupthink. He needs to pray the Left away!
A young man who isn’t a socialist hasn’t got a heart; an old man who is a socialist hasn’t got a head.” -David Lloyd George
Unfortunately, too-many gay men remain perpetual adolescents in their attitudes, and their politics.
Dan, a majority of gay people are left leaning, and I suspect that most of the gay persons this newly out gay person has had contact with are left leaning persons. So, for the moment at least, he’s buying everything what he hears hook, line, and sinker. I suspect that when he grows up a little more, he’ll keep the good ideas from the left (and feel free to argue that there aren’t any), and throw away the bad ones. It’s similar with religious or other indoctrinations. As we grow older, we hold on to the ideas that are right, just, and make sense, and throw out the nonsense.
But what should help this reader’s acquaintance is that about 1/4 of gay people have consistently voted for Republicans in the last few presidential elections. A minority, yes, but by no means insignificant. So center-right and conservative gay persons are out there. In fact, I think there are some that participate in this blog, right? 😉
That acquaintance kind of reminds me of myself. Three years ago, only months after publicly coming out, my political leanings went from slightly right-of-center into socialist territory. With time I even identified by the term socialist, and associated myself with the Socialist Party USA. I started thinking that capitalism was the main reason gays were kept as “second class citizens.”
Yet, my new political leanings never felt right, because when confronted with an issue I would not ask myself what I believed, I asked myself what a socialist would believe. As time went on I started questioning my socialist identity, and when coupled with learning the first thing about economics and capitalism in college, I finally started thinking for myself. This began my move back to the right as I started believing in what I thought was right.
Although solely based off my own observations, I think that it is a phase of the coming out process to become somewhat radical in terms of gay politics. Eventually, one will realize that they are trying to conform to what they see as an ideal. As they become more comfortable with themselves and their identity they will then started asking, “is this what I believe,” instead of, “is that what I am supposed to believe.”
Probably to be expected from what I understand. For myself the Democrats didn’t suddenly become more attractive once I came out but the social con wing of the GOP did become more annoying. Of course the Republican inability to keep many promises on fiscal matters didn’t help. I prefer divided government to keep both parties in check, though with the GOP in the White House. I figure in a few more years when the controversies over DOMA & DADT repeal go away, folks coming out will be less swayed by arguments that being gay = being a Democrat.
People want to belong to a cohesive group — a group that does most of its thinking collectively and doesn’t make them work too hard at it. They don’t want to stand out, because they think that’s always a negative thing. There’s an Inner Junior High Schooler still somewhere inside each of us. Some of us grow beyond that stage, and some of us don’t.
Most of my friends simply don’t understand why my opinions have changed. They aren’t particularly antagonistic about it, they just seem afraid to bring it up for fear they’ll find out something truly frightening. “That’s so depressing,” one friend told me when I said we dared not trust in a comfy group to take care of us or think for us. It really seemed to disturb him.
I don’t think many of them are bad people; they’re just insecure. But what they don’t realize is that the Left deliberately works to keep them as insecure — and dependent — as possible. The amount of time that’s spent, in that quarter, putting irrational fear into people is quite amazing. I actually pay attention to how often that happens now.
There’s no central Doctor Evil calculating it all, but the people who do deliberately calculate it do not have anyone else’s good in mind. Not really.
Lori, you’re really onto something with your commentary on insecurity, dovetails nicely with my point above about anxiety. It does seem that the actions of many gay “leaders” serve to keep people insecure. I don’t think they do this deliberately. It’s just that they’re so wedded to this notion of victimization.
Good comment.
Being a liberal is the easiest, gutless thing you can do as it requires no thought and no responsibility. Everything is somebody else’s fault and Everybody else is a racist, sexist, bigot homophobe. You can do whatever the hell you want and nobody will hold you accountable.
I don’t think many of them are bad people; they’re just insecure.
I think that is true. I think gay people as a group tend to be massively insecure; probably a by-product of spending their formative years on the outside looking in. So, upon finding a group they fit in with, they overcompensate on the conformation.
One reason that I was in denial about the nature of my attraction to men for a long time was that I was turned off by the dominant gay culture (and its politics). I didn’t identify as gay, nor did I want to try to be part of that group. Although I was familiar with the work of Camille Paglia shortly after Sexual Personae appeared, eventually I also became more familiar with the work of Andrew Sullivan, and that was helpful in the late 90s through 2000 as I worked through more of these issues and realized that being gay didn’t have to mean being a leftist. In 2004, Sullivan completely took leave of his senses and I stopped reading him, but in the meantime I discovered this website and Tammy Bruce and the Independent Gay Forum and other writers and resources whose general political orientation was more like mine. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make meeting people any easier, since most of the gay folks I meet are reactionary leftists who emote more than argue about issues.
I for one did not follow in the footsteps of this individual. It’s unfortunate that he cannot stand on his own. He feels the need to join the group than being a separate, THINKING entity.
I can never understand why the gay community constantly allies itself with collectivism. We would be the first ones sent to the gulags and psychiatric prisons. In fact, this is what happened in Nazi Germany, Soviet Union and all the other totalitarian dictatorships.
To be honest, I find anyone spouts off the same tired bromides to be lacking brain cells. We all have heard the following at one time:
*Regan didn’t do anything for AIDS ( could someone tell me what the man could have done, since no one knew what was going on with this illness)
*Anderson Cooper is so smart and handsome(REALLY??!?!? I think he is a shallow, vapid, and not very knowledgable about the world.)
Add anymore if you can think of any.
Scherie, as far as Anderson Cooper goes, I think he is part of the Triplet Sisters of Rachel Maddow & Katie Couric; put them all in the same room & watch them just blur together. For fun, trade out Anderson Cooper with either Rachel Maddow or Katie Couric when talking about them. See if anyone corrects you then you can put a zinger on them. I did that when talking about Katie Couric on FB, but I purposely put in Rachel Maddow’s name instead. No one corrected me yet…
I have been a conservative since I became interested in politics, in my early teens. That was long before I realized I was gay. I guess I was in denial or something because of what I thought of homosexuality. Living in a small town in Canada, the only exposure I had to it was through the media. And that exposure was generally limited to stereotypes. I also thought accepting my sexuality would entail becoming a liberal, which I couldn’t do. Fortunately for me, I came to my senses and realized that I didn’t have to change my lifestyle or my political views just because I was gay. I think this collectivist mindset demonstrates a lack of character and/or intelligence. And, just to be clear, I wasn’t too thrilled about being gay, but I am certainly not a “self-loathing closet case” (or whatever they gay leftists often call dissenters).
Add anymore if you can think of any.
“‘Glee’ is awesome.” – No, it’s cloying and infantile, and its characters are as one-dimensional as anything Ayn Rand ever came up with.
Naamloos, we need to talk. Interesting how our experiences parallel each one another!
15.Lori, you’re really onto something with your commentary on insecurity, dovetails nicely with my point above about anxiety. It does seem that the actions of many gay “leaders” serve to keep people insecure. I don’t think they do this deliberately. It’s just that they’re so wedded to this notion of victimization.
Dan and Lori, insecurity and anxiety definitely play a role here. And V the K had a good point that many gay persons have spent a good part of their lives on the outside looking in, especially while still in the closet. Many gay persons, when they do come out, cling to the left many times for the reasons already stated. But it is not exclusive to the left. Some when they come out do the opposite. Some long to gain acceptance of conservative and/or religious persons, including family, who shunned them, and even do so by constantly railing against gay people (i.e., if gay people weren’t so gay, I would be accepted).
And all this can turn to victimhood. But again, not just on the left. Some on the right say they cannot meet any gay persons who are more like minded. But with about 1/4 of gay people voting consistently for Republicans, there out there somewhere.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of the closet is described and experienced variously as: a psychological process or journey; decision-making or risk-taking; a strategy or plan; a mass or public event; a speech act and a matter of personal identity; a rite of passage; liberation or emancipation from oppression; an ordeal; a means toward feeling gay pride instead of shame and social stigma; or even career suicide.
Author Steven Seidman writes that “it is the power of the closet to shape the core of an individual’s life that has made homosexuality into a significant personal, social, and political drama in twentieth-century America.”
Coming out of the closet is the source of other gay slang expressions related to voluntary disclosure or lack thereof. Outing is the deliberate or accidental disclosure of an LGBT person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, without his or her consent. By extension, outing yourself is unintentional LGBT self-disclosure. When the act is done publicly by the individual concerned, at most times using media outlets for informing the general public, it is termed as self outing. Lastly, LGBT people labelled as closeted have yet to come out or have opted not to do so. wiki
When examining and ‘judging’ the coming out process and its outcomes of other folk, out folk really need to stop and look at exactly at their own personal coming out.
When did you come out? Who did you come out too?
When did you come out to family, siblings, parents, and which ones?
And when it comes to sidling up to a political party, one might want to take a look at what presents itself as a more open group.
Granted some think one(party) is all talk and no action, but some consider other political parties as taking action against, and offering no outward support.
So, when you see those ‘slanted stories’ about Tennessee -don’t say gay- and the recent reversal of the Nashville policies being lead by the folk with the R, the on-going marriage ban (minnesota) lead by the R and etc. etc. etc. and Republican Presidential Candidates taking similar stands, including the promise to reinstate DADT. . .
B. Daniel Blatt, that would be great.
EssEm, it’s like you were reading my mind! The gay community was long ago co-opted by the radical left, and have themselves become the aggressors and bullies that they so often claim to decry (but which is so typical of left-wing hypocrisy). One dares not deviate from the script of “gender identity” politics for fear of being sent to the re-education camps.
Naamlos, check your e-mail.
I know who this “acquaintance” happens to be… & the problem is not that he is an extreme Left-winger (That’s just a phase.) The problem is that he removes/deletes any opposing arguments that challenges anything he has to say. In my opinion it makes him come off as being very immature & ignorant. Unable to participate in any form of debate whatsoever. The adult in him will eventually come out & he too shall grow up someday. Hopefully soon for the sake of his dignity. Recently I wrote to this certain individual simply asking him why he removes/deletes any opposing arguments; He did not reply, but instead blocked me.
I do think that part of the reason things are the way they are now is that the Republican as a whole party turned unambiguously against gay people as such in the early 1990s. The 1992 Republican national convention keynoted by Pat Buchanan’s still famous “culture war speech” was the GOP’s announcement to the world of its new orientation. That’s how I see it, anyway. It was at the end of that year that I saw the first real anti-Republican nastiness on the part of some gay people local to me. Since then, the new attitude toward gay people among dominant elements of the GOP intensified and that’s how it’s been ever since. The same thing is true of some in the gay community’s then newfound anti-Republican, anti-conservative hostility as well.
I’m not saying that the change in the GOP in any excuses the virulence of the sentiment in the gay community, but I think it is at least a factor in explaining its motivation, along with the increasingly nasty tone in American political discourse.
Sorry, Donny, Pat Buchanan did not keynote the GOP convention in 1992. That’s not to excuse his angry speech nor to contend that it didn’t hurt the GOP, but just to note that it wasn’t the keynote address.
And that mean-spirited ex-conservative spoke well beyond his allotted time frame, thus bumping the Gipper out of prime time.
No, some new anti-gay attitude “among dominant elements of the GOP” has not, as you put, “intensified” in the intervening years, but some in the media have covered the GOP as if it had. And that has certainly contributed to the prejudice against conservatives that exists in our community.