Why Are Some LGBTs Drawn To The GOP?

The idea that some members of the LGBT community might actually vote for the GOP this year is one that many in the community balk at. It is understandable to repel such proposition given the history of the GOP and its homophobic and anti-gay politics in the early 90's to today with the invention of the religious right. Though one cannot fathom why a group of LGBTs will support a party with such history, it is fair to note first that gay progressives are in part at fault for this.

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When gay liberation happened it was a the birth of the gay progressive movement, a movement dedicated to liberating the oppressed minority of gays and lesbians from the claws of an oppressive over reaching government. The Stonewall riots were in essence an act of rebellion against government tyranny and a grab for individual freedom. Some contenders of the GOP are not rabid homophobes who are plotting to re-install a fascist government that regulates people's private personal behavior, though that is not to say that there aren't any GOPers that are actually advocating for that.

To some LGBTs who are drawn to the GOP these values of personal freedom, individual liberty, smaller government, fair taxes, and personal responsibility are more important than the fight for gay marriage. Why? Well because gay progressives have totally railroaded these values, which in fact are an umbrella which cover gay marriage (marriage is by far a personal choice that one makes out of personal consent in a free society). Gay progressives have by far left behind the spirit of Stonewall and have sided with the government and its policies. Now progressives say that questioning our government and holding its feet to the fire is nothing but "conspiracy theory." It is a rogue idea that only extremists of the religious right have, even though the Stonewall rebellion did just that - it was a rebellion against the status-quo, against oppressive government.

But today is a different story. While back in the day, progressiveness would have been a good pathway to freedom and liberty, today it has sided with big government, torture, war-mongering, police state activity, and micro-managing human behavior. Today the government has regulated every aspect of our lives, from telling us which toilet to buy, outlawing salt and trans-fats, and even telling us which health insurance to buy. Progressives think this is "progress" - it is not. And for this I don't blame many LGBTs for defecting from the gay progressive camp. If progressives were more in tune to the fact that more and more Americans are awakening to the notion that our government is out of control then more out of step and out of the mainstream the gay progressive establishment will be to the point that even one day progressives will become the minority on the gay community, all because they fail to communicate, let alone embrace, the growing rebirth of a free and constitutional nation and its ideals of freedom, liberty, and personal responsibility. If gay progressives embrace these ideals, gay marriage and all the rest of the solutions of the "gay agenda" would become even more clear and self evident to others and our community. This would mean that gays do not have to chose between strong economy, personal freedoms, civil liberties, and our rights as citizens to marry our partners, to be left alone, and to be treated equally under the law. Both camps, the gay rights one and the embracing of American ideals, can in fact coexist together without having the need to sacrifice one or the other. The guys over at Truth Wins Out lay out the failures of the gay progressives:

Many of us may assume these values have been self-evident in our actions — but they’re not. People ranging from Michele Bachmann to Tim Tebow to Fox News exploit our failure to communicate with the language and customs of middle America. So long as they are the primary source of talk about these values, we allow them to own the conversation.

But does this mean that the GOP is the right solution? Not necessarily. Though defection to the GOP might be the first knee-jerk reaction many LGBTs might have, it depends who you support. Mittens Romney and company hold many of the same statist ideals of big government and runaway spending, and of course he is against gay marriage. In fact many GOP politicos fail to comprehend the importance of gay rights and individual rights, since they are both one and in the same. Many of these politicians have supported most of Obama's objectives even to the extent of suspending our constitutional rights in the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 where American citizens can be tortured, detained for no reason other than the directive of the President.

I think 2012 is when the LGBT community needs to re-invent itself back to its political roots. We just cannot trust any party, any political hack with a nice shiny nickle. I think we LGBTs are smarter than that. In the end there are two reasons why some LGBTs would go for the GOP: 1) They are rightly frustrated by the growing arrogance of the gay progressive establishment who fails to communicate the old fashion ideals of America that many progressives used to embrace and 2) They are being mislead by the GOP that they are the right solution to such frustration. The political class is not the solution, it is us the people.

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