Why I’m a gay Republican

By: Edward Hiener, Columnist

One of the biggest questions I get asked is ‘Why are you a Republican?’ The answer is simple; I love capitalism, free speech, the Second Amendment, and our president.

Columnist Edward Hiener said that the night that Turning Point USA, Towson hosted ‘Winning the Meme Wars,’ this graffiti showed up outside of Smith Hall. | Photo courtesy of Edward Hiener

While socially, I am a little more moderate, I am conservative on economics and foreign policy. To many people, being a gay Republican might seem like an oxymoron due to the stigma that surrounds the Republican Party. Many people within the LGBTQ+ community view the Republican Party as this evil, bigoted, and horrific party. But the truth is, that isn’t the Republican Party at all. Since I have come out, the Republican party has been one of the most accepting and tolerant towards my beliefs and lifestyle; however, I can’t say the same for my own community and the Democrat Party.

Getting shunned by the party of tolerance and viewed as a Benedict Arnold has been an eye opener for me. You expect that your own, open-minded community would be tolerant and accepting of different viewpoints, you would be wrong. Dating, along with being accepted by other gay people, is one of the biggest challenges I have ever had to face. I avoid politics as much as possible until directly asked what I believe and then I show my cards, the Republican card and the Trump card. Reactions range from “wtf is wrong with you” to “F– Donald Trump” and even “you’re a fake homo” and people wishing death to the president. All of these reactions thrown my way just for daring to go against the status quo in the community. It feels like have been excommunicated from the LGBTQ+ community because of my political beliefs. It is ironic, since conservatives get clubbed constantly for being a “homophobic” party, when the progressive base of the Democrat Party can’t even acknowledge there might be some who don’t agree with their agenda.

Just recently, the organization I am a part of, Turning Point USA Towson, hosted an event called ‘Winning the Meme Wars.’ Radical Democrats from Freedom School took videos slandering everyone in the room and asking people if they “recognized them” hunting them down and doxing people across social media.

Later that night, homophobic graffiti targeting me was spray painted on Smith Hall signaling to me that I was not welcome. Towson University did not even contact our organization, has yet to make a statement on this, and has since covered it up as if it never even happened.

So, why do Republicans get schlacked for being the “homophobic party?” Well, it’s rather interesting. Gay people have only been really accepted into society recently — Republicans and Democrats both were not very fond of gay people. Not a lot of people recall the ‘Don’t ask Don’t tell’ bill that Bill Clinton signed into law in 1993. This bill restricted gay people from talking about their sexuality and engaging in sexual acts with each other in the military. These restrictions limited the freedoms that other people take for granted. The bill was later rightfully repealed by the Obama administration in the later years of his first term.

It hasn’t been until recently that both parties overwhelmingly accepted LGBTQ+ people in politics. During his campaign, President Trump has made this an issue and is now the second president to have openly support gay rights. It has been both sides that haven’t really accepted gay people into politics until recently. So why do Republicans get labeled as the party of hate? The answer is simple: religion. The radical left smears the religious right as hateful towards the gay community to push their political agenda and silence conservatives. What a lot of gay people don’t understand is that not supporting gay marriage does not equal hate for gay people. This has become a club for leftists to use against people who oppose same-sex marriage, like the baker from Colorado who refused to make a same-sex wedding cake based on religious reasons. While I personally am not that religious, I do understand where these people come from, such as Catholics who view marriage as a sacrament. Don’t label somebody homophobic just because they are religiously opposed to same-sex marriage, it doesn’t mean somebody hates you if they don’t believe two men or two women should be married. Most religious people treat gay people the exact same way as they would anyone else. The false label of homophobia given to religious people is the biggest reason I am a Republican, I don’t support the smear and slander of religious people in the name of “social justice.”

 

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