Last week, New York Times Magazine published a much-talked-about profile of the LGBT Right in the Trump era. The article is a roller coaster of a read, painting vivid scenes of drunken failed flirtations at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, transgender women aiming to win hearts and minds at the colorfully eccentric Conservative Political Action Conference, and even a gay cowboy politician campaigning at an Oklahoma country bar.
The feature is unquestionably worth the long read for entertainment’s sake alone. However, as a gay libertarian professional and current executive board member of the DC Log Cabin Republicans, I feel that the article is light on articulating what the future of the LGBT Right will look like. That is to say, what policies, if any, will unite us as a political group moving forward?
The feature’s author, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, seemed overwhelmed at the disunity of the LGBT Right, pointing out the many factions that hardly seem to see eye to eye:
Indeed, I hesitate to ask what LGBT leaders on the Right, if any, have been effective in laying out a vision for gay rights in the post-Obergefell age. Rather, the loudest voices on the gay Right over the past few years, such as Milo Yiannopoulos, have stolen the media limelight through troll tactics (bashing everyone under the sun from feminists to “trannies” to social justice warriors) while claiming a pass for their juvenile tactics just for being a minority themselves.
As a result, many on the LGBT Right seem stuck in the rut of identity politics, playing the victim card for being a gay conservative in a hostile world when they would just as easily criticize other groups on the Left for the same crocodile tears. As the article’s main subject, Suffolk University student Ben Holden aptly put it, “Being gay is not an accomplishment in and of itself.” Nor is being a gay conservative, I would add.
So, what would a productive 21st-century agenda for the LGBT Right look like? Despite the marriage battle having been won, there are still important issues that I believe can unify the varied factions of the movement for a more productive political future.
First and foremost, it’s important to remember that there are 74 countries around the world where homosexual relationships are illegal — 13 in which they’re punishable by death. The LGBT Right, and gay community as a whole, must do a better job at pointing out the injustices that millions of queer people around the world face on a daily basis and put diplomatic pressure on world leaders to respect human dignity.
Here in the U.S., it’s important to remember how new the concept of gay marriage is in the grand scheme of history. There is so much more work to be done in expanding the LGBT community’s outreach to other traditional American institutions in noncoercive manners. Many gay couples, for example, have trouble adopting a child because religious agencies refuse to recognize their relationship as legitimate — oftentimes encouraged by state law. Meanwhile, LGBT teens are more likely to be homeless and trans youth are more likely to commit suicide than their straight peers.
These issues cannot be solved by government dictates. After all, religious people who hold anti-gay views have the constitutional right to be left alone with their beliefs, just as gays do. However, for that very reason, the LGBT Right has the most important role to play for the larger gay community by standing up for religious rights while peacefully reaching out to communities who do not yet accept us.
This trust-building exercise would not only make the LGBT community safer, but also strengthen the institution of families and faith that religious conservatives so cherish. It may seem like a yeoman’s task to win over the hearts and minds of the very people who so ardently opposed gay marriage, but with a more reasoned and less trollish attitude toward outreach, the LGBT Right can navigate a better future for the gay community in the 21st century.
Casey Given (@CaseyJGiven) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the executive director of Young Voices.
