The progressive LGBT crowd is once again illustrating its own intolerance. This time, the mob came for one of its own: Bil Browning, a self-described LGBT activist and editor of LGBTQNation.com.
His only offense? Daring to publish the thoughts of writer Chad Felix Greene, in an article entitled “I’m a gay conservative and I’m standing up for Mayor Pete” that ran Thursday on the LGBTQNation site. In the piece, Greene criticizes far-right hoaxers who attempted to frame Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg for sexual assault. You’d think any level-headed liberal would find Greene’s commonsense article appealing, but the vicious backlash that ensued after its publication shows just how intolerant some LGBT activists have become.
Why is @lgbtqnation publishing a toxic Federalist contributor like Chad Felix Greene who opposes LGBTQ protections and supports “dropping the T”? Doesn’t seem worth elevating him.
— Zack Ford (@ZackFord) May 3, 2019
Hey, @lgbtqnation, so… your new contributor… pic.twitter.com/wT09uY5Uj9
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) May 3, 2019
A deluge of angry tweets rained down on Browning from high-profile activists and everyday gay people alike, attacking his decision to dare publish a writer who holds some views on LGBT issues that run contrary to progressive orthodoxy — even though those views were not even expressed in the published article. In particular, the irate internet mob seized on Greene’s previous writing for The Federalist, where he has taken at times controversial stances like defending Vice President Mike Pence from charges of homophobia and critiquing what he sees as the dangers of forcing doctors to perform transgender sex reassignment surgeries.
I don’t always agree with Greene, but all actual progressives should practice what they preach, extending their definition of “tolerance” to include gay people who don’t share their groupthink. After all, while the LGBT advocacy class and blue-check liberal Twitter might not share Greene’s more conservative views on gender and sex, they’re certainly not beyond the pale of what most Americans believe.
Browning deserves praise, not condemnation, for his decision to publish Greene and bring a conservative voice into the fold of LGBT media. After all, not all gay folks are progressive. Roughly 15% of LGBT people voted for President Trump. Yet people like Greene (and me) remain ostracized and utterly unrepresented in most LGBT media, which skews far-left.
Same reason you always griped about Bilerico. There’s no purity test for an op-ed. Sometimes opinions are different; sometimes the same. This time you two have the same opinion. So maybe instead of complaining, you enjoy that. ??♂️
— Bil Browning (@bilerico) May 3, 2019
In fact, Browning didn’t go far enough to embrace true diversity. Sure, he published a conservative writer, but the piece he published took a fairly liberal-friendly position. Editors at LGBT magazines and web outlets ought to regularly publish gay conservatives advancing right-of-center arguments, instead of accepting their article pitches on the rare occasions they agree with the liberal perspective.
The LGBT media’s failure to embrace any meaningful form of ideological diversity has real consequences. For one thing, it erases the voices of gay and transgender people who vote Republican from a platform that claims to represent them. Even worse, the hyper-partisan nature of LGBT media sets gay acceptance back, by politicizing gay issues and reinforcing the false narrative that tolerance is a left-right issue.
But the journalists and editors within the LGBT media will never rectify this wrong while the torches of the Twitter mob burn.
They’re scared, and it makes sense. “Watchdogs” like Media Matters will permanently smear any publication or person who dares commit a “thought crime.” Many liberal gay readers have become so intolerant that they’ll cancel their subscriptions or click “unfollow” the moment an LGBT outlet stops exclusively spreading de-facto DNC propaganda.
The problems plaguing LGBT media aren’t going away until there’s a major shift toward true tolerance in the progressive community at large. Unfortunately, this doesn’t look like it will happen any time soon.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an editor for Young Voices.
