Political historian Neil J. Young had been thinking for a few years about writing a history of the gay right. But he wasn't motivated to start working on his book "Coming Out Republican" until 2019, when both President Donald Trump's campaign team and the Republican National Committee launched LGBTQ voter outreach efforts in preparation for the 2020 election.
Young, in an email interview with the Bay Area Reporter, stated, "I viewed these efforts very cynically, but at the same time I knew this was historically significant — something no other Republican presidential candidate had done to this extent, and the RNC had never done before. Given the increasing visibility of LGBTQ conservatives in right-wing media and online, I thought we finally needed a history of gay Republicans, a constituency that is much larger and more influential than I think most people realize. And yes, the book's publication date was timed for the 2024 election."
The book was published by University of Chicago Press. Young, who is gay, is a registered Democrat but said he grew up in a conservative household.
Considering the resurgence of anti-LGBTQ state bills in the last few years, the book seems timely.
"There's an urgency, what with the development of the 'Don't Say Gay' bills in Florida and elsewhere," Young stated. "Given all this, I think my book is an especially important read for everyone concerned about the state of LGBTQ politics today and the stakes of the 2024 election."
Trump candidacy
It was the advent of the candidacy of Trump that resulted in a huge gay Republican schism. "In 2016, Log Cabin's national board narrowly voted not to endorse Trump's presidential campaign," Young stated. "This outraged most of LCR's state and local chapters (including San Francisco) that were big backers of Trump. The controversy ultimately led to the 'Never Trump' folks leaving Log Cabin and, in their absence, the organization becoming a completely Trumpist organization in the years since."
But one also can't overlook the self-described "dangerous faggot" Milo Yiannopoulos as a bridge figure fostering gay Republican support for Trump, Young noted.
"In many ways, the internet provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos best exemplified the excesses and extremisms of the Trump era — and also the place of LGBTQ conservatives in the new Republican Party. Yiannopoulos rose to fame as the bad boy of Breitbart where he churned out campy and caustic culture war screeds against feminism, liberalism, and 'PC culture,'" Young stated, referring to the late political commentator Andrew Breitbart. "His writings and speeches frequented in outrageous and ugly attacks against women, people of color, Muslims, and trans persons, which he chalked up as harmless jokes that the humorless, 'cancel culture' left was trying to silence."
Yiannopoulos and his ilk foreshadowed Trump-loving gay men, who criticized the LGBTQ rights movement, especially anything trans-related. "If you want to peek at what can be a particularly vicious subculture, click on #LGBwithouttheTQ or #gaynotqueer on social media spaces like X and TikTok. But be warned, it isn't pretty," Young stated.
When Trump was running for president in 2016, he proclaimed himself as "one of the most pro-LGBTQ Republican candidates ever." He referenced the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida that had happened the month before he was formally nominated by the Republican Party. The shooter claimed to support the Islamic State terrorist group. So when Trump gave his acceptance speech at the Republican convention, he said, "As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful, foreign ideology, believe me."
Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to say the word LGBTQ in a nomination speech and in a positive reference.
Another chief criticism of gay Republicans is that they have undermined LGBTQ freedom, an accusation Young mostly rejects.
"But one example of how they have undermined it is through their opposition to hate crimes legislation in the 1990s. (It should be said, some gay Republicans also worked to get hate crimes legislation passed in different states. As I show repeatedly in my book, gay Republicans have often worked on opposite sides of the same issue.) More recently, their work with anti-LGBTQ Republican politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has certainly not helped advance LGBTQ causes," Young stated. "And I would also point to new groups like Gays Against Groomers that have done particular damage, including pressuring the Miami-Dade County School Board to no longer recognize LGBTQ History Month and, more importantly, reviving the most odious and harmful stereotypes about gays and lesbians as predatory threats to children."
Undermining freedom
Young does concede that gay Republicans have undermined American freedom by supporting Trump.
"Gay Republicans have stumped for the former president on the internet and conservative media, calling him the 'most pro-gay president in American history,'" Young wrote. "This, of course, is laughable, but it is also dangerous, especially as it is designed to assuage moderate Republicans and independents who don't consider themselves anti-LGBTQ about their support of Trump. Beyond just LGBTQ issues, Trump is an existential threat to American democracy and our constitutional system. By backing Trump and working for his reelection, gay Republicans have contributed to his assault on the freedoms of all Americans."
One question that arises now is how can gay conservatives say they are affirming queer rights when they seem to reject trans rights, seemingly joining MAGA in bifurcating LGB rights from trans rights.
"Most gay conservatives don't say they affirm 'queer rights,'" Young stated. "One thing I learned early on in interviewing gay conservatives was that many, if not most, reject the label 'queer,' which they say is a political identity associated with the left. Many of them don't even like to speak of 'LGBTQ rights,' which, again, they view as a leftist/Democratic agenda, preferring instead to say they support 'gay rights.'"
Young pointed out there is no uniformity on this issue of trans rights.
"There are some gay conservatives working for trans rights and also a lot who have supported many anti-trans efforts, including issues related to athletic competition," he stated. "Where I see them having more consensus, although even here there are some variations, is anything that involves underage minors. As several of them contended to me, they argue that they do support trans rights, especially employment protections, for adults, while standing opposed to what they call the 'radical gender ideology being forced on the nation's children.'"
Young was asked if all these legislative laws around minors could lead to a broader assault against LGBTQ rights, including same-sex marriage.
"None of them believe that will happen, despite the fact that many of the Republican politicians and activists working on these things have also voiced their intention to overturn marriage equality," Young stated. "But I think gay conservatives' refusal to recognize this bigger anti-LGBTQ project that is being revived on the right is essential to their participation in the Republican Party today and their incorporation in the MAGA movement. And their separation of gay rights from trans rights has been fundamental to their increasing prominence in conservative media, especially Fox News."
This also begs the question of whether gay Republicans believe that the LGBTQ rights movement is over, since it finished what it set out to do decades ago.
"In a word: yes," stated Young. "Or, rather, most of them would argue that the gay rights movement is over, as it has accomplished what it set out to do in their minds: gain public acceptance for homosexuality, end the military bam, and secure the right to same-sex marriage. This is a popular message for them to communicate on social media, especially as it allows them to attack the LGBTQ rights movement as a radical project that will never be satisfied. As Andrew Sullivan has said, 'Once you've achieved your things, you should just shut down and move on.'
"Or others argue that trans rights for adults have been largely secured, pointing to the 2020 Supreme Court decision Bostock v. Clayton County that protects transgender persons from employment discrimination," Young stated. "I think most would acknowledge that trans people are still being persecuted. But gay Republicans historically have resisted taking on what they see as a 'victim identity' and so tend to downplay persecution as a powerful force in American life."
Yet many gay Republicans believe it was harder to come out as Republican than as gay, fostering a kind of identity crisis for them.
"Yes, this was an astonishing thing for me to encounter," stated Young. "It seems so preposterous! Gay Republicans started saying this as early as the 1980s, but it has accelerated within conservative media in the last decade with the rise of Trump. I think that's connected. This expression allows gay Republicans to do several things, including, as I've already mentioned, declare the gay rights movement as having been completed. It's no longer hard to come out as gay! And gay marriage is legal. Mission accomplished. And anything the woke LGBTQ rights movement is asking for is a radical, leftist agenda that they'll never stop pushing."
Gay Republicans use the argument that because of their harassment and the targeting of their political beliefs just like other Republicans have experienced, they've earned the right to be included in the party, Young noted.
"When gay Republicans say it is harder to declare their political identity than their sexual identity, what they are really doing is bolstering white, Christian, heterosexual Republicans' sense that they are the most aggrieved people in the nation today," Young wrote. "So, this really is a discourse that has allowed gay Republicans to fit neatly into the Trump GOP's politics of grievance and its sense of victimhood."
With their support of Trump, Young discussed the future of gay Republicans in the party.
"As a historian, I always feel a bit uncomfortable making predictions about the future. But I do feel pretty confident about this one: gay Republicans will never be fully accepted by the Republican Party," he stated. "There are too many incentives not too, and too many anti-gay voters, leaders, and activists within the GOP that will make sure the party never changes in a way that it resembles the Democratic Party on this."
Positive developments, ominous signs
Young sees some positive signs and developments as a direct result of gay GOPers' decades-long work.
"The 2024 Republican Party platform, for example, just removed language opposing same-sex marriage, something gay Republicans have been working on for 30 years," Young stated. "Trump himself seems uninterested in going after gay rights, although trans rights are a much different matter. And Log Cabin Republicans has had greater access to Trump than they've had to any other Republican president."
But Young also sees ominous signs ahead.
"I'm most concerned about Project 2025 and also a surging anti-LGBTQ movement that has been really effective at the state level and has every intention of recapturing the GOP's national agenda whether or not Trump wins a second term," he stated, referring to the authoritarian document being pushed by Trump supporters and former Trump officials. "These activists are particularly incensed with the visibility and influence gay Republicans have gained in recent years, and they are determined to push them back to the margins, so it will be interesting to see if conservative media and Republican leadership begins to sideline gay Republicans and demonize homosexuality again."
Gay Republicans in the past have acted as thorns in the side of the party, pressuring Republican legislators to stop anti-LGBTQ laws and supporting progressive Republicans for office.
"So much of that attitude and activism has slipped away as gay Republicans, like every other segment of the GOP, have collapsed into full-blown Trumpism and enjoyed their new access to power," stated Young. "But gay Republicans may well be forced to return to this historic role in the near future because I think we are about to see the return of a powerful anti-LGBTQ effort within the Republican Party, no matter how the 2024 election goes."
From a non-Republican perspective, it's almost unimaginable that gay Republicans can support transphobic Trump actions, such as banning transgender people from serving in the military.
"I think the big thing I would say is that most of Trump's gay supporters don't think he has a particularly negative stand on LGBTQ issues — or rather, they cite him as good on gay issues, which just underscores how many of them have separated themselves from ideas about LGBTQ rights and especially trans issues," stated Young. "Instead, they cite his support for same-sex marriage, his working relationship with Log Cabin Republicans, his appointment of several gay men to high-ranking positions in his administration, and, not insignificantly, at least for them, his positive public comments."
Despite Trump's anti-trans policies and statements, gay GOPers see him as a positive.
"But they are already used to supporting Republican presidents and presidential candidates who don't have a good track record on LGBTQ issues, so for them Trump feels like a huge step forward," Young stated. "I think the big question is whether they will use their influence to challenge the Trump administration's anti-trans agenda or if they will sacrifice that for their own standing."
Having been immersed in gay Republicans for the last four years, Young discussed their legacy.
"The first is that gay Republicans helped achieve the two most significant accomplishments of the LGBTQ rights movement: ending the military ban and legalizing same-sex marriage," he noted. "These probably would have happened had gay Republicans not been involved, of course, but the course of their development and the timeline that brought them about would be significantly different, I believe.
"Secondly, gay Republicans are not a monolith — and there are a lot more of them than most people realize," he added. Fifteen percent of LGBTQ Americans are registered with the Republican Party compared to 50% who belong to the Democratic Party. But 35% of LGBTQs are registered independents, and many of them vote for Republican candidates. LGBTQ Americans regularly give between one-quarter to one-third — and often as much as half — of their votes to Republican politicians in local, state, and national elections."
Young noted that Trump's LGBTQ supporters have increased over the years.
"Lastly, gay Republicans have been fundamental to the rise of Trump, and Trump's LGBTQ supporters have risen in number since 2016," he stated. "Understanding why LGBTQ Americans would be attracted to Trump and how they have continued to advocate for him is essential for all of us who are worried about what a second Trump administration would mean for LGBTQ freedom and American democracy.
"I'd sum up gay Republicans' legacy in one sentence," Young added. "They have done much to change some of the Republican Party's policies and attitudes about LGBTQ persons and LGBTQ rights, but it hasn't been enough."
[Editor's note: This is the second of two articles on Neil J. Young's book, "Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right." For the first article click here.]
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