Why I am not a gay conservative (2)

Here we have yet another article extolling the virtues of being queer and conservative. Lest anyone write me off as a standard-issue queer liberal, I was active in College Republicans and in law school quickly developed a reputation as one of the class right-wingers. Yet that article does nothing to warm me toward queer conservatives.

First, the author glibly conflates libertarianism with conservatism. Yet those ideologies are 180 degrees off from each other on may key issues, including many issues near and dear to my queer heart. Therefore, someone who self-identifies as a queer libertarian/conservative needs to fish or cut bait.

She then says, “In fact, my experience at the conference led me to conclude that it is easier coming out to conservatives as gay than it is coming out as a conservative to gays.” Insofar as that is true, then to me it says that CPAC does not represent rank-and-file conservatives. Certainly, those conservatives in office and the voters who support them would be surprised to hear that same-sex marriage is not an issue of concern to them. Also, I grew up in a socially conservative area, and at least in my experience, the difference between coming out as a non-leftist to LGBT people and coming out as gay to conservatives can be the difference between eye-rolling and a savage beating.

Finally, many LGBT people’s justified frustration with the Obama administration does not make the case for conservatism. Instead, it merely highlights Leonard Peikoff’s point that an election can be between someone terribly bad and someone apocalyptically bad.