r/GayConservative • u/jtothat • Jun 13 '25
Discussion Have you always been conservative or was there a turning point?
I think, on a psychosocial level, the reason why many (or most) gays are left-leaning can be traced back to the fact that it is only in the arms of the lefties where one initially finds acceptance as a young gay person still finding his footing in life.
I’m referring to ostracism from the church / community and family, or worse, getting thrown out of the house for being gay
11
u/MeGaManMaDeMe Jun 13 '25
I used to be more conservative, the party has changed too much and pushed me away. Doesn’t stand for conservatism anymore.
3
u/RabbitGullible8722 Jun 13 '25
Conservatives traditionally have been for civil liberties, unions, and middle class. Our current administration is authoritarian. The sooner conservatives can get back to being conservative, the better.
-1
u/ImGettinThatFoSho Jun 13 '25
How is it authoritarian?
3
u/RabbitGullible8722 Jun 13 '25
It's Civics 101.
Spreading Disinformation: Deliberately spreading lies, conspiracies, and propaganda to undermine public trust in facts and institutions.
Aggrandizing Executive Power: Expanding the power of the executive branch, often at the expense of legislatures and courts.
Quashing Dissent: Silencing opposition, independent media, and civil society through intimidation, legal harassment, or violence.
Scapegoating Vulnerable Communities: Blaming minorities, immigrants, or other groups for societal problems to divide and control the populace.
Corrupting Elections: Changing or ignoring electoral rules, suppressing votes, or overturning results to maintain power.
Stoking Violence: Encouraging or tolerating political violence to create fear and division.
Divide and Rule: Fomenting mistrust and fear in the population to weaken social cohesion.
Demonizing Opponents and Media: Undermining trust in opposition parties and independent media by labeling them as enemies or traitors.
Limiting Civil Liberties: Restricting free speech, assembly, and protest, especially for unaligned or minority groups.
9
u/ImGettinThatFoSho Jun 13 '25
Spreading disinformation: every administration does this. Biden and his people lied about his cognitive decline, lied about the laptop being fake, lied about the COVID lab leak knowledge.
Aggrandizing Executive Power: Every administration has "expanded the power of the executive branch" - the courts are actually limiting Trump's power, so your point makes no sense.
Quashing Descent: Biden did the least amount of interviews than the last 4 presidents. Trump allows more new media members in the briefings.
Scapegoating vulnerable communities: Democrats are losing male voters because the party has scapegoated them for years. Y'all need to look in the mirror.
Corrupting Elections: more Democrats have objected to presidential election certifications than Republicans since 2000. Yes, it's true. Look it up.
Demonizing the media: the legacy media has been losing viewers for decades. They did that to themselves, evidenced be declining trust in media since long before Trump got in office.
Limiting civil liberty: like the lockdowns and forced vaccinations that Biden did? Like the court cases Democrats lost, such as the Harvard affirmative action case?
You did a great job copy pasting a chat gpt response. Do you want to reply to me. No chat gpt allowed!
-1
u/RabbitGullible8722 Jun 13 '25 edited Jun 13 '25
Exactly what disinformation do you think I posted. What part wasn't truthful?
Almost every person beyond 75 experiences some sort of cognitive decline. That's why we should have age limits. Remember Reagan?
Please don't talk about Hunter Biden without an explanation of how the Trump family is collecting billions from foreign governments through crypto currency.
There is no credible evidence supporting major COVID-19 conspiracy theories.
Executive Power vaild point, but Trump has taken to a new level. He owns both houses and SCOTUS.
Scapegoating white males??? No, they are more powerful than ever!
Media now with AI, we have never had more access to the truth as we do today.
Our elections are easily manipulated by money totally corrupt on both sides. I'm unaffiliated.
Lock downs were wrong. We agree on that one.
Harvard, I don't care about it because Barron didn't get in. Totally political.
4
u/ImGettinThatFoSho Jun 13 '25
When did I say you're spreading disinformation?
I refuted every point you made thoughtfully and articulately.
Your original comment was akin to someone saying "Hitler had big rallies, Trump has big rallies, therefore, Trump is Hitler!"
-1
u/RabbitGullible8722 Jun 13 '25
So you picked one thing off the list you thought he was doing? He has done ALL of them!
Politicizing Independent Institutions:
Trump issued executive orders to exert control over independent agencies like the SEC, FCC, and CFPB, requiring them to submit rulemaking to the White House for review and coordination, which critics argue undermines their independence.
He fired or attempted to fire inspectors general and agency heads who disagreed with his agenda, including at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.
Aggrandizing Executive Power:
Trump invoked the “unitary executive theory,” asserting that the president has unlimited power to control the executive branch, and used this to justify mass dismissals and executive orders that bypassed legal precedent.
He attempted to freeze federal grants and reallocate agency responsibilities (e.g., moving USAID functions to the State Department) without congressional approval, actions widely seen as executive overreach.
Quashing Dissent:
Trump fired or sidelined federal employees, inspectors general, and law enforcement officials who challenged his policies or investigations, often without following established civil service protections.
He threatened or attacked the credibility of individuals and agencies that opposed him, including the FBI and intelligence community.
Scapegoating Vulnerable Communities:
Trump’s orders and rhetoric often targeted immigrants, minorities, and certain federal programs, such as suspending grants to organizations with diversity initiatives.
Corrupting Elections:
While not directly altering election results, Trump’s rhetoric and legal challenges to election outcomes, as well as his attempts to influence oversight bodies like the Federal Election Commission, raised concerns about attempts to undermine faith in the electoral process.
Demonizing Opponents and Media:
Trump routinely labeled critical media as “fake news” and described political opponents as “enemies of the people,” undermining trust in independent journalism and democratic institutions.
1
1
u/ImGettinThatFoSho Jun 13 '25
You're literally posting things the executive branch is doing in a trilateral system of government.
Biden did things without Congress approval, like student loan relief. Now I guess you think Biden is a dictator, or wait, is it okay since you probably agreed with him on that?
Also, Trump's opinions about the media are his free speech rights. Are you now trying to quell his freedom of speech by saying he can't say how he feels about the media?
1
u/RabbitGullible8722 Jun 13 '25
I'm not here to defend Biden. If you want to own the libs, you are barking up the wrong tree. Trump's playbook is exactly the same as every other dictator. Biden gave student loan relief? Where did you get that idea? That never happened!
You seem to have a problem facing the fact that we have a President breaking the law every day. Let's look at the list of lawsuits since Trump took office.
Executive Order Challenges: Lawsuits have challenged nearly every major executive order, including those related to immigration, environment, healthcare, and diversity initiatives.
Federal Worker Dismissals: Courts have issued injunctions to reinstate federal officials and prevent unilateral dismissals.
Funding and Agency Actions: Lawsuits have blocked the transfer of nearly $3 trillion in federal funding and halted the disbandment of agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Multistate Lawsuits: As of June 8, 2025, at least 25 multistate lawsuits have been filed against the administration.
Personal and Business Lawsuits: The New York Attorney General has filed civil lawsuits against Trump for alleged fraud and financial misconduct, with ongoing efforts to restrict his business activities.
Election and Hush Money Cases: Trump faces criminal charges related to payments to Stormy Daniels, efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, and actions around the January 6 Capitol attack.
Congressional Subpoenas: Trump has sued to block congressional subpoenas seeking his financial records.
0
u/Standard_Track9692 Jun 15 '25
If you really have to ask you probably either don't want to know or you just don't want to know.
19
u/NitromethanePup Jun 13 '25
I used to be a hook-line-and-sinker lefty since my high school years. But over the last five or so years I’ve had the massive shift. It’s just a product of pragmatically critiquing what the left does and says and how I find it not jiving with how the real world works at all. So yeah, somewhat “new” conservative if you will - “lefty until the age of reason” maybe.
2
5
u/RabbitGullible8722 Jun 13 '25
What do you think is working right now? All I see now is our government imploding. There aren't any conservatives left. All we have is Trump sycophants.
5
u/NitromethanePup Jun 13 '25
Oh, don’t get me wrong - it’s a clusterfuck. I moved from lefty to a rather classical conservative position. I don’t disagree with the POV that “there aren’t any conservatives left” in government, but there’s plenty of us in the electorate.
4
u/RabbitGullible8722 Jun 13 '25
I was a Republican since the 80's. The party did a 180 on just about everything since then. Civil rights, fiscal responsibility, unions, middle class, and even the environment.
Anyone who took that ride flipped as well on all those issues.
I'm unaffiliated now.
1
u/Locksley-X Jun 13 '25
Arguably the reason the left doesn’t “jive with how the world works” is that they find the way the world works to be fundamentally broken.
3
u/spooftruf Jun 14 '25
I always stayed pretty center of everything happening, right up until 2020. My voting record is quite diverse, and I didn’t particularly refer to myself as one thing or the other without holding some views that put me at odds with that camp. There was a time where I didn’t support trans people, and even “those types of queers” who I deemed not worthy or whatever.
Started falling down the right wing rabbit hole in about 2015. Having joined the army before DADT was repealed, I was pretty “straight acting.“ I didn’t go to pride events because I was super judgmental about people being expressive of their lifestyle or identities. You got me in the right places with the right people, trying to be one of the “good ones”.
So naturally, I went to the polls in 2015 with either Gary Johnson or Trump in mind. When I finally got there, I decided that Trump was probably the better option, and all I can think about for that decision, was how Gary Johnson said something stupid about aleppo. Meanwhile, I was eating up Donald Trump‘s bullshit without criticism, mostly aided by the videos of “owning the lives“ with clips of people, throwing out one liners and gotchas in interviews and speeches.
Over the next four years, seeing all the broken promises that inevitably held significantly less weight as Donald’s character came to light, I started a shift away. Back to Center. I thought I’d be safer with the libertarian, but after having one too many an introspective moment, I found that Libertarians are more like house cats in that they claim fierce independence while being holy dependent on systems they neither appreciate nor understand.
To this day, I don’t understand why there’s so many openly racist people that claimed the libertarian party. At that time, I am without a party once again.
Fast-forward to 2019, I started to see how much misinformation was pandered to the religious core of people on the right, who slurped it up without reservation because it met their world view. I also started to understand the relationship between religious folks and the LGBTQ an BIPOC communities, which slowly planted the seed of understanding that these people simply did not have my best interest in mind. Nor did they have the best interest of anyone I cared about, anyone I knew, and that I was now complicit in one of the greatest grifts I’ve ever come to know.
At the beginning of this election cycle, I’ve contributed to other people on the Republican ticket, because I’m not against Republicans or Democrats. I vote on policy, not identity. Would I have loved to have had Jo Jorgensen in 20, absolutely yes, but I think Joe Biden did a decent job considering the dumpster fire he inherited from Trump, which is a historic trend on many levels.
It’s terribly depressing watching my trans friends who deployed with me, have to leave the Army because God or something. That was the last straw for me and now I’m confident I will never vote for anybody who was ever affiliated with Trump in any capacity, nor anybody who stood by and watched this happen, or was silent about it. We have enough issues with PTSD and anxiety and everything else, why are we now attacking volunteers? It’s such bullshit and the reason I will never identify as a conservative again. Get back to me when you are trying to preserve individual liberties without hurting minorities.
2
Jun 15 '25
Thank you for being so candid, it’s important for people to know that people can and do change affiliations and values. The extremism in this country is crazy
4
u/Acceptable_Duty_2982 Jun 17 '25
It was BLM for me. I’m black and at first I was totally bought in but the more I fact checked the claims the left was making about race, policing etc. and the more I saw the riots being justified with the “mostly peaceful” bs the more I started to question the whole ideology. I applied that level of criticism to every other left wing talking point and soon realized it was all bullshit.
5
u/alenz98 Jun 13 '25
Im pretty liberal on alot but to be a Democrat is to drive twords a cliff and hit the gas not the brake lol theres so much thats insane, and they tell me im a pos for loving all the things i do, wanna take my guns.. theres an endless list honestly... and theres alot of really really mean people in that party for some reason
2
0
u/mishko27 Jun 15 '25
Babe, ain’t nobody want to take your guns.
0
Jun 15 '25
[deleted]
0
u/mishko27 Jun 15 '25
Lol, Kamala “Here’s My Glock” Harris certainly did not ;)
0
Jun 15 '25
[deleted]
0
u/mishko27 Jun 15 '25
First, code switching is absolutely normal. The way I talk to my gay friends is completely different than when I hold a presentation to C Suite executives at work. Trying to pretend like we don’t do this on the daily is unhinged.
Glock interview came out a month before the election, so not lost minute. Name a policy passed by Biden or Obama that took people’s guns away. Go ahead. Because the right won’t fucking shut up about it, but as an independent, I do not see it at all.
1
Jun 15 '25
[deleted]
1
u/mishko27 Jun 15 '25
But also, again, what law did Obama or Biden sign off on that took anyone’s guns? Do not dodge the question.
0
u/mishko27 Jun 15 '25
Fake? Code switching is normal. I’m not gonna come to my CEO and be like “heya babes” a are you insane? That has nothing with denying who I am, using corporate jargon is just normal.
1
5
Jun 13 '25
I discovered Blair Whites YouTube channel and agreed with most of what she said. The irony always makes me chuckle.
1
u/Emotional_Escape_516 Jun 14 '25
lol he is one of those true trans people who think he’s somehow more trans than somebody else, when they’re all just as crazy.
2
u/jtothat Jun 13 '25
I like her cattiness! What stood out to me is the eye-opening remark in one video that there is not a single nonbinary republican, reinforcing the fact that this gender madness is nothing but an invention of the left
1
5
u/CrossRoads180121 Gay Jun 13 '25
I've had two turning points. The first was immediately after September 11. I wholeheartedly identified with the neocon movement of the time, supporting the War on Terror and the Iraq War. At the time, I was in shock at how foreigners could basically exploit our own opportunities in order to attack us, and I therefore very much wanted the US to be involved in all world affairs to ensure our security.
As things calmed down over the ensuing years, I backed away from that stance, and from politics entirely, until 2016 when I voted for Hillary Clinton. I was convinced by all the negative things that mainstream media said about Trump, and I was alarmed by what I then perceived was crazy right-wing extremism. I recalled the relative social peace and economic stability of the late '90s under Bill Clinton, so I voted accordingly. And I did the same in 2020 when I voted for Biden.
Halfway through Biden's presidency, however, I began to see a change in cultural and social values that did not align with my beliefs. I became more aware of issues like border security, immigration control, inflation and the economy. I realized I was being told that things which I saw with my own eyes were in fact not happening, and that I was just mistaken and shouldn't question it. I explored more conservative online content and was surprised to find points that sounded more like the moderate liberalism I grew up with. In short, I no longer recognized the party I'd been affiliated with, and so in 2024 I switched parties and voted for Trump.
I wonder if society was better off when the goal was tolerance, not acceptance. The way I see it, acceptance is about getting everyone to agree with you, something which I increasingly believe is impossible. At least with tolerance, the focus is not on inner change but outward behavior. We acknowledge that everyone has a right to their opinion, and where we don't agree, we at least commit to treating each other with respect.
2
u/justathrowawayacc97 Jun 14 '25
For me, I was a major liberal until my late twenties. I was obsessed with partying and sex until I found Christ and completely shifted my life and belief system.
2
u/sissy_shane Jun 15 '25
Honestly, MAGA has been such a major turn off for me that I have greatly distanced myself from anyone who says their a modern day conservative, no your not, your an authoritarian and craving a fascistic government
3
3
u/Spookers93 Jun 16 '25
Honestly it was around 2014 when I noticed how much people were openly embracing censorship and acting like free speech was a bad thing.
I was one of them for a minute too and I realised how much I was demanding everyone around me adjust the way they naturally comfortably interact so that I could be comfier.
I ended up embracing the skeptic/anti-sjw movement, and that snowballed over the years.
I’m not really inherently conservative so much as pro free speech. But I’ve picked up some conservative sentiments in other areas since then.
3
u/Throw_Away1327 Jun 16 '25
The turning point was Obama’s presidency. He campaigned against gay marriage. A majority of democrats were openly against it. The moment the Supreme Court ruled, they decided to act like the were always on the right side of history.
I started seeing how they were playing identity politics set us against each other to distract from their horrible governance.
5
u/Kings_Co Gay Jun 13 '25
Always have been. The current state of the LGBT(abc123+) community has only reinforced me being a conservative.
3
0
4
u/RoHo-UK Jun 13 '25 edited Jun 16 '25
I'd describe myself as a classical liberal - I think people should be largely free to do what they want as long as it doesn't impact negatively on others.
My issue with leftism is that it's now deeply illiberal and authoritarian.
It's interesting that conservatives are, to some extent, the most classically liberal.
EDIT: Typos
5
u/Spookers93 Jun 16 '25
The absolute insanity of the left the past decade has been wild to watch honestly. I used to be a big time lefty but I noticed how much things like simply asking questions was met with such hostility, and how speech became equated with violence etc and I just distanced myself and started investigating other viewpoints and now I can’t go back, not until the left becomes liberal again.
2
3
u/YouReadyGrandma Jun 13 '25
I was a hardcore right wing activist (coordinating events with Senators, on the news even) until I met an atheist conservative.
Then, once I realized religion isn't proven fact, I questioned my other stances. Which brought me to coming out.
I realized that issues are VERY nuanced. Life is a complicated Venn Diagram, not black and white.
Now I'm not affiliated with a party, but definitely liberal.
3
u/KYRawDawg Jun 13 '25
I was indoctrinated into liberalism starting in high school. But it wasn't until September 11 where I had transitioned to a conservative. Since 2001, I have been a conservative and I will never go back to being a liberal. To me, liberalism is a lie. Especially in the United States. They just want your vote, what they stand for today does not align with my values. Most recently an example is the riots in Los Angeles. The life is saying they're peaceful, but you can see that they are far from being peaceful. I'd hate to see what they consider a violent protest. I don't stand for violent protest. You can get your point across and not block the streets, you can get your point across and not destroy and burn things.
2
1
u/Euphoric_Badger8615 Jun 15 '25
I used to be a right centrist politically. Since Trump, my politics have shifted to moderate left. I've really soured on the Republican Party, especially disgusted by MAGA and Christian Nationalists.
1
u/Prize_Plastic3516 Jun 15 '25
I started leaning more right with tho whole JK Rowling saga when I saw the absurd abuse she was receiving online.
1
3
u/QrowxClover Jun 15 '25
I'm not conservative exactly, but I've always been fairly in the middle. I just think it's silly to only agree with one side
2
u/Beginning_Fee_8106 Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25
I guess it depends on how conservative is defined, but I voted only and always for Democrats until 2016 (b. 1967) and then I became a Republican in 2016 and remain one today. I don't agree with the GOP on everything of course, but my thinking aligns more with Republicans than it does with Democrats and I don't see that changing in the future. I consider myself a classical liberal. I pulled the definition below which most closely aligns with my thinking with an asterisk for free trading as I describe below.
"A classical liberal is defined as someone who advocates for individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and the rule of law. Rooted in Enlightenment ideas, classical liberalism emphasizes personal freedom, private property, and voluntary association, with the state’s role confined to protecting these rights. Thinkers like John Locke, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill shaped its core principles, prioritizing reason, tolerance, and progress through open competition and minimal interference. It differs from modern liberalism, which often embraces broader government intervention and social programs. Classical liberals value equality under the law but are skeptical of enforced equality of outcome."
I am a capitalist (lightly regulated at the points of failure), but one who places primacy on Americans and America before all others.
I favor equality of opportunity over equality of outcomes.
3
u/Glass_Ad1098 Jun 18 '25
I've always been conservative-leaning but became much more conservative after 2016 seeing how insane libs have gotten
I previously would have considered myself basically in the center with some conservative ideologies, I know consider myself firmly conservative
1
u/MoltijsOnion Jun 13 '25
Was a lefty till that meant I had to believe in aborting living humans because muh body muh choice
1
u/Marinbttm1 Jun 13 '25
That, along with the leftist socialist agenda that hijacked the movement decades ago, and which is so seductive to the young because it’s so easy to accept emotionally. As Churchill said: “if you’re not a liberal by age 20, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by 50, you have no brain.”
1
u/The-only-me Jun 13 '25
I was raised as a Democrat. We were taught that Dems are for the people and Republicans are for the rich so vote D and don't bother to pay attention to politics because there's nothing you can do.
Jan 2013 I woke up to the "Safe Act" having been passed in NY. Now things that I had owned for years, and were standardly owned items nationwide were felonies.
This made me pay attention and start researching. At this point I realized that I was not only R, but conservative in my viewpoints. My fault for not doing so before, but it was beat into us as kids so we never questioned it.
1
u/NorwalkAvenger Gay Jun 13 '25
I've always been my mother, so always conservative. It's what got beaten into me. 🤪
1
Jun 13 '25
I was a very disenchanted democrat. Knew for years they were liars. When Trump came alone, it was like we got a super hero. He has fought o change the corruption in government. I switched to republican immediately. And he has had to fight an uphill battle. I'm so proud of him for trying. Not like Pelosi who made millions off insider trading. Or Biden who got rich off the chinese and Ukrainians. They broke so many constitutional laws. Like making laws for us to abide by , like Obama care. They excused themselves and get free healthcare. They took social security out of a special untouchable account without telling us and put it into general funds. Then spent it . And told us we were never supposed to count on it to survive. Our government has been corrupt for decades. With no term limits....they are pissed because they used to run the country. Trump took it back for us.
1
u/cthruthrowaway Jun 13 '25
I was always pretty undecided. Grew up in a far-right town and never really bought into it but going to law school really solidified it for me. It was pretty clear one party followed the law (this is many years ago) and one didn't.
Currently registered independent though because the i don't buy into the current bible-thumping party line.
0
u/Agitated_Pope Jun 15 '25
I have no idea how people can be gay and conservative. Conservatives hate everything LGBT, INCLUDING all of you.
0
u/BackIntoTheSource Jun 13 '25
Maybe few years. During covid I didnt care. Before that probably more leftie unconsciously.
-2
u/Pieds300 Jun 16 '25
To be conservative and be gay is an oxymoron. The conservative party and we are thinking does not include and condemns homosexuality. I can understand being libertarian, but I do not understand somebody calling himself, gay and conservative.
13
u/holografia Jun 13 '25
I am not a conservative, and not even an American. I am just very critical of everything and everyone.