I’m a gay New Yorker — and I’m coming out as a conservative

[OriZ 3,157]

I think it's a little bit erratic for him to all of a sudden look at himself as a conservative(considering he voted for Clinton), but nevertheless I find some of his observations to be spot on. The far left's aversion to understanding and communicating with people who disagree with you, the refusal to understand why exactly Trump became so popular and eventually won, the refusal to evaluate how the democratic party and the far left alienated so many people. Everything we have brought up in this forum before.

 

Chadwick Moore, a 33-year-old journalist who lives in Williamsburg, had been a lifelong liberal. Then, last September, he penned a profile for Out magazine of Milo Yiannopoulos — a controversial and outspoken critic of feminism, Muslims and gay rights (despite being openly gay himself). Although the Out story didn’t take a positive stance — or any stance — on Yiannopoulos, Moore found himself pilloried by fellow Democrats and ostracized by longtime friends.

Here, he tells Michael Kaplan his story — including why the backlash drove him to the right.

When Out magazine assigned me an interview with the Breitbart.com rabble-rouser Milo Yiannopoulos, I knew it would be controversial. In the gay and liberal communities in particular, he is a provocative and loathed figure, and I knew featuring him in such a liberal publication would get negative attention. He has been repeatedly kicked off Twitter for, among other things, reportedly inciting racist, sexist bullying of “Ghostbusters” actress Leslie Jones. Before interviewing Yiannopoulos, I thought he was a nasty attention-#######, but I wanted to do a neutral piece on him that simply put the facts out there.

After the story posted online in the early hours of Sept. 21, I woke up to more than 100 Twitter notifications on my iPhone. Trolls were calling me a Nazi, death threats rolled in and a joke photo that I posed for in a burka served as “proof” that I am an Islamophobe.

I’m not.

Most disconcertingly, it wasn’t just strangers voicing radical discontent. Personal friends of mine — men in their 60s who had been my longtime mentors — were coming at me. They wrote on Facebook that the story was “irresponsible” and “dangerous.” A dozen or so people unfriended me. A petition was circulated online, condemning the magazine and my article. All I had done was write a balanced story on an outspoken Trump supporter for a liberal, gay magazine, and now I was being attacked. I felt alienated and frightened.

I hope New Yorkers can be as accepting of my new status as a conservative man as they’ve been about my sexual orientation.

I laid low for a week or so. Finally, I decided to go out to my local gay bar in Williamsburg, where I’ve been a regular for 11 years. I ordered a drink but nothing felt the same; half the place — people with whom I’d shared many laughs — seemed to be giving me the cold shoulder. Upon seeing me, a friend who normally greets me with a hug and kiss pivoted and turned away.

Frostiness spread far beyond the bar, too. My best friend, with whom I typically hung out multiple times per week, was suddenly perpetually unavailable. Finally, on Christmas Eve, he sent me a long text, calling me a monster, asking where my heart and soul went, and saying that all our other friends are laughing at me.

I realized that, for the first time in my adult life, I was outside of the liberal bubble and looking in. What I saw was ugly, lock step, incurious and mean-spirited.

Still, I returned to the bar a few nights later — I don’t give up easily — and hit it off with a stranger. As so many conversations do these days, ours turned to politics. I told him that I’m against Trump’s wall but in favor of strengthening our borders. He called me a Nazi and walked away. I felt awful — but not so awful that I would keep opinions to myself.

And I began to realize that maybe my opinions just didn’t fit in with the liberal status quo, which seems to mean that you must absolutely hate Trump, his supporters and everything they believe. If you dare not to protest or boycott Trump, you are a traitor.

If you dare to question liberal stances or make an effort toward understanding why conservatives think the way they do, you are a traitor.

It can seem like liberals are actually against free speech if it fails to conform with the way they think. And I don’t want to be a part of that club anymore.

It used to be that if you were a gay, educated atheist living in New York, you had no choice but to be liberal. But as I met more Trump supporters with whom I was able to have engaging, civil discussions about issues that impact us all, I realized that I like these people — even if I have some issues with Trump himself. For example, I don’t like his travel ban or the cabinet choices he’s made.

But I finally had to admit to myself that I am closer to the right than where the left is today. And, yes, just three months ago, I voted for Hillary Clinton.

Modal Trigger Annie Wermiel

When I was growing up in the Midwest, coming out to my family at the age of 15 was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Today, it’s just as nerve-wracking coming out to all of New York as a conservative. But, like when I was 15, it’s also weirdly exciting.

I’ve already told my family, and it’s brought me closer to my father. He’s a Republican and a farmer in Iowa, and for years we just didn’t have very much to talk about. But after Trump’s inauguration, we chatted for two hours, bonding over the ridiculousness of lefties. But we also got serious: He told me that he is proud of my writing, and I opened up about my personal life in a way I never had before to him.

I’ve made some new friends and also lost some who refuse to speak to me. I’ve come around on Republican pundit Ann Coulter, who I now think is smart and funny and not a totally hateful, self-righteous bigot. A year ago, this would have been unfathomable to me.

I even went on a date this past week with a good-looking Republican construction worker, someone I previously would not have given a shot.

I hope to find out that it pays to keep an open mind.

And I hope that New Yorkers can be as open-minded and accepting of my new status as a conservative man as they’ve been about my sexual orientation.

http://nypost.com/2017/02/11/im-a-gay-new-yorker-and-im-coming-out-as-a-conservative/

[TBoneTX 46,901]

3 hours ago, OriZ said:

liberals are actually against free speech if it fails to conform with the way they think.

This seems to be the heart of the matter.

[Dashinka 25,426]

2 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

This seems to be the heart of the matter.

Absolutely!  Think, act and talk like us or be destroyed.

[Merle 458]

5 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

Absolutely!  Think, act and talk like us or be destroyed.

Or be called a Nazi, fascist, racist, homophobe, etc. Pot meet kettle. 

[OriZ 3,157]

17 minutes ago, Merle said:

Or be called a Nazi, fascist, racist, homophobe, etc. Pot meet kettle. 

The funny thing is you have people like Yvette Felarca poisoning the minds of students, every time I watch her talk all I can think about is nazi, she is the very thing she claims to be fighting against. Sorry you don't fight it by acting like one.

 

I don't like Tucker Carlson, to me he's like hannity on steroids, but I did find this interview to be very telling. She's obviously got zero self awareness.

 

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/02/13/tucker-carlson-battles-protest-organizer-who-supports-berkeley-riots-violence

[smilesammich 10,727]

personally, i don't buy this sort of selling out in the slightest. absolutely nothing in this essay leads me to believe the author is now conservative. talking to and getting along with trump supporters does not at all make you a conservative. liberal friends shunning you because you're bending over and giving media attention to a total scumbag like milo is sort of what you get. and from the intro - exactly what the author expected. 

 

the problem here is that some conservatives appear to be unaware of what milo is and what he's hoping to accomplish. i bet he's pretty brand new to most of you. but you're not championing free speech in supporting milo. he'd love for more of you to believe that though so, i guess his 'im gay and i hate gays' and other nonsensical ideals sit pretty well with conservatives searching for a useful prop.

 

 

[Boiler 46,862]

I think what annoys people the most is the not the weird beliefs of the likes of  Yvette Felarca, but them somehow thinking they are 'liberal' and 'just'. 

 

There are lots of people with weird views, what is new is the illiberal thinking they are some how liberal, inclusive whatever.

[smilesammich 10,727]

28 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I think what annoys people the most is the not the weird beliefs of the likes of  Yvette Felarca, but them somehow thinking they are 'liberal' and 'just'. 

 

There are lots of people with weird views, what is new is the illiberal thinking they are some how liberal, inclusive whatever.

i don't think it's weird for women to protest open misogyny. how is it 'liberal' and 'just' for institutions of higher learning to host speakers who want to impose caps on the number of women hired in stem fields? none of you will answer that, in fact someone will probably just request a sandwhich. which of course proves my point.

and you might want to go to the doctor for that kellyanne conway rattle you've got going there...'what is new is the illiberal thinking they are somehow liberal, inclusive whatever' seriously? liberals just started thinking they're liberal? you guys are really reaching.

 

[Boiler 46,862]

If you look at politics as a circle then it makes much more sense, far left, far right, pretty much the same and as far away from being liberal as you get.

[smilesammich 10,727]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

If you look at politics as a circle then it makes much more sense, far left, far right, pretty much the same and as far away from being liberal as you get.

not really, right now the most extreme right is calling for a rise to power by white nationalist which includes vocal leaders who have made statements calling for and in support of ethnic cleansing and genocide.  the extreme left is concerned with ridding the world of those who are calling for ethnic cleansing and genocide. extreme liberals do not call for wiping out any mass group of people as like, political ideology. think of it this way; if there were a large group of women rising to political power, being granted a larger stage to espouse their views and they were calling for limits/caps on how many white men should be allowed in positions of power and maybe said something along the lines of "we need a gentle riddance of typical white men, they're problematic in large groups" i think most reasonable people would be working to shut those ladies up and knock them off their thrown.

[Boiler 46,862]

Extreme liberal?

 

The mere combination of those words says it all. We are in a land of newspeak.

[smilesammich 10,727]

Just now, Boiler said:

Extreme liberal?

 

The mere combination of those words says it all. We are in a land of newspeak.

as in the far left/far right political same thing circle you were talking about above?

[Boiler 46,862]

3 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

as in the far left/far right political same thing circle you were talking about above?

They have much more in common with each other.

[smilesammich 10,727]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

They have much more in common with each other.

so you're saying calling for genocide is the same as those who demand the calls for genocide shut up and have no place at the table. makes zero sense.

[Boiler 46,862]

Nope

 

Just say those who go around beating people up because they do not like their beliefs have much more in common with each other than with people who do not.