Link: https://www.queermajority.com/essays-all/lesbians-like-me-joined-forces-with-conservatives

When the “woke” mania swept the country in 2020, I took a step back and reevaluated where I stood and why I stood there. To my surprise, I found that I agreed with conservatives and libertarians on a number of issues. I opposed childhood gender transitions, unlawful and divisive DEI mandates, and the excesses of Critical Race Theory. I argued against biological males competing in women’s sports and being housed in women’s prisons. I did so loudly and publicly, losing many friends along the way.

Today, some of those same attorneys I worked with are advocating for my right to marry my fiancée to be stripped away.

I fell for obvious right-wing propaganda and rationalized the hate with reason and logic. Now the hate machine is coming for me and that's not fair!

You'd have to have been asleep for the last 50 years at least to not see this.

The whole affair made something clear: for many on the right, their past tolerance of gay and bi people who aligned with them on a few pet issues was never rooted in principle. It was always about convenience. We were never truly accepted — just temporarily useful. And now that some of us have outlived our political utility, they’re more than happy to throw us to the wolves the moment the opportunity arises.

I am still incredulous at the existence of Log Cabin (gay male) Republicans, or even Peter Thiel.

Why on earth would you give any support to an organization dedicated to the destruction of people like you?

Does your own hatred of minorities and the poor make you willing to risk joining forces with those who are likely to come after you next?

This person needs to develop self-awareness: why is it only becoming a problem when it affects her directly?

Her issue doesn’t affect me at all but I still want to do the right thing. And I would never vote for Trump because it was pretty clear he wouldn’t do the right thing, in many human right and quality of life scenarios

(Plus he had a long history as a con man from before he ran for election, before he paid for his sleazy reality show to reset his reputation: I’m still confused how people could fall for this)

When the “woke” mania swept the country in 2020, I took a step back and reevaluated where I stood and why I stood there. To my surprise, I found that I agreed with conservatives and libertarians on a number of issues. I opposed childhood gender transitions, unlawful and divisive DEI mandates, and the excesses of Critical Race Theory. I argued against biological males competing in women’s sports and being housed in women’s prisons. I did so loudly and publicly, losing many friends along the way. My stance wasn’t rooted in hate or fear but in a commitment to reason and fairness. My loyalty was to the truth, not to political tribes. Maintaining my integrity cost me greatly, but I believed it was worth it.

Hey Reid Newton: you're a bigot and a complete fucking moron. Anyone that has two functioning braincells figured out within 10 minutes of first hearing it that "critical race theory" was just a euphemism for "the honest history of how America has fucked over every racial minority consistently though its entire history". If you think that DEI or critical race theory are real problems, you have the critical thinking skills of a brick wall. Fuck this gal for trying to rationalize her betrayal of her own community.

I opposed childhood gender transitions, unlawful and divisive DEI mandates, and the excesses of Critical Race Theory.

Never get tired of the "This Far And No Further" civil libertarian.

My personal circumstances always demand a socially protected designation. But everyone who isn't me? Idk, they seem extremist and scary.

Today, some of those same attorneys I worked with are advocating for my right to marry my fiancée to be stripped away.

Well, but of course. Because it's "This Far And No Further" for them, too.

It's the lesbians who are also racist ( not all lesbians, but the ones who happen to also be racist). I have personal experience with this and they are insane. In the same sentence they'll go against BLM and then complain that their rights are being taken away. I'm not exaggerating. But on the plus side, I quit facebook 100% at exactly that moment.

Edit: I didn't mean it in the way I now see it sounds. Sorry about that lesbians, I didn't mean to say all of you are racist. That one word made a difference.

Edit 2: Clarifying further.

What a fucking dumbass.

Sucks to suck

If you manage to travel back in time, don't invest in bitcoin, invest in fell for it again awards.

Unironically using the phrase "radical left" while faking contrition.

The problem isn’t so much about things becoming problems once they affect a person, it’s often that these people were never exposed to things affecting them personally before they became adults.

I am of the opinion that empathy develops best when people are exposed to life (for this exercise you are welcome to define “life” how you see fit).

While I have not personally been mistreated for my gender or race, and I have never had anybody murdered or abducted in my personal life, I have had a lot of other Bad Things(TM) happen to me that has developed a healthy sense of empathy. I can then use that empathy and apply it to those other situations. It’s like the analogy of lifting weights can train you to pick up and move heavy things (not just barbells).

People like this have led what I believe to be very sheltered lives. Maybe they were spoiled, never told no, whatever. As far as they ever knew the horribleness of the world only happened to other people (in books, papers, movies, and TV shows), who they were taught were deserving of such things, and that it would never happen to them regardless pf anything.

None of this is meant to excuse anyone’s behavior or lack of empathy. Never would I suggest such a thing. But it may help your sanity in having a possible understanding of how it might happen in the first place.

It may not; I am not presuming to know you or how you will react to anything I’ve just said.

YMMV.

Exactly. It's not exactly like the right-wing hide their distain for all people of the LGBT spectra.

It's the classic "but I'm one of the good ones" trope. There's no such thing, just tokens to be used and tossed away.

No matter how much you try to be a "good one", you'll never truly be accepted amongst those who hate your kin.
Once you've outlived your usefulness, they'll eat your face just like everyone else.

Nope, this is natural.

Like, straight up default human behavior, and conservativesare actually really good at manipulating people using basic human psychology.

An absolute shit ton of people who grew up as "outsiders" really just want to be with the majority "in group" and are willing to side with them against smaller minorities.

Like, that's the whole TERF thing in a nutshell.

Women who were treated poorly for being women, and trying to side with their abusers against a weaker target.

It's literally the reason most mothers abuse their children. Same psychology, just different target.

Hell, it's the same reason weak men target women and children in the first place

An innate desire for a "human pecking order" that displays at varying rates due to normal human variation.

Racism too, LBJ described it generations ago after seeing firsthand what Republicans were doing in the South:

If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lbj-convince-the-lowest-white-man/

We need to understand why this keeps working to fight it...

Republicans: We think Queers should DIE!

Reid Newton: Wow these people SPEAK my Language!

Oh come on, let’s not engage in bigotry by painting all lesbians with the same brush.

I didn't? I said the "one's who are racist." You can be a straight racist, trans racist, lesbian racist, gay racist, etc. I think I had this idea that marginalized people would stick up for other marginalized people. It's shocking that there are a percentage that are just as shitty as the straight racists.

Eh. Sounds like the queer version of a "the only moral abortion is my abortion" pro-lifer. It's kind of a thing over there.

I edited and apologized, I haven't had my coffee yet. I meant the lesbians who are racist are shocking.

Edit: Also, thanks for calling it out, it gave me a chance to see where I fucked up.

She sounds like a terrible person, friend, and relative. Maybe it's for the best people left her side. Now the leopards can feast in peace. Never comfort a fascist, racist, transphobe, or bigot.

Absolute textbook LAMF. Always entertaining to see one in the wild.

I think it still might sound shitty. I'll try and fix it better. Thanks again.

Many will say I should have seen this coming — that the right has and always will be against LGBT rights. And maybe there’s some truth to that. But that just wasn’t my experience. I was met with open arms by this messy coalition of ex-Democrats and lifelong Republicans, many of whom still support me and my right to marry. I found a community committed to reason and truth. Perhaps I’m simply realizing that there are fewer of us than I originally thought. The radical right is on the warpath against liberalism, trampling centrists, libertarians, and reasonable ring-wingers in the process. Ultimately, I don’t regret my decision. I worked toward what I believed — and still believe — to be true. I still oppose radical gender ideology and Critical Race Theory in schools. I still believe that biological males shouldn’t compete in women’s sports or be housed in women’s prisons. But I will not stand by while LGBT rights are legislated away.

Read: "The only rights that should be protected are mine."

There must be a path to redemption, but this one ain't on it.

Along the way in life I have met plenty of people who did have the awful things in life happen to them, and yet they still take this position. I have met many people who have been subject to bigotry all their lives, but then an trans person comes into the picture, and they expose themselves to be equally bigoted, and equally without empathy, and just as vicious.

People develop this way because they desperately want to be part of the power holding in-group, not the powerless out-group. So they will have their own out-group of marginalized people, whom they can feel some of that power over.

Peter Thiel has confidence that his own personal power will keep him safe. Since he's a sociopath, having homosexuality be illegal actually benefits him because if he gets tired of a relationship he can just out the other man and have them executed.

It's not entirely clear to me whether history supports his confidence. But little no-name "activists" like the article author are always going to be destroyed.

Andrea Dworkin is spinning in her grave. There's something extra tragic about adopting the token persona for someone at the intersectionality of two identities that the right hates.

the problem with tokens is that sooner or later they get spent.

As a 29-year-old lesbian engaged to be married, this turn of events is personal for me. And it may be one I helped contribute to.

No. You absolutey and whole-heartedly helped contribute to it.

I worked toward what I believed — and still believe — to be true. I still oppose radical gender ideology and Critical Race Theory in schools. I still believe that biological males shouldn’t compete in women’s sports or be housed in women’s prisons. But I will not stand by while LGBT rights are legislated away.

Human Rights belong to all humans, you racist TERF.

Reid Newton, from the bottom of my heart: I hope your life goes as well as you treat trans people.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Cohn

100%

Also the "it wasn't a fear-based decision, I just rationally opposed all the forced child gender-transitions". It's not possible to roll ones eyes hard enough.

I actually do have empathy for a TERF who'd say, "I uncritically chugged conservative media and become terrified of stories about men 'transitioning' as a way to attach women. Now I see that was all lies and I was a fool who never tried putting myself in others' shoes."

If she wasn't gay herself, she'd be against gay people too.

Many on the cultural right are forgetting something critical: same-sex marriage doesn’t infringe upon anyone else’s rights. A crucial argument against gender ideology was the infringement on women’s rights. But unlike trans edge cases such as women’s sports or prisons, marriage isn’t a zero-sum issue. There isn’t a finite number of spots on the “marriage team.” My getting married takes nothing away from straight couples.

It's too bad they're both too incurious to think for themselves and so media-illiterate that they haven't read The Handmaid's Tale... Obviously lesbian couples can be broken up and forced into miserable straight marriages and this is precisely what the right would want to do! (It's even part of the American past that MAGA wants to return to!)

I was ok hating minorities, but when they turned on my fellow lesbians and I, I done got upset!

Jesus fucking Christ these fucking people

Women who fall for conservatism are a special kind of stupid. They hate us, always. Even though we are the default and half the damn population.

It could be a lot of things. I have learned that with how the world works there is no one single answer for why people do the things they do. So yeah, it could be ignorance as I suggested, a power grab/sense of belonging like you suggest, and/or something else entirely.

I also think people like this person in the article gets wha they deserve, regardless of why they are the way they are.

also it was one fucking book that the PR machine blew out of proportion, I read it at the time and i really struggle to remember what was even in it, it was just some essays about the history of race in the US, which have just merged with all my other memories of similar stories

Protip: this type of Sturmabteilung has a major moderating influence in threadiverse.

It was an interesting read.

By the way, the paragraph you quoted is oddly cut. The whole paragraph reads:

When the “woke” mania swept the country in 2020, I took a step back and reevaluated where I stood and why I stood there. To my surprise, I found that I agreed with conservatives and libertarians on a number of issues. I opposed childhood gender transitions, unlawful and divisive DEI mandates, and the excesses of Critical Race Theory. I argued against biological males competing in women’s sports and being housed in women’s prisons. I did so loudly and publicly, losing many friends along the way. My stance wasn’t rooted in hate or fear but in a commitment to reason and fairness. My loyalty was to the truth, not to political tribes. Maintaining my integrity cost me greatly, but I believed it was worth it.

Later on she says:

The conservative movement has a choice to make: will they stay true to their promises of liberty and limited government, or will they use the levers of power to impose their preferred moral order? I joined forces with them because I believed in the former. I fear they are choosing the latter.

which highlights are key internal division in republicans: small government (i.e. being consistently liberal) or imposing one's own moral order?

The article seems to imply that some people vote republican because they think it's a vote for liberalism, ironically.

Yup. still a POS, only cares about the parts affecting her. Typical conservative.

Because Peter Thiel is a billionaire first and a gay man second. He knows that his wealth will insulate him from the consequences of his actions.

Because class beats race or sexual preference every time. Peter Thiel is rich first, gay second. Kanye is rich first, black second.

Those billionaires will use any means they can to accumulate power, just ask Gawker about it.

It seems to be a variation in the extent to which one can easily extend empathy outside close kin groups to more extended or even abstract kin groups that defines what makes someone constitutionally more conservative or more liberal. It has to do with fear thresholds and openness to experience traits too but also empathy scope. And so my conclusion is that this woman is constitutionally more inclined towards a conservative mindset and that this is independent of her sexual orientation. Too bad for her that other conservatives will never be reliable allies for her because, even though she identifies with them, they can't empathize with what she is.

They didn’t “turn on” you. They were never on your fucking side to begin with, and you were a goddamn idiot for believing their very obvious and blatant lies to the contrary.

You were a hateful bigot but are upset you aren't immune to the bigotry you fuel is all this article says.

Many will say I should have seen this coming — that the right has and always will be against LGBT rights. And maybe there’s some truth to that. But that just wasn’t my experience.

Yeah, no shit dumbass. They were acting nice because they were using you. Divide and conquer, exactly like all those people screaming at you were saying.

If only there was some kind of historical precedent so we could know what would happen immediately afterwards if, say, a prominent gay Nazi helped the Nazis exterminate trans people. Like, maybe if somebody had just appeased them by helping them exterminate one or two small minorities, they'd have mellowed out! Unfortunately, there was just no way to know this would happen. I mean, other than all the people who did predict it, but they clearly just got lucky.

On an unrelated note, I wonder if I could interest her in a nice set of long kitchen knives.

That's the raw problem: they don't question what “small government” means, all the while she praxied big government praxis:

1. I opposed childhood gender transitions, 2) unlawful and 3) divisive DEI mandates, and the 4) excesses of Critical Race Theory. I argued 5) against biological males competing in women’s sports and being 6) housed in women’s prisons. 7) I did so loudly and 8) publicly

She‘s incapable of retrospecting she is in favor of big government over-reaches because she wants those rulings against others, not herself. “Law for thee, not me”