Gay conservative podcaster: Republican Party still 'inherently hostile' toward LGTBQ+ Americans

A gay pride march in Baltimore in 2018 

(Creative Commons)

Alex Henderson

September 04, 2023

Over the years, members of Log Cabin and other gay Republican groups have argued that the gay community limits itself by being closely allied with the Democratic Party. And many Democrats have responded that they are naïve to downplay the anti-gay attitudes that are so common in the GOP.

Conservative podcaster Brad Polumbo, who is openly gay, believes that homophobia has grown worse among Republicans than it was during Donald Trump's presidency. During an interview with New York Times opinion writer Jane Coaston published on September 4, Polumbo argued that "the trans debate" has led to an "extreme backlash and reaction on the right, which is catching up to gay rights."

Polumbo told Coaston that the Trump years brought "something of a détente on gay rights issues on the right."

"After Trump was elected president, and despite his many faults on many things," the podcaster noted, "he had a more tolerant approach on gay issues than most Republicans had at that time…. He's a narcissist. So if you like him, whether you're gay or whatever, he'll like you. But he came in saying he was fine with gay marriage."

Polumbo went on to say that the right has long had a division between libertarians and social conservatives.

"I think it's deeply divided, and there's different pockets," Polumbo told Coaston. "There's a pocket of the right that always is and always has been homophobic, that thinks gay people or transgender people are degenerate and disordered. That's part of, although not all of, the Religious Right, I would say. There's a part of the right that's always been pretty socially moderate or libertarian and has been fine with gay people and continues to be fine with gay people."

The podcaster added that "a lot of gay people aren't on board with the excesses of woke politics."

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"They would be gettable by the GOP if they didn't feel that the Republican Party was inherently hostile to them," Polumbo argued. "A lot of Republicans aren't. But parts of the official party platform still are."

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Read Brad Polumbo's full interview with the New York Times at this link (subscription required).