Left-Wing Salon Panics Over LGBTQ Communities Turning to ‘Far-Right’

Far-right ideology is “taking hold” in LGBTQ communities, according to a recent Salon piece that accused “gay culture” of discrimination “based on gender, race, age, and ability” that forms “hierarchies of beauty” and places a “premium” on “being white, young, physically fit, and attractive by Western European cultural standards.” 

The Sunday essay, titled “Why is far-right ideology taking hold in LGBT+ communities?” and penned by Christopher Conner, an assistant teaching professor of sociology at the University of Missouri, charges that the “way that many gay men talk about bodies and beauties may have ripened their minds for right-wing thinking.”

The piece begins by noting that though “depictions of gay life in films and TV series typically portray LGBT+ people as politically-active progressives, there is a growing swath of LGBT+ conservatives in real-life, some of whom hold far right ideologies.”

Warning that the demographic “seems to be gaining traction and momentum within certain sectors of the LGBT+ community” in the U.S. and other western countries, the author claims that such an occurrence appears unusual “given that many of the ideas currently being espoused by the far-right promote racial hierarchies, transphobia, and even anti-gay sentiments.”

He argues that some of the “same ideas about what constitutes beauty within the broader LGBT+ culture mirror what is espoused by far-right figures.” 

Conner asserts that “gay men have played a pivotal role in promoting some of the most discussed topics in conservative politics — including an idea known as ‘the great replacement’ theory,” with a “gay French socialite and artist named Renaud Camus” having coined it.

He also accuses political commentator Dave Rubin, who is gay, of promoting the theory, as well as of advancing “transphobic and anti-lesbian rhetoric.”

The sociology professor then turns to “literature on authoritarianism” to explain how “seemingly contradictory beliefs” can be held simultaneously by individuals, citing research aimed at identifying what leads individuals to “gravitate towards fascist ideology.”

The study, dating back to the 1950s, lists nine traits with the potential to “push someone towards supporting authoritarian leadership,” including a belief in “rigid (especially gendered) categories,” being of the opinion that “hierarchies are both natural and justified,” and bearing “aggression towards those seeking to transgress boundaries.”

In addition, Conner asserts, “some of the same ideas about what constitutes beauty within the broader LGBT+ culture mirror what is espoused by far-right figures,” as he points to gay men “promoting ideas that naturalize hierarchies of beauty” and claims that their beauty standards “are not socially constructed but natural, and even a product of human evolution.”

Calling it “more than just conjecture,” he highlights research into “discrimination within LGBT+ spaces based on gender, race, age, and ability which coalesce and form hierarchies of beauty within gay culture.” 

“Most gay men come to realize early on that, within gay culture, there is premium placed on being white, young, physically fit, and attractive by Western European cultural standards,” the author writes, adding that “those who deviate from those cultural expectations” are treated as subpar, with their position in the supposed hierarchy determining their “access to participate in queer culture.”

Conner also attempts to decode why some gay men possess certain physical and racial preferences and “choose to date only those at the top of this hierarchy.” He writes:

In my research, I found these men repeated some of the same talking points as those espoused by conservative political figures. These include statements like ‘I’m only attracted to people of [X] race,’ or racialized statements in dating profiles, including the all-too-common refrains: ‘no fats, no femmes, no Asians’ and ‘masc 4 masc.’

Calling the LGBTQ community “increasingly exclusive,” Conner insists “the seeds of right-wing extremism” continue to “take root and sprout” within it. 

Ironically, he blames the “successes of the gay rights movement” for having “allowed far-right ideology to seep into the gay community,” with the current “post-gay era” having prompted the division of one’s sexuality from one’s politics. 

“This sentiment, however, has exposed the far-right tendencies that have existed within gay culture,” the author claims.

Conner warns that with “far-right extremism on the rise,” the spread of such “ideas and rhetoric” poses a threat to the larger LGBTQ community:

On the ground, this has played out in a variety of surprising ways — from promotion of QAnon by LGBT+ persons, gay men openly using racial slurs on dating apps, and the general adoption of authoritarian positions which marginalize those at the bottom of the LGBT+ world.

Another concern of the author’s is the emergence of formal LGBTQ groups that have come out in support of conservative politicians, including “Gays For Trump” and “Twinks4Trump,” aside from older ones such as “Log Cabin Republicans.”

Claiming that many such individuals “felt rejection from the larger LGBT+ community, leading them to seek acceptance from others,” Conner says he’s met plenty of men who delayed “coming out” of the closet due to “body fascism” or “toxic masculinity” within the gay community. 

“Even if you reject my premise that LGBT+ culture has tendencies which provide fertile ground for far-right ideologies to take hold, surely we can all agree that hiding one’s identity because of perceived rejection of one’s community is reason enough to change these behaviors,” he suggests.

He concludes by criticizing the “hyper-individualism” of gay men in the face of the recent re-emergence of the monkeypox virus, something he claims has already “proved so harmful to limiting the spread of other diseases like HIV/AIDS and COVID-19.” 

LGBTQ conservatives have routinely suffered attacks from the left and the mainstream media.

In December, an essay in the San Francisco-based LGBTQ Nation online magazine hammered Republican members of their tribe, insisting that they vote “against their own community,” while arguing for unthinking homogenization into a single voting bloc, and calling the existence of LGBTQ Republicans “one of the enduring mysteries in politics.”

Meanwhile, Democrats continue to demand that gay and lesbian people provide lockstep support for transgender activists and ideology despite the growing public recognition that transgenderism is hostile to gays, lesbians, and conservatives.

“There is a large body of silent opinion among gay men and many lesbians that deeply believes in [biological] sex differences, cherishes and celebrates the male and female bodies, and does not see gayness as connected to transgender experience,” gay rights author Andrew Sullivan wrote. 

In 2020, then first lady Melania Trump delivered a pro-free speech message to gay and lesbian Americans, reaffirming her and her husband’s support for the equal treatment of gays and lesbians under the law, defending his record on the issue, and highlighting the backlash gay conservatives often face after announcing their support for President Trump.

She noted that President Trump was the first president in American history to enter the White House supporting gay marriage, and made history when he named openly-gay Richard Grenell ambassador to Germany.

That same month, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) blasted the leftwing LGBTQ activists who “defend” the Hamas terrorist organization that “systematically murders LGBTQ people.”

Following the 2016 mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Trump highlighted Hillary Clinton’s hypocrisy and embrace of radical regimes, noting that the father of the Florida shooter “was a Taliban supporter from Afghanistan, one of the most repressive anti-gay and anti-women regimes on Earth.”

Stating he only wished to admit people into the country “who share our values and love our people,” Trump called out Hillary for wanting “to bring in people who believe women should be enslaved and gays put to death.”

In 2017, LGBT writer Skylar Baker-Jordan refused to accept homosexuals who “come out” as supporters of President Trump, encouraging others in the LGBTQ community to cut ties with gay conservatives.

“Gay conservatives aren’t welcome in gay spaces because the people they support are an existential threat to our rights and our community,” he wrote.

The remarks were followed by LGBTQ publication OUT Magazine encouraging readers to “drop” gay conservative friends in an article titled, “What To Do When Your Friend’s a Gay Republican,” and left-wing Slate likening them to “villains.”