Dear Queer Community: It’s OK To Be A Conservative Republican Lesbian. Here’s Why…

June is LGBT Pride Month, and members of the queer community are excitedly awaiting the Supreme Court’s (hopefully final) decision on marriage. In the name of love and acceptance, hordes of hypocritical liberal activists have taken to the streets and the internet to attack The Human Rights Campaign, corporations like Target which openly celebrate and promote equality, and capitalistic and conservative ideologies in general.

Well, they pissed off this liberty-loving lesbian in the process.

“Homonormativity” describes privilege within the queer community and how the queer community is represented to the public through popular media. In other words, there is an accepted model for queerness (often depicted as an attractive cis gay white male). This has been a big issue in the queer community recently, as activists in the wake of significant victories are reflecting on progress made in the movement for LGBTQ+ equality. The common conclusion they draw? There is still work to be done, and it begins with taking down our mainstream money-laden allies.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the largest LGBTQ+ rights organization in the country. Their logo, a yellow equals sign against a blue background, has become a universal symbol for queer acceptance and marriage equality. HRC works on a variety of issues including bullying, employment discrimination, and coming out.

Recently, BuzzFeed reported on an internal survey at HRC, which revealed a not-always-accepting workplace culture, and called the organization a “homogenous” “white men’s club.” Over the past two weeks, social media users have been irrationally angry, blaming the organization as a whole for individual employees and seemingly faulting HRC workers for not being marginalized enough. Apparently, the more minority groups a person belongs to, the better. It is fair to celebrate trans women of color, but why try to discredit work done by white gay males? What is more, for some reason, people expect HRC to represent every social justice issue and every minority group.

John Vitzileos wrote in Neon Tommy that “HRC gives companies like Apple, Bank of America, and Nike high LGBT-friendly ratings while they run global sweatshops, violate labor laws, and engage in other unethical business practices.” I fail to see how any of these practices, regardless of how atrocious, directly impact how inviting a company acts to LGBTQ+ employees. HRC did not set out to rate the overall morality or  social awesomeness of these companies! Similarly, HRC has been called out for not having a page on their website devoted to discussion of racism. Are there not other groups devoted to abolishing racism? Failing to engage in every battle should not negate the positive work done in a given area.

The queer community has also begun to rally against corporate sponsorship. One popular enemy right now is Target, and Target’’s recent efforts to celebrate Pride Month. The thing is, money is powerful. You might not like big corporations, but think about how inspiring it is to queer youth, struggling with their identities, to see the open celebration of queerness. Furthermore, corporate promotion of LGBTQ+ acceptance normalizes queerness by vastly increasing visibility. Target has millions of customers!

Vitzileos attacked Target for donating money to the Republican Governors Association, implying that doing so holds back the queer community. This is part of a wider trend to tie queerness with (non-classical) liberalism, the democratic party, and socialism.

This viral article, which a professor shared with me, celebrates intersectionality of identities while directly going after capitalism, patriotism, support for our military, and support for Israel. So, queer identities better not intersect with conservative political identities. It’s impossible to be queer and love your country! The fact is, conservatives value minimal government involvement and maximum personal freedom; to me, that is exactly what the queer community should be fighting for!

The same article even suggested that the fight to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, a piece of legislation which violated the First Amendment and legally relegated gay people to a second class, was homonormative and “mainstream.”

As for me, I want to let you all know, it’s okay to be queer and conservative (and even better to be queer and libertarian)! I really appreciated Target’s #TakePride campaign, and I will continue to display Human Rights Campaign stickers on my car and laptop. I support the troops (but not unnecessary war), and would love to visit Israel (especially being as queer people are commonly brutally murdered in surrounding countries). And yes, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was objectively abhorrent.

Homonormativity is (sometimes) a thing, but don’t fight it by alienating conservative members of the queer community or attacking organizations that are giving their all to support us! We need their help.