DeepSummary
The podcast episode features an interview with historian Neil J. Young about his book 'Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right.' Young discusses the history of gay conservatives and their involvement in the Republican Party, tracing it back to the 1950s and the role of closeted gay men in shaping modern conservatism. He highlights figures like Marvin Liebman and Bob Bauman, who were key players in the early conservative movement while being closeted.
The conversation also explores how the AIDS crisis of the 1980s impacted gay Republicans, leading them to adopt a more socially conservative stance and distance themselves from the broader LGBTQ rights movement. Young examines the tensions between gay Republicans and the religious right within the party, as well as the emergence of more aggressive, provocative voices like Milo Yiannopoulos in the Trump era.
The episode delves into the complexities and contradictions within the gay conservative movement, questioning their allegiance to a party that has often demonized them. Young discusses the challenges gay Republicans may face if faced with a potential crackdown on LGBTQ rights under a second Trump administration.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The episode traces the history of gay conservatives and their involvement in the Republican Party, dating back to the 1950s and the role of closeted gay men in shaping modern conservatism.
- The AIDS crisis of the 1980s led many gay Republicans to adopt a more socially conservative stance and distance themselves from the broader LGBTQ rights movement.
- The rise of the religious right within the Republican Party in the 1970s and 1980s created tensions and conflicts with gay Republicans.
- More provocative and aggressive voices like Milo Yiannopoulos emerged within the gay conservative movement during the Trump era, embracing a more outrageous and politically incorrect style.
- Some gay Republicans may be starting to distance themselves from more extreme anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies, but may also underestimate the potential consequences of such actions.
- The role of gay conservatives in shaping the right's objections to multiculturalism, feminism, and political correctness in the 1990s is highlighted.
- The episode questions the allegiance of gay Republicans to a party that has often demonized them and the challenges they may face under a potential second Trump administration.
- The intersections of race, class, and gender within the gay conservative movement are also explored.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “This is a terrifically outrageous politics that Milo takes and really runs with. And these other Internet provocateurs in the age of Trump just take to the nth degree this notion that's really building through the Obama years, that the LGBTQ movement has taken all the fun out of being gay.“ by Neil Jay Young
- “I've seen around this, you know, the news that you spoke about in Colorado and some of this other stuff. And even with DeSantis, they've backed away from him a bit, although I think that's partly because he didn't win the nomination. They are starting to speak out against those things, but it feels a little bit like they don't totally anticipate where this is headed.“ by Neil Jay Young
- “It was fascinating to look at this in the nineties and all the ways in which especially the more sort of, quote, unquote, respectable folks like Sullivan and Rauch and Bauer writing op eds in the Wall Street Journal about things that have nothing. I mean, they were sometimes writing about gay rights or like gay issues within the Republican Party, but they also were writing about nineties politics, cultural politics, about multiculturalism and feminism and the PC stuff. I mean, they're not supporting those things, but as I argue, they're really important to develop, developing the rights or conservatives objections to those sort of 1990s culture politics issues.“ by Neil Jay Young
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Episode Information
Know Your Enemy
Matthew Sitman
6/17/24