How The Hell Can A Gay Person Vote Republican?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I was looking at exit poll data and thirty one percent of gays voted for a Republican candidate in 2010. At the risk of violating Godwin's Law that's akin to a German Jew voting for the National Socialist party.

The Republicans would prefer you didn't exist.

[thunder rising]

1. It's always surprised me that women do.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. In Fairness I Think They Have Made Peace With Women's Emancipation

But they had to be brought along kicking and screaming. They are about a generation away from accepting full emancipation for gays. They are really rotten about that. They are probably where most of the South was on true emancipation for African Americans in 1964.

[nemo137]

21. They are nowhere near accepting that.

Their alliance with the Christian Right destroyed any chance of them accepting that women are humans and citizens with all the rights that men have.

[TwilightGardener]

26. Many women are anti-choice. I know some personally who are, and

they are often single-issue voters. I also have an acquaintance who votes however her husband tells her to vote.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. I'd doubt the data.

Some self identified gays might vote gop for economic or political ( e.g foreign policy) reasons, but I doubt very much that the % would be as high as 31%.

[geckosfeet]

4. I am still trying to figure out why anyone with half a brain would vote repubicon.

[a la izquierda]

5. My mom is a lesbian and she votes Republican.

It's about $. She lives in a state in which being gay isn't really perceived as a threat by Republicans, so there's no mental gymnastics (for her-for me, it's another story).

[donco6]

6. Got me.

Why would a woman?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Ask The Person Who Unreccommended It

~

[Pab Sungenis]

8. It depends on the Republican.

I will admit that on a lot of issues I feel some kinship with the old Republican ideals of people like Rockefeller and Ford. The problem is that those liberal Republicans are no longer running their party.

Now let's take the Democrats. The Democrats right now have moved to the right of where the Republicans were in the 1970's. And the current Democratic record on my most important issues (DOMA, DADT) is just as bad as the Republicans; remember that it's a DEMOCRATIC President who saved DADT and preserved marriage inequality by appealing two court cases.

Give me a gay-friendly Republican and I'll vote for her over an anti-gay Democrat.

For the record, that was how Bill Weld became Governor of Massachusetts over John Silber.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. Didn't They Just Have A Vote On DADT In The Senate

Where 95% of Democrats opposed it while 100% of Republicans supported it. That's not even close.

[AlinPA]

12. deleted by author

[AlinPA]

13. Oops, sorry on my previous post, I thought you meant Dems voted against repeal. nt

[xchrom]

10. In this go round it's about protest and anger. Nt

[Bluenorthwest]

11. If you really have a desire to understand, rather than make

waves, there is actual historical context to learn which does shed some light on GLBT Republicans, who have always existed, and tend to be about 24% of the GLBT vote from year to year. First, the Democratic Party currently is lead by people who constantly explain that they are opposed to our equal rights, and both Obama and Kaine have cast votes or signed laws that have been negative for all of us, but specifically loathsome to specific individuals.
Add to that the fact that we had no place in the Party at all until the Clinton era. Understand that if we go back in time to the era where older voters began, the DNC was dead cold intolerant, whereas the GOP was more 'wink and nod' intolerant. DNC wanted no gay people present. GOP wanted discretion. Hence they allowed the Log Cabin to exist. No such 'club' in the DNC, they would not have it. Older gay people I knew when I was young told me that when they were my age, if they needed Party type political networks for business, the GOP was it, no choice. Very liberal gay people simply did not do Party Politics. No home to function from. It was the AIDS crisis that changed that. The 80's. Big Dog was the first Pres nominee to so much as say the word 'gay'.
And of course, local and State governments oppressed gay people under both Parties, for decades, centuries even. I know one guy who voted GOP because a Democrat was mayor when the cops beat his partner to a pulp while calling him faggot, and the mayor stood with the cops. Can you argue with that well? Feel free to try.
Then of course that poll was not trustworthy anyway. The actual important fact in it is that even in this cycle, we voted 69% Democratic, according to this poll biased against us. That makes GLBT voters top five among voting blocks.
If you ask what you ask, then what the fuck is with the elected black Tea Baggers? How can that beeeee? Think about how it sounds.
In closing, I'd just like to say that if Straight white men voted Democratic at the same rate as their gay peers do, we'd not have a Republican in office in the US. Think about that. To elect the GOP, it takes the Straight White Men and their Straight White Wives as back up. If you are straight and white, you have much work to do with your own damn community I'd say. Come whining when you hit 60% Democratic.
More answer than you wanted probably. Probably wanted arguments. Sorry about that. I like to build the Party.
Those are historical facts. I was born a Democrat, so for me, there was no question, and I was part of the era that pushed out way in to the DNC. Defined us as a voting block, when previously, we had not been seen as a community or as voters.

[nemo137]

22. Thank you.

I didn't know that history. Thank you for posting that.

[JohnnyBoots]

14. How can anyone making under 250K vote for them ? nt

[Sheepshank]

15. How can black people vote for the Tea party

and RUN on a Tea party Ticket?

Stokholm Syndrome.
Helsinki Syndrome.
Reducus Gravid Matterinski Syndrome.

All forms of mental incapacitation.

[slackmaster]

16. I think you have mis-construed what most actual Republicans think

The Republicans would prefer you didn't exist.

I disagree. I think most Republicans would prefer people to simply STFU about their sexual orientation. The gay Reps I know are pretty much OK with that.

[justiceischeap]

17. In some election years there doesn't seem much of a difference tween D & R

When a politician says that he doesn't support my rights, it doesn't matter whether there's a D or R after their name, they're all assholes. I can't ever see myself voting Repub but when you're gay and discriminated against by Dems and Repubs, what's the difference?

[jeremyfive]

18. Stockholm Syndrome

The Republican Party has gone out of their way to oppress gays at every opportunity. They are the evil enemy, pure and simple, given their collective behavior, including Karl Rove's scapegoating of the gay community for GOP political points. Why, they even turned down a national promotional opportunity for their presidential candidate because it was sponsored by a gay organization. Log Cabin Republicans? I wouldn't give the time of day to one.

As for the Republican landslide? It's called laziness. If Americans don't feel that the economy is improving under one party, they summon in the other (even though the latter was the party which created the mess in the first place!!!) Believe me, Americans have no taste for a party which has announced all-out assault on Social Security.

[Catherina]

19. How the hell can alleged Democrats vote against the worker. It works both ways. n/t

[madinmaryland]

20. Have you asked a gay person? nt

[ShadowLiberal]

23. Probably 2 reasons are behind this, turnout and disappointment

1) Chances are more liberal gays who vote for democrats stayed home, and more conservative gays who vote republican were motivated to come out an vote from their party being shut out of power.

2) Lack of motivation from disappointment in gay right victories from law makers.

If the GOP really wanted to, they could probably win the gay vote if they got serious about it and took more risks on advancing gay rights then democrats. Of course, doing that would risk losing their support for evangelicals & the religious right, so it's not likely to happen.

I mean look at the 1964 civil rights act passed to protect African Americans and give them rights they were unfairly denied. A democrat, Lyndon Johnson signed that bill, but 2/3's of the votes to pass it in congress came from republicans. Yet Johnson is said to have told someone after signing it 'we've just lost the south for a generation'. Democrats used to be the party of the south, the republicans were ironically founded in the New England area, where they do the worst today. Democrats won the black vote because they were more willing to stick their necks out and take risks for them.

[tomm2thumbs]

24. the ones I know do it out of financial greed, bottom line

they will never admit this, but they prefer to try and get 'what's theirs' than to help another soul.

in fact, I bet that is why a lot of people vote Republican. G R E E D

the dumb ones think they are going to be rich and want to keep it,
and the dumber ones ARE rich and think keeping it is good for the soul

ie. all Republican voters nowadays are idiots

[Jakes Progress]

25. Being gay doesn't automatically

make you a good person. You can still be selfish or greedy or even bigoted. Being gay is about sexual orientation, not character. There are poor people who vote republican because they don't want people poorer than them to get a share. One of my African American friends who used to work for the Democratic party and worked tirelessly for civil rights in the sixties, now votes republican because she sees Democrats as supporting gay people. She has not one other agreement with the gop other than their anti-gay stand.

There are a number of reasons why a gay person would vote republican. It's just that none of them are good.

[Steely_Dan]

27. It Is Really No Mystery

I tend to separate a person's sexual preference or gender identity from other parts of their lives. I think that we all should. I think it is important that we do not see gay people as strictly their sexuality. It is only one aspect of their lives. So, why should we be surprised that some Republicans just happen to be gay? I'm sure that it is less difficult for them to reconcile than it is for us to understand.

-P

[Politicalboi]

28. I lived with a Transgender who did

I told her she wouldn't have been able to have such an operation had the Repukes been in rule for years and years with no intervention. Just blew my mind. And this was in the late 90's.