Florida HB 1557 ("Don't Say Gay") gutted in settlement - now applies only to instruction on LGBTQ+

[afleitch]

Alright, I'll rephrase my post as a question: how can you, as a gay man, support the political party that is hostile to LGBT rights? Even if you agree with the Republican Party on every other issue, how can you not view your civil rights as the most important thing? I genuinely do not understand it.

The "movement" for "LGBTQ+ rights" has never spoken for the majority of gay people, who mostly just want to exist unbothered and unnoticed and are ok with conservative institutions (i.e., churches, families, etc.) exerting influence in the ways they traditionally have.  The LGBTQ movement has always been a platform for progressive politics and has become even more cross-contaminated with the "woke" ideology of intersectionality and victimhood in recent years.  Your question is assuming that all gay people should identify as gay first, before any other identity or belief system.  But the very many gay people I know who exist outside the amplified, progressive political bubble have a lot more interesting things going on in their lives.  The activist class has mostly left no room for these types, because it doesn't serve their version of zero-sum identity politics.

"Don't say gay" is not about preventing teachers or students from talking about what goes on in their own households or from referencing gay characters in history/literature in an age-appropriate way, but about making sure classroom instruction isn't an opportunity to push a particular belief about gender or sexuality.  That's defensible because no child should be subject to potentially confusing ideas about gender or sex from empowered adults acting beyond the responsibility given by his parents.  

Putting the rest of this to the side for a second, the part in bold is blatantly untrue.

Saying that gay people are okay with conservative institutions 'exerting influence' is not a serious statement, given than those institutions in the exercise of influence have and continue to push back against gay rights.

I understand you are trying your best to justify your own niche position within what may be a small bubble (and trust me, I used to be in a similar bubble), but don't propagate general assertions about the majority of gay people that aren't true.

Most gay people do not want to burn down the church or erase the nuclear family.  Even if growing up as gay in the culture is hard (and really what makes us queer, to boot), it's still preferable to a world where those institutions cease to be societal cornerstones (which is what progressive ideology, and thus "LGBTQ+", is all about.)  As someone who chose to elevate my identity as a Christian and as a conservative above being gay, it is not surprising that I would know/interact mostly with gay people who come from the same mindset.

Of course, I have plenty of interaction with the activist set because that's what the political media is most interested in showcasing (and many younger gay people do identify with and parrot it, if only because their first experience of queerness will likely be informed by media) but those people mostly seem to be sad, angry, or quite unfulfilled.  That is, they suffer from the same disease afflicting educated liberals globally.  But isn't being gay supposed to be fun?  

Okay, so you concede that your outlook and your social group is self-selecting. That it is in fact a minority view. That's fair enough.

You then claim that everyone else is 'sad, angry or unfulfilled.'

That's a very bold statement about what, by your own admission, is the vast majority of the gay community, who by extension are creating the vast majority of gay 'content'; from bars, to pride, to music and media.

Which is the anti-thesis to the minority (in a minority) identity you move in.

If conservative gays produced anything of comparable value; art, culture, a 'good time', gave the community a 'choice' then I could see your point.

But instead we have either anti-trans or anti-'LGBT' 'pick-mes' ,contrarians, grifters and burnouts. People who want to speak to and appeal to and apologise to straights, conservatives and authority. That's not 'a good time'.

Yes, my outlook and social network is self-selecting (how could it not be?) but I don't concede it's a minority view.  The majority of gay people are not activists.

Gay conservatives are not trying to compete in the same ideological space as gay 'content' creators.  They simply don't see their sexuality as the most important aspect of their identity, and the rest flows naturally.  Unfortunately, I have no idea what many gay men would be if they weren't gay.

So what are gay conservatives complaining about? If they've passively decided to contribute nothing to the net gay culture, and have ceded command of their own destiny to normative culture in supporting leadership and power structures that are heteronormative and hoping for whatever scraps are given for some modicum of freedom, then you have your answer.

When the power structures, from the state, to the society, to family gives nothing, or rescinds it, history shows you end up with closet cases.

Liberal and revolutionary activist gays put in the work for you, so that doesn't remain the state of things.

What gay men would be if they weren't gay...is a gay conservative; passive, inert, detached and judgemental.