The other day, a tea-partyesque acquaintance of mine used the following video to support their argument that the GOP and therefore Trump were pro-LGBT:
The video comes across as a little contrived; it’s honestly hard to tell if the fellow is a bad actor doing a sort of “False Fag Operation”, or just an inarticulate twit doing his first YouTube video. But the clip got me curious: is this “a thing”? That is to say, are there actually significant numbers of LGBT people who support Trump? Given that there is always a fair amount of Astroturfing in an election period, and that there are tons of spin pieces like After the Pulse Club Massacre, It’s Time for Gays to Come Home to Republican Party intended to lure “the LGBT vote” into the GOP fold, it’s worth taking a little time to question the veracity and authenticity of these web presences. This is by no means a comprehensive roundup, but here a few things we found.
Gay as Hell Trump Supporter
At first glance, this appears to be a video of nothing more than a guy carrying a sign that says “Gays for Trump”. But at the end, he makes a much clearer statement. We’ll take his word for it.
Prominent Flip-Flopper
Apparently Chris Barron, the former president of the now-defunct gay conservative group GOProud, likes it both ways. This CNN piece goes into the details.
Phoenix LBGT Pulls Trump Card
As in the video at the top, it was the Orlanda club shooting that flipped the stance of Phoenix LGBT. It’s probably worth noting that this account was created June 12, so may also be a form of astroturfing.
Gays With Guns For Trump
We’ll leave it to you to decide the sincerity of the gun-toting Gays for Trump …
Voices of Varying Reason
It’s a lot easier to accept the authenticity of an online presence if the presenter(s) comfortably include their full names, and didn’t create their account yesterday. These two videos fit that bill. In the first, Matte Baume asks “Is Donald Trump a Friend to ‘The Gays’?”, and in the second, Kyle Kittleson confronts his shame and “outs” himself. Not as a gay person, but as a Trump supporter.
Matte Baume: Is Donald Trump a Friend to ‘The Gays’?
Kyle Kittleson Comes Out
