Fake friends and paper allies.
Why the LGBTQIA+ community NEEDS to re-examine our relationship with the left and the Democrat party (Yeah, I’m going to be using that from now on).
I’ve been reticent to write this. I really have. But a pot can only boil so far until there’s nothing on the fire but bare metal. For the past few MONTHS, I and MANY other Pete Buttigieg supporters have endured abuse and betrayal by supposed allies. I never walked into this election season expecting Pete to be universally supported. I knew this would be a fight. But I did fucking expect him to be respected just as any other candidate would be. I CERTAINLY didn’t expect the blatant homophobia from who I see it from. It started small and in real life when a friend asked me who I’m supporting for 2020. I said Pete Buttigieg. Her reply was, without missing a heartbeat: “But who do you really think will win?”. I tried to pay it no mind. I figure there was nothing malicious behind it. She’s anything but a Trumper. But this should’ve been an indicator of things to come.
Later, a progressive radio host who I won’t name would repeatedly say things like it was demeaning and sexist to think of any of the female candidates as potential VPs’. They’re fully capable of winning the presidency. Furthermore, it’s racist to think of Kamala Harris as a potential VP for the same reason. That they have just as much of a chance as anyone. I STRONGLY AGREE WITH ALL OF THIS. But out of the other side of her mouth she’ll quickly talk about Pete being a VP candidate. Fine, I’m not going to get angry. Besides, it’s not worth my time to call in and ask her why the double standard. Besides, when someone proves they have an ax to grind, they’ve proven they aren’t credible enough to challenge. Especially since most liberal talk show host will complain that Pete is getting all the coverage when that’s not the case. 538 does a great job of tracking this regularly. So if someone says that, know they just want their candidate to have all the attention. Fairness has nothing to do with it. They more than likely can’t admit to themselves that in the town halls and in 1 on 1 interviews, Pete gets the harder questions. The latest example is Pete’s interview with Rachael Maddow a few months ago compared to Kamala Harris’ interview earlier this week.
I somehow forgot that what people say offline, PAILS in comparison to what they’ll say when they can hide behind a keyboard. I’ve been called a white supremacist for supporting Pete. Find me on twitter @foxmental_x if you’re not already following me. You tell me if I look like I can be the Grand-Dragon at a Klan rally. It gets funnier when I’m told I need to check my white privilage. Never mind the silly season of election years. Identity politics at its most logical conclusion comes into play. Most of my friends in the LGBTQIA+ community online and in real life that support Pete are regularly told things along the lines of “we’re voting with our anus and that he needs to get in line”. Yeah, that happens A LOT. And it’s not coming from Trumpers, Republicans or even conservatives. It’s from democrats & liberals. Some have already staked out a candidate. To which, fine. That’s what primaries are for. Falling in love with a candidate. What’s important is that we fall in line during the general.
But there’s a pervasive NASTYNESS to some people online. You can say what you like when the person or people that you offend aren’t right in your face. You tend to act differently when the person can put their fist through your nose. For instance, I doubt that the usual dig of calling Pete “Mayo Pete” wouldn’t fly from their mouths if they were in mixed company & they cared about their teeth. I’m not going to re-hash why that’s insulting as I’ve already written about the ridiculousness of the oppression Olympics & queer erasure. I’ll just put it this way. I don’t call Senator Warren, Elizabeth Whitewash. Because boiling her down to just another heterosexual white person would be insulting & disrespectful, wouldn’t it? But somehow, this is alright when the subject is gay. Because you can ALWAYS rip away minority status from an LGBT+ person, RIGHT? On the totem pole of classes in society, we are where the dog lifts its legs.
What I REALLY didn’t expect is the hate from other LGBT+ people. I don’t expect every member of my community or even all gay/bi/queer men to support Pete. What I didn’t expect is the bile. Especially from liberal, counterculture trolls that readily throw around the term “Hetero-normative” when they want to explain why they hate Pete. Right behind “neoliberal” and “moderate/third way”. I’m not rehashing all that again. Notice, not to many links so far. Aside from saying that after listening to them, I gather that they think gay men were better off 20 years ago culturally and politically. I’m not giving them much time here. What I am going to give a little time to is The New Republic and their “Mary Pete” article.
I’m not going to apply Madeline Albrights 2006 “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” quote and try to apply it to gay/bi/queer men. Because we’re not a monolith and frankly Madeleine Albright caught shit for saying this in 2015 while supporting Hillary Clinton for president. I will say that if there’s a hell, I hope Dale Peck rots in the deepest, hottest pit of it after dying old, miserable & alone. I still don’t know what makes me angrier; the fact that he wrote this disgusting, hate filled, bizarre pile of excrement. Or is it that New Republic PUBLISHED IT. After a SUBSTANTIAL series of complaints, they pulled the piece after over 10 hours. Here’s the archive of it if you can stomach to read it. Here’s what’s in its place. But here’s the thing that bothers me.
If this was an article where the author said Kamala Harris wasn’t black enough (There are. But not from reputable news outlets.). Would that author or editor still have their job? If this screed was directed at someone that is jewish and used antisemitic language. If this volcano of bile was directed at an person of color and racist language was used. If it was directed at a woman and misogynistic language was used. The list goes on. Would that author and editor keep their jobs? Would the story go uncovered by the main stream media like CNN, MSNBC & Fox News? The author & editor would be fired and this would be a story for at least a 24 hour cycle. But as LGBT people we settle for less. In a decent society, The New Republic would do an apology piece to Mayor Pete & Chasten Buttigieg along with their readers. They’d lay out HOW “Mary Pete” even got published and the author of that piece & all the people that didn’t stop it from being published and kept it up for OVER 10 hours would be fired. At nearly 40 years old, I’ve NEVER IN MY LIFE DEMANDED SOMEONE BE FIRED. The occasion calls for this.
This piece written by a supposed progressive publication was another slap in the face. A cold reminder that we really shouldn’t trust liberals, progressive publications or the democrat party. You may not be there with me but let me remind you of something. Remember when Obama was just a back bencher? He was pro-marriage equality. When he was running for president, marriage was between a man and a woman because “god was in the mix” (I heard him say that at that town hall and I threw a shoe at my TV). He became pro-marriage equality when the polls were above 50% for it and there was no legal ground to defend DOMA. That should tell you that when it’s politically convenient, we can be tossed under the bus.
I’m not saying this is something we should invest in for 2020. There’s NOTHING more important than getting rid of Trump in 2020. Tossing Donald trump out of the White House on November 3’rd, 2020 is ABSOLUTELY PARAMOUNT. But I think starting on November 4, 2020 we REALLY need to look into building up a viable 3rd party. Because if our only option to fighting anti-lgbt+ republicans is the democrat party, then we’re BEGGING to be taken for granted. Because if you listen to around social media. I can’t help but feel the question isn’t if Pete will win or lose. It’s how he might get railroaded & robbed. And even if you don’t factor that in, there’s nothing wrong with competition or for that matter options.
Building a viable 3rd party if we do this, won’t be easy. We have a monopoly disguised as a duopoly for a reason. For the same reason for years, America only had 3 car companies. Because the Democrat party and the GOP play dirty and they play for keeps. But trying to get a gay man elected president isn’t easy either. A fight as far as I’m concerned is a fight. This year’s battle is mainly against Trump. But after election day next year, we need to get ready to wage a battle for democracy itself. Frankly when I think about, I like the odds of doing it. Because the number 1 political party as far as registered voters is the democrat party. Number 3 is the republican party. Number 2 is independents. Americans want options. At the very least, the people & party that call themselves our friends and allies will stop treating us like props to virtue signal with.
