U.S.

Why Are More Gay People Voting Republican?

On Tuesday, 31 percent of self-identified gays cast votes for Republicans

By John Hudson
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This article is from the archive of our partner .

According to a CNN exit poll, more self-identified lesbians, gay men and bisexuals voted for Republicans in the midterm election than ever before. Nearly one third of self-identified gay voters pulled the lever for Republicans on Tuesday, a 4 percentage point increase from the same demographic in 2008. In the blogosphere, the results are shaking up perceptions of gay voters among liberals and conservatives:

  • This Should Shatter Some Stereotypes, writes Jonathan Capehart at The Washington Post:

By itself, that number is amazing, especially when you consider that way too many people think being gay and voting Democratic are one in the same. But that percentage is ominous news for a White House viewed with suspicion by many gay men and lesbians, because that's four percentage points higher than the change election of 2008.

  • This Should Wake People Up, says GOProud executive director Jimmy LaSalvia in a statement: “The gay left would have you believe that gay conservatives don’t exist. Now we see that almost a third of self-identified gay voters cast ballots for Republican candidates for Congress in this year’s midterm. This should be a wake-up call for the out-of-touch so-called leadership of Gay Inc. in Washington, D.C., which has become little more than a subsidiary of the Democrat Party."
I’m not happy with the Democrats. I’m upset with what I see as feet-dragging and empty promises and I think we need a new solution to achieve full federal equality. But that does NOT mean the Republicans!

As a whole, Republicans hate us. Let me reemphasize that, the Republican Party hates us. In fact, many of the State Republican Party platforms include provisions stating they want homosexuality criminalized.

Different political ideologies are one thing, you may be a conservative on many issues and that’s ok! But bottom line is economic or military ideologies cannot ever outweigh our civil liberties.

  • Unfortunately, I Don't Think the Gay Leadership Will Pay Attention, writes Bruce Carroll at Gay Patriot: "Will anything change among the Gay Street crowd?  Doubtful.  They are bought & paid for by the Democrats and George Soros-funded organizations."
  • They're Dropping Like Flies, writes Jennifer Rubin at the Jewish neoconservative magazine Commentary: "First the Jews, now the gays. Only Obama could alienate them from the Democratic Party."
  • They Could Be Upset with Obama About Don't Ask, Don't Tell  Yahoo News interviews Hunter college Professor Ken Sherrill who studies gay voting patterns:
Sherrill says there was a disproportionate drop in Democratic support among LGB voters compared to Hispanic, black, and young voters. Though the sample size is still very small and thus there's a large margin of error, Sherrill... says the drop may be attributed to "dissatisfaction with the pace of change on LGB rights over the past two years."
  • The Perception of Obama in the Gay Community Isn't Great, writes the staff at On Top magazine:

Anti-Democratic sentiment has been brewing since President Obama arrived in Washington. While the president has been criticized by anti-gay groups for his support of gay rights, many in the gay community feel pandered to. Obama's commitment to gay rights, especially repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” the law that bans gay and bisexual troops from serving openly, is being openly questioned by gay leaders.

The president recently defended his record. In a rare interview with the gay media conducted just days before the midterm elections, the president reject the notion that he's lukewarm on gay rights...

"I'll be honest with you, I don't think that the disillusionment is justified,” he said.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.