New York City Pride happened last week, and New Yorkers had plenty to celebrate. But the thing about New York (and any large city, honestly) is that it’s full of characters, some of whom are walking oxymorons committed to signing away their own rights. Which is exactly how you get a MAGA-aligned Pride celebration happening right outside of Tr*mp Tower.
Pretty mind boggling! But again, it takes all kinds. And fortunately for those of us who find our curiosity sickly piqued at the idea of what these MAGA gays could possibly talk about at this thing, two intrepid reporters went to find out.
Politics, but make it gay!
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Gay journalist Walter Masterson and trans youth activist Lorelai Crean went to the gay MAGA festival and what they found was, you know, depressing. “If I sound confused,” Masterson opens the video, “that’s because I am.”
Girl, you’re speaking for all of us. As Masterson and Crean start to interview MAGA gays, it becomes painfully clear that all these people have one thing in common: they don’t seem to know, or believe, that their human rights are at stake.
Take one interviewee who somehow didn’t know that Tr*mp’s gutting of HIV/AIDS funding has caused a global crisis during his second term. “I don’t think any of that’s true,” says the MAGA gay after being told that workplace protections and HIV funding are under direct attack. When Masterson instantly fact checks his statements before this man’s very eyes, he still tries to call it fake news.
“During his first administration, he was actually on a mission to eradicate HIV here in the United States,” says the MAGA gay. But he’s in for a rude awakening, because we can’t count on Tr*mp to stay consistent with his day to day claims and promises, much less initiatives he tried to start 10 years ago.
“They’re talking points,” this man says in re: the cold hard facts of Tr*mp’s war on LGBTQ+ people. “But they’re rarely ever actually true…it’s usually a piece of data that’s been flipped and reversed and inverted to sound like it means something that it doesn’t actually mean.”
The conversation then turns to trans rights. “What rights to trans people not have,” he asks. After being told by Crean that trans youth have been refused life-saving medical care by hospitals even in the relatively trans-friendly blue haven of New York City, we get a tirade of TERF talking points about how it’s a “big debate” right now whether or not trans kids should have access to puberty blockers.
As you can probably imagine, trans people in the comments—such as model Arisce Wanzer and actress Laverne Cox—were not thrilled, and definitely not surprised. “Omg wake up, Mary,” wrote trans actress and activist Plastic Martyr. “I want to say a slur,” commented gay reporter Here’s Why Kevin.
Masterson and Crean interview other MAGA gays who have similarly insane things to say about why they’re supporting a man who actively hates them. But the gag here is that the interviewee who has the most to say is none other than Brandon Straka, who started the #WalkAway Foundation for right-wing LGBTQ+ MAGA supporters. He was also one of the J6 insurrectionists arrested for his attack on the Capitol.
As Masterson points out, in the past, LGBTQ+ Republicans were usually of the Log Cabin variety, meaning they were voting Republican in the interest of tax cuts. This new MAGA strain, however, is different. They’re either in denial about their rights being taken away, or they think that they’ll be the exception. Except we know exactly how that story ends, and it’s not a happy ending for anyone.
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