I’ve never understood the sort of person who would willingly vote for a party or a candidate that upholds policies that directly conflict with the voter’s best interest. It makes no sense. Why would you endorse and back someone who is going to vote against measures that would make your life better? Why would a low-income earner actually fight for the repeal of Obamacare? Why would minorities vote for hard-right goons who want to have them deported and treated like criminals? And, most obviously, why would gays endorse a candidate who is interested in preventing them from gaining rights they deserve? It would be like southern blacks voting for Jim Crow laws. It’s insane.
Dan Savage, perennial (not to be confused with perineal) favorite of mine, got into an online dust-up with a group called GOProud, who Savage describes as a “hard-right gay Republican organization—a rightwing front group that exists to pinkwash the GOP”, after they officially endorsed Mitt Romney for president. He tweeted:
The GOP's house faggots grab their ankles, right on cue: http://t.co/sOTyFprJ. Pathetic.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) June 20, 2012
Zing! Of course, Savage didn’t leave it there. Instead he expounded on his tweet in his column Savage Love.
Anyway, mixing it up with GOProud last week got me thinking about why a gay man would endorse—much less “commit significant resources” to help elect—a man who has pledged, if elected, to do as much harm as he possibly can to gay people. I mean, what kind of faggot supports a politician who would do him harm?
Oh, right: the same kind of faggot who would harm himself with drugs or alcohol or sex. The kind of gay men who don’t like themselves or other gay people much. But while most self-loathing, self-destructive gay men are content to abuse booze, drugs, or dick, the self-hating GOProud boys abuse themselves with politics. And just like gay meth addicts who aren’t satisfied harming only themselves, the boys at GOProud aren’t satisfied harming only themselves. They want to harm other gay people—they want to harm all gay people—by getting Mitt Romney elected. And just like your meth-addicted friend who pushed the drug on you, or your drunk friend who mocked you for stopping at four, or your sexually out-of-control friend who insisted that you were a prude if you didn’t play the come dump with him down at the bathhouse, the GOProud boys want you to abuse yourself the same way that they’re abusing themselves. They want you to vote for Mitt Romney for the same reason your meth-addicted pal wanted you to use that stupid drug.
Because they’re damaged.
The article is worth reading. In fact, the article he linked in his tweet is worth reading too. Get ready to be appalled at the willful ignorance displayed by the GOProuders.
Good for Dan Savage. He’s totally correct and I am glad he had the balls to stand up for himself and what he thinks is just in this situation, even after Chris Barron of GOProud got in his (virtual) face about it. It is encouraging to see someone so vocally, so publicly, stand up against the fools trying to prevent people who are different than they are from living their lives to the fullest. He should be an inspiration to those marginalized everywhere to fight to be taken seriously.
