There are some things that In My Opinion just don’t pair well together.
The first thing that springs to my mind is pineapple on pizza. When I was 16, I was hired on at a pizza buffet restaurant (my first job). One of the more popular pizzas was a simple ham and pineapple pizza (some places call this a Hawaiian Pizza). Nope. None for me then. None for me now. I’m not interested in shaming anyone for their food choices. All I have to say is that I find pineapple to be deeply unappealing in smell, taste, and texture…and I like pizza. So I’m not going to marry the two of them, bc to me, that’s not a marriage made in heaven.
Another thing I’ve found I don’t like together–water, juice, or soda with dessert. Now, I’m a finicky person when it comes to desserts. I like ’em simple. I don’t eat creme brulee, hate pies (yes, I’ve heard all the jokes on that one) and cobblers, and the texture of cheesecake just does not work for me at all. I like cakes, brownies, and cookies (the occasional bread pudding is ok, but the portion size on most I’ve seen is ginormous and the sweetness level is often off the charts). These are my go-to desserts. But I can only drink them with milk. I mean, not literally. If I need something to drink, and there’s no milk, I’ll drink water or juice. Anything other than milk though, just doesn’t taste right.
There are some pairings that not only seem like a horrible fit on paper, but just make me shake my head in profound befuddlement. I’m speaking here of LGBT Republicans. That should be an oxymoron. You’d think they wouldn’t exist, right? After all, the Republican Party has, for decades, opposed efforts to improve the quality of life for QUILTBAG folks. They fought tooth and nail to prevent same-sex marriage from being legalized. They’ve supported so-called conversion therapy, which is a fancy way of saying “torturing kids into being not gay”. They’ve continually made the reality challenged assertions that gay people cannot be parents and held that children raised by gay people are at a disadvantage (in point of fact, aside from individual physiological issues, we can indeed have children and study after study has found children of same-sex couples are not at a disadvantage). Though much of the harsh rhetoric from the GOP about QUILTBAG folks has become muted over the years, there are still Republicans who make comparisons between gay people and pedophiles (as if there’s a connection between sexuality and pedophilia). Then there are the bathroom bills that states across the nation have considered in the last few years. 16 states have considered such legislation and 15 states have bills pending in legislature. These bills would restrict access to multi-user sex-segregated facilities on the basis of gender as determined at birth. Supporters argue legal protections are needed to prevent predatorial men from wearing women’s clothing and assaulting or molesting girls and women in bathrooms. Such bills are an incredible insult to transgender women. They are not predators. They are women who were assigned the incorrect gender at birth. They are using the bathrooms for the same reason cis women use restrooms. Additionally, there are already laws on the books that criminalize molestation and assault, making these bathroom bills all about one thing: discriminating against transgender women and men.
And all of that? ↑ ↑
Barely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the disdain, contempt, and outright hate that the Republican Party has exhibited towards queer people over the last few decades. From discriminatory bathroom bills to preventing gay people from adopting children, the Republican Party has long been among the loudest opponents of queer rights. So yeah, it’s somewhat confounding to me that transgender, lesbian, gay, or bisexual Republicans exist.
On an intellectual level, I know they do. I accept that human brains being what they are, indoctrination into political parties occurring the way it does (often at a young age, in a similar way to indoctrination into religion–i.e. before we develop strong critical thinking skills), and who knows how many cognitive biases and shortcuts converge in queer Republicans. Emotionally, however, it not only boggles my mind, it’s downright insulting. I find insult in the fact that these people are donating time, money, energy, and other resources into aiding a political party that wants to [at best] keep queers as second class citizens. They don’t want us to have rights like being able to marry, adopt kids, own property, or be free from discrimination in public institutions. They don’t want us in scouting organizations or in positions of religious power. They don’t want to see us doing something as innocuous as holding hands in public. In fact, they don’t need to literally say it for it to be true: the Republican Party does not want us to exist.
That fact is lost upon the Gays For Trump, a group of whiny assholes who are mad that Charlotte Pride has denied them entry into the Pride Parade:
Continue reading “Whiny gay Republican is mad he can’t be in Pride Parade”
