MAGA gays are surprised at negative reactions from their communities to their support of Trump, despite his championing of anti-LGBTQ+ bills.
Several LGBTQ+ MAGA fans spoke to The New York Post about the ostracization they feel from the overall queer community. Anthony Tolve and John McGuigan are two such queer MAGA supporters who marched in NYC’s Pride Parade on June 30 with rainbow Trump flags. Trove described the response from the crowd, saying “There was definitely a lot of hate, a lot of rich white women with children who feel inclined to come up to you and face off with you.”
Tolve gave another example of the backlash he has received for publicly supporting Trump as a gay man, telling The Post, “I was at the beach the other day, and I was booed off the beach; a guy started kicking sand on me.”
Mark Dorman, a retired Hell’s Kitchen teacher, explained that he was essentially blacklisted from his local gay bar after being public with his pro-Trump feelings last summer. He complained to The Post, “It feels like the Soviet Union, Marxist environment now. With the gay community, they feel that Republicans on the far right have an anti-gay thing. Yes, they have a certain religious belief. They have a right to say they don’t like that lifestyle.”
Dorman also opened up about how his pro-Trump politics almost destroyed his marriage. “When Trump won, my husband was so upset he wanted me out of our apartment. The rage was unexplainable—I mean, honest rage. I could not understand this emotion in him and why anyone would let a political vote destroy or nearly destroy a marriage,” he explained. His marriage survived, with the caveat that “we don’t talk politics.”
It’s not surprising that other members of the LGBTQ+ community would have a negative reaction to members of their own community supporting Trump, as he helped pass many anti-LGBTQ+ bills throughout his presidency, and studies showed that LGBTQ+ mental health decreased drastically throughout Trump’s presidency.
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