General News Trump Proclaims 1/16/18 Religious Freedom Day

I have always known this about the Republicans and the radical right. They hate (or pretend to hate, in Trump's case; he doesn't have any real values) LGBTQ people. We should never vote for them.

 

That is completely not true. The reason people think that is double sided propaganda that benefits both parties. Democrats use it to steal Republican voters who are ok with LGBT stuff, and Republicans use it to steal "old south" Democratic voters who never actually changed parties like most did and dislike LGBT stuff.

I'm originally from an extremely hardcore liberal area where the majority of the population weren't even born in the United States. I currently live near the edge of the deep south, where nearly everyone are hardcore religious Republicans. I've actually found that the liberal areas simply lie about supporting LGBT stuff in public, but if/when it actually affects their life personally a lot of them suddenly hate it and want nothing to do with it.

Here are some real examples from my life which are pretty typical of what I've seen:

Friend/roommate: very religious Republican, does not hate anyone for any reason and when I specifically asked him what he thought about gay marriage, his reply was "all love is beautiful."

Me: Atheist Republican, never had any issues with LGBT people whatsoever (and later discovered I am one...so that worked out well).

My math professor: religious Republican in a family of all religious Republicans. One of her sons is FtM transgender (and it's really obvious). I was invited to their Thanksgiving, and not a single person out of the 15ish religious Republicans treated the transgender guy badly in any way.

My philosophy/humanities professor: Republican, who has a degree in religion, plus taught Christian Sunday school for 20 years, and is the founder of the university LGBT club despite being straight.

Classmate: religious Republican and former Marine Corps Sergeant. He noticed a gay guy getting bullied by drunk people outside a bar on New Years while I was with him, so he physically placed himself between them to protect the very obviously gay guy, and nearly got jumped for it but didn't move an inch until the gay guy was safe.

You still think Republicans all hate LGBT people? I have about 15 more examples if so...

Ok, yeah, this part is pretty true

 

Niagara, the political party you support is anti LGBT plain and simple and denying that is pretty ridiculous.

 

The problem isn't the voters, it's the politicians. Yeah, sure, there are plenty of republican VOTERS who don't hate lgbt folks (and I know several of them) but can you honestly say that Roy Moore, Mike P
ence, ("hoosiers don't believe in discrimination") et al don't hate the lgbt population? Yes, a few of the republican politicians don't hate us either, but they are a minority among them. I don't have a problem with the views of most republican voters, other than that I disagree with them. Rather, I have a problem with the politicians they choose to vote for to express those views. In your case, I would strongly suggest trying to find a more centrist politician who has not expressed anti-lgbt views but also aligns more with your deregulation of business and/or small government views. Or, if you happen to be able to vote for one of the minority mentioned above, good for you.

 

I'm not denying that the party as a whole is against it, it's literally written in the Republican platform that their official stance is anti-gay marriage with no exceptions. I was interpreting her post to mean that all actual Republican voters hate gay people, I didn't realize she was talking about the party itself. My bad on that, I misinterpreted it.

Either way though, maybe it's because I'm new to this whole LGBT community stuff still, but I see other things as more pressing/important in politics which is why I'm not bothered much by supporting an anti-LGBT party. LGBT people are what, like 5% of the population? Even knowing I am one now, it's not a pressing concern when other political things affect 100% of the population instead of just 5%. I don't see politics at an individual level, I'd vote against my own interests anytime as long as it helped the country as a whole. If that means voting for someone who has good ideas but also hates me for liking guys, so be it.

Roy Moore and Pence are certainly anti-LGBT, no question about that.

I'd much rather vote for centrist/third party type candidates honestly, but Florida does everything it can to make it impossible to not pick a side. Since it's a closed primary state, they won't let you vote in the primaries at all, for anyone, unless you are officially either Democrat or Republican... so both parties tend to only put forth hardcore left or hardcore right candidates to appeal to their bases, with no centrists available. Plus it forces voters to pick a side one way or another just to be allowed to vote, which kills off all chances of a third party candidate actually winning anything. I definitely try to go for the less anti-LGBT people when possible like you mentioned though.

 

I perfectly understand that point of view. You will not find a political party that espouses a view that you agree with 100%. You just have to weigh the pros and cons and make an informed decision.

 

See guys? This is what political discussion should be: polite and civilized, not the shouting over each other that is so common these days.

 

We already have religious freedom. It's stupid how religious people are trying to claim we don't because they can't impose their religions on others in schools and stuff.
However, I think people should be allowed to run privately-owned businesses almost however they want.

Btw sure the majority of republicans are anti-gay marriage and it's the official stance but that definitely does not apply to every republican. There are certainly a lot of republicans that are pro-gay marriage and pro-LGBT rights.