NOVEMBER 29, 2018 BY ARCH KENNEDY
I had two coming outs. One was telling my family I was gay and the second was for being a conservative and more specifically a Trump supporter. Which one was harder? The latter for sure. I am 48 years old and I came 0ut as gay pretty early to my family at around 24. It was not easy, let me tell you! But over years, they realized I could not change my attraction and their hearts changed and acceptance ensued. Many years later in my thirties, I gained a deep interest in politics. Not sure why. Maybe age? Anyway, about a little over 3 years ago when gay marriage was established by a ruling in the Supreme Court in all 50 states, I could not resist. I had to express my opinion on the ruling on social media. I was tired of keeping my mouth shut while everyone else spouted off.
This had been building up for a long time at this point. I had been reading everyone else’s opinions every day and just could not be silent in any longer. I had remained silent for so many years in the liberal gay community. I truly believe about 80% of the gay community is highly liberal.
So I finally spoke out. I expressed that while I was happy for my gay brothers and sisters to be able to express their love legally, I disagreed with the process in which it was accomplished. I believe that gay marriage should have been accomplished by a bill through Congress, not by 7 Justices who are supposed to “interpret” law, not “create” it.
Well, you would have thought I had murdered every gay person’s mother. The hate started flowing in from gay acquaintances to good friends. I was flabbergasted. I found it ironic that the very people who were preaching “tolerance” were anything but. My eyes were opened wide 3 years ago, and frankly, I think the liberal gay community created a monster in me. This “intolerance” only fueled me to speak out more and I must admit I was quite hostile for a while. I have grown in my activism since.
Another irony is that most of my support has been from my straight Christian friends.
We are living in an interesting time. I am still not quite sure where the intense hate for Donald Trump comes from. I attribute it mainly to the fact that we have 24-hour news bombarding us with propaganda and social media which gives everyone a voice and contributes to the anxiety incessantly.
I defy any Trump hater to give me an example of how Trump is going to set gays back and take away our “rights”. I am afforded every “right” I need in the Constitution. We now have Ric Grenell as ambassador to Germany. Ric is the highest-ranking openly gay official of any presidency. That doesn’t sound like a President that intends to set back gay rights to me. The truth of the matter is that Trump doesn’t care if you are gay or straight. He wants the BEST for the job. He is a winner. Trump wants WINNERS. I believe this is the truth with most conservatives in general today. The vast majority of conservatives today do not care what you do in your bedroom. They care about our country and preserving what our Founding Fathers designed that has made us the best country in the world. Conservatives care about FREEDOM.
I am planning on writing a book in 2019 about my journey. It will be quite a task as I have never written a book before, but I am so tired of the identity politics game that Democrats play every day and I want to shed some light on it. You don’t have to be a Democrat if you are Black, gay, or a woman. Those days are over. My hope is that minorities will see that Democrat policy is not helping any of us and move in a direction of supporting a policy that helps ALL AMERICANS.
Beautifully written article, Arch. I agree with you 100%! You will have no problem writing your book! Just write from your heart. Like you did this! Blessings!
“I truly believe about 80% of the gay community is highly liberal”
My Brother is a militant liberal Gay. in his HS and Univ years he was something like an Alex P. Keaton, although he was a members of the Young Republican club and he hadn’t come out till much later – but his politics changed when he moved to D.C.. From a conservative stance to full-blown lefty.. I have no issue with my Brother being gay, I do however, have issues with his politics.
God Bless
Great article! I couldn’t agree more about President Trump! I was not a fan of Mr Trump while he ran and about 1.5 years after he became president. I’ve always been conservative and I never bashed him like some do by any means, I just didnt feel he was of a presidential caliber. Until one day I actually sat down and started looking at the things he said and did. I was stupefied, I was blankly staring at a phone screen when I had the realization… I was a Trymp fan, and hes only gotten better as time goes on!
Great article and great news, Arch..
I love reading your articles. You are always on point. Can’t wait to read your book. Much love.
It has been my observation that gay people, as a whole, are among the easiest manipulated people on Earth. I suspect this has been born out of fear of not fitting in with the general populace. When confronted with facts, like any other liberal, they become highly emotional and resort to personal attacks. Parroting liber rhetoric is easier than thinking for oneself. I’ve actually been told I was not sane enough to be gay even though I’ve been in a gay relationship for almost30 years! That is only one example of the liberal gay logic.
I want an autographed copy with those song lyrics you sang in the studio . Love you man
Arch, that was by far the most positive thing I have read in ……. I don’t know when!
I am sure you will write that book and I will but it. I know the ugly that’s been shot at you through social media and it’s teally ashamed that friendships for some are based on race, gender and sexual preference. I love you and support you in all that you do. Your smart and in my Opinion I’d rather have your friendship than about 70% of the people I know. Stay true, don’t stop, keep posting and start writing! Mote people love you than you know!
What a wonderful article! You have such a great writing style. Everything flows right from your heart right onto the “paper”. And your observations about politics and the Gay Community are always so spot-on and (unfortunately for many of us) so familiar.
I’m excited about you writing a book. I can’t wait to be one of the first i line for a signed first edition. Best wishes. You have a lot of us standing with you.