The Modern Homosexual Advocate

The Mouth of Sauron

Chad Felix Greene
The Federalist

LGBT advocacy today comes from a place of rage and hatred. It is a movement of obnoxious lecturing, intimidation, bullying, and bitter rage that does little more than validate prejudices.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims is best known for responding to a visit from Vice President Mike Pence to his city by raising his middle finger and saying, “To be clear, we’re a City of soaring diversity…So keep that in mind while you’re here raising money to attack more families, spread more lies, blaspheme with your bible, and maybe even talk to a woman without your wife in the room.” He ended his post declaring, “So…get bent, then get out!”

LGBT media cheered on the display of “resistance” during gay pride month. Then, just a few days ago, Sims filmed himself berating an elderly woman who stood in front of Philadelphia’s Planned Parenthood quietly praying. In a tweet posting his video he said, “Push back against Planned Parenthood protestors, PLEASE! They prey on young women, they use white privilege, & shame. They’re racist, classist, bigots who NEED & DESERVE our righteous opposition. Push back, please! #YouAreStrongEnough.”


He then began recording the woman while asking his followers to donate $100 to Planned Parenthood for every hour she stood praying. He approached her and asked, “How many children have you clothed today? How many shoes have you put on children today? How many have you fed? Or have you spent all day standing outside Planned Parenthood shaming people for what they have a constitutional right to do?” The woman ignored him and continued praying.

For nine minutes Sims berated the woman with growing aggressiveness, calling her a “racist,” “disgusting,” and referring to her as an “old white lady” who is telling people what they can do with their bodies. As of this writing, the video has nearly 600,000 views. . . . .


What does it mean to be an LGBT rights advocate today? From what we see most often, it appears to require a great deal of anger, hostility, and self-righteous intolerance. This is not merely a biased opinion of political opponents, it just seems to be the way the left chooses to promote LGBT people in media.

It also appears to be a narrow generational mentality in current LGBT leadership. Last-generation LGBT advocates like Ellen DeGeneres and RuPaul embraced society’s curiosity and discomfort. They used humor, empathy, and personality to allow the broader population to wade in gently and get a good look around at what gay mainstream culture had to offer. Instead, today’s LGBT leaders are harsh, full of rage and indignation, and eager to start a fight and demonize their opponents.

LGBT advocacy today comes from a place of rage and hatred. It is built on the assumption that to achieve equality, advocates must break through the doors, intimidate the naysayers, and take over the loudspeakers. It is a movement of obnoxious lecturing, silencing, intimidation, bullying, and bitter rage that does little more than validate their prejudices.

It is undermining, with dynamite, the foundation Ellen and RuPaul built carefully just a few decades ago, and it is creating animosity in otherwise polite people. No one should praise an adult man for harassing an elderly woman or attempting to publicly humiliate and intimidate several women peacefully praying on the sidewalk, no matter how passionately he opposes their beliefs.

More importantly, our elected leaders should be held to a higher standard and should not harass citizens practicing their civil rights. If Sims’s driving goal is empathy, he needs to genuinely address his own deeply held bigotry and speak to those he disagrees with, not shout at and shame them on camera. If LGBT people want to keep the social acceptance they’ve fought so long for, they need to stop promoting such hateful voices as their leaders as well.

Chad Felix Greene is a senior contributor to The Federalist. He is the author of the "Reasonably Gay: Essays and Arguments" series and is a social writer focusing on truth in media, conservative ideas and goals, and true equality under the law. You can follow him on Twitter @chadfelixg.