November 2, 2024

JD Vance and the concept of "the normal gay guy."

Perhaps you've heard this part of the Joe Rogan podcast with JD Vance:
Vance: I think that frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if me and Trump won just the normal gay guy vote. Because again, they just wanted to be left the hell alone. And now you have all this crazy stuff on top of it that they're like, no, no, no, no, we didn't. We didn't want to give pharmaceutical products to nine year olds who are transitioning their genders. We just wanted to be left the hell alone.

Rogan: Well, a lot of gay guys feel like the whole movement is homophobic. Which is ironic. 'cause they think there's, they think that there's, people think there's something wrong with being gay. So what you really are is a girl. And they think that a lot of this is being given, these thoughts are being given to gay kids. These kids will just grow up to be gay men. And instead you're getting them to convert their gender.

Vance: It's pharmaceutical conversion therapy. Right?

When you're actually being persecuted, your reaction is: Leave me alone. But that doesn't make you a permanent libertarian, stuck in the position of just wanting to be left alone. Once the persecution and formal discrimination stops, you might be satisfied and want nothing more for your group and adopt a libertarian philosophy going forward, but that doesn't make you any more "normal" than the other members of your group who think that having come this far, they want something more. They go in a left-wing direction.

I'd say it's "normal" for a "gay guy" to find his way right, left, or center, like anyone else. JD Vance may be accurate in saying "they just wanted to be left the hell alone" — speaking in the past tense — but that doesn't mean that now, as he seeks their vote, they still want nothing more than to be left alone. But it's a separate question what the "normal gay guy" wants if he wants more than only to be left alone. Some do, some don't.

But Vance is making an additional argument: the "normal gay guy" would not embrace the transgender ideology because it the equivalent of conversion therapy. Even a "gay guy" who wants more than just to be left alone might agree with that, though I suspect that he would find it socially very hard to say that out loud these days.

Scrolling through TikTok yesterday, I saw a trend of men who said they were gay and agreed with Vance, and I wanted to collect a few of these here:

@shawnontheright

Will Trump & Vance win the gay vote?

♬ original sound - ShawnOnTheRight

@itslinklauren JD Vance sat down with Joe Rogan for an in-depth conversation. They discussed LGBT issues which the mainstream media is now focusing on. Kamala Harris has not appeared on Joe Rogan yet. It’s unclear whether she will or not. #uspolitics #politicstiktok #politicaltiktok #foxnews #cnnnews #jdvance #joerogan #donaldtrump #kamalaharris #lgbt ♬ original sound - Link Lauren

@alex.ghaderi Replying to @tria Diaz ♬ original sound - Alex Ghaderi

@_ajtsanchez

“They just wanted to be left alone”.. exactly! 🏳️‍πŸŒˆπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ

♬ original sound - AJ

46 comments:

Ralph L said...

Me and Trump!

Ann Althouse said...

Vance used "me" as the subject of a sentence more than that one time.

Ann Althouse said...

53 minutes in: "So one of the big things that me and President Trump confront all the time is the accusation that we're somehow like in bed with Russia, which is like the, the dumbest thing in the world to me."

rehajm said...

Isn’t it deliberate violation? Maybe nails on the chalkboard to the grammar police but it sounds more Yale than hillbilly…

Money Manger said...

Great interview, better than Trump's. You know the Harris team parsed every second of it to find a clip to get the base and elite media outraged about. Fortunately Vance is too smart (listen to how he danced back "stupid" Emily in Paris).
We've had several very normal gay professional couples buy seven-figure houses in the neighborhood in the past few years. Really great guys; dedicated to voting Harris.

Ralph L said...

I'd like to point out it was North Carolina's HB2 (the Bathroom Bill) that put obnoxious trans politics on the national stage and lost the governor who signed it re-election in 2016 (Trump won NC). NCAA Women's sports bodies ignored the privacy and protection of their athletes and came out against it, as did many corporations, who cost the state ~$0.5B.

Ralph L said...

It's the reverse of the "between you and I" people who believe it makes them sound more intelligent.

Ann Althouse said...

I put up a new post on the grammar topic so please take the grammar discussion there.

Rocco said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Let's put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her said...

JD Vance thinks all "normal gay guys" are closet cases like him.

Let's put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her said...

I don’t share this to shame those who do drag, but rather to shame those who attack drag while having a history of enjoying the art form themselves. πŸ‘ 

Matt Walsh, Who Calls Drag Queens “Groomers,” Thinks It’s Totally Chill for J.D. Vance to Wear Skirts
https://www.them.us/story/matt-walsh-jd-vance-drag-photos-trump-vp-pick-defense

rehajm said...

I’ve heard gay guys do ten minutes on the normal gay guy. Like there’s the equivalent of yellow/red cards awarded for acting too gay in public. Bonus points for a straight guy friend. Who knew?

Let's put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her said...

Who says blondes don't have more fun?

Check: Yes, Photos Do Show JD Vance Wearing Dress and Blonde Wig While at Yale Law School
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-yes-photos-show-165100903.html

rehajm said...

They’re talking about not making mistakes with young undeveloped minds, protecting children from harm. The kind stuff we never questioned before the revolution started…

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

There's supposedly a category of men who are sexually attracted to men, have sex with men, but they're not homosexual. Until I can understand that, I've no business trying to understand the claim that a man is a woman because he feels like a woman, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

Gunner said...

This is like saying every guy on Saturday Night Live is a drag queen because they played a woman once.

Let's put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her said...

That must be when JD discovered guyliner/eyeliner.

Ann Althouse said...

"Check: Yes, Photos Do Show JD Vance Wearing Dress and Blonde Wig While at Yale Law School"

Ivy League guys dressed as women is a big tradition, isn't it?

"Male students in drag, Yale university 1883" — https://www.reddit.com/r/lgbt/comments/11ttl44/male_students_in_drag_yale_university_1883/

Ann Althouse said...

One of my favorite TikTokers is an openly gay man who is marrying a woman (because she's the love of his life)

Ann Althouse said...

You're allowed to marry someone you're not sexually attracted to. Heterosexual people do it all the time. The question is whether you and your chosen one understand what you are doing.

Ralph L said...

I believe we now require Meade's thoughts on this.

Achilles said...

Rich is just a vicious bigot. The masks on these people have been slipping for a while.

Leland said...

I think Meade understood exactly what he was agreeing to do.

Achilles said...

Is the purpose to have children? Or do they just enjoy being a pair bonded couple?

Bob B said...

Is Vance referring to Elon Musk? Ted Walz just referred to Musk as “that gay guy.” (Is it even possible for Walz to be more weird?)

Achilles said...

The homophobic freak flag flies.

Watch Rich use anything he can to attack and sting his political opponents. This is what it looks like when your entire political ideology revolves around hatred of the other and power over other people.

Birches said...

Ann Althouse said...
One of my favorite TikTokers is an openly gay man who is marrying a woman (because she's the love of his life)


I need to hear more about this. What was old has become new again.

Shouting Thomas said...

The gay men persecution story is a bullshit propaganda myth. Gay men died by the tens of thousands in the late 20th century from AIDs as a result of their own suicidal sexual behavior. There were no roving bands of murderous homophobes. It’s all a lie. I live in NYC and SF in the midst of this. This persecution myth is just a total bullshit lie.

rehajm said...

Two words: Hasty. Pudding.

Shouting Thomas said...

Althouse’s blog is great, but she perpetuates two myths constantly, the myths of the persecution and oppression of women and gays. These myths are both utter and complete bullshit, and they’ve been very damaging. These myths were tacked onto the legitimate claims of blacks during the civil rights era of the 60s and 70s and the results have been disastrous, the ever expanding identity politics stupidity, DEI, quotas, etc.

gilbar said...

let's JUST FACE FACTS!
IF you're attracted to a man, then You ARE a woman, and your dick should be lopped off
IF you're attracted to a woman, then You ARE a man, and your breasts should be lopped off.

CHEMICALS (and SURGERY) WILL MAKE YOU RIGHT!
it's NOT up to the child to decide what they are.. THAT is the job of their mother (and her doctor)

ACCEPT THE SURGERY! ACCEPT THE DRUGS!! ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE!

MSOM said...

"...people think there's something wrong with being gay. So what you really are is a girl. "

Which is why Iran is one of the world's most progressive countries in terms of providing gender-affirming surgery.

Jamie said...

I can't remember if I ever found a way to listen to TikTok clips without having a TikTok account. Any clues?

Shouting Thomas said...

Is there something wrong with being gay? Gay marriage and accepting gay pastors is going to wipe most of the Protestant churches out of existence within a decade. There are no children in most churches, except in the Deep South. Generations of children have grown up without learning the Ten Commandments. Single women have taken to aping the gay male sexual lifestyle of wild promiscuity and anal sex, and refuse to bear children. Yeah, there is something wrong with being gay. Gays belong in the closet for their own good and the good of the society.

Bob B said...

Our Missouri Synod Lutheran Church has had about 30 infant baptisms in the last two months. We also support a day school P-8 and are in the process of expanding from two classrooms per grade to three classrooms per grade. (This involves a $10 million dollar expansion.) We accept gays as sinners like the rest of us. But we refuse like many mainline churches to ignore the sin.

Bob B said...

Our Missouri Synod Lutheran Church has had about 30 infant baptisms in the last two months. We also support a day school P-8 and are in the process of expanding from two classrooms per grade to three classrooms per grade. (This involves a $10 million dollar expansion.) We accept gays as sinners like the rest of us. But we refuse like many mainline churches to ignore the sin.

Shouting Thomas said...

@Bob B. That’s very encouraging news. I consider Missouri part of the South.

J L Oliver said...

My brother is gay and married a woman when he was in his thirties. They loved each other but the going out to get sex got very old for her. Divorced a few years later and they are still friends.

David53 said...

There's supposedly a category of men who are sexually attracted to men, have sex with men, but they're not homosexual.

That happens in prison.

Former Illinois resident said...

Homophobic Iran relies on transgender surgery to "rectify gayness", by surgically transforming person rather than allowing that person to remain "gay". Plenty of news-articles to confirm this situation in Iran. We can be bot "pro-gay" identification by gay individuals, and vehemently opposed to transgender medical care for teens and young children.

Know many adults who embrace "gay" self-identification, who also feel transgender activism is intent on misdirecting homosexual feelings into harmful (and anti-gay) "in wrong body" absolutism, so against transgender activism and gender-affirming trans medical care directed towards children and teens - seeing it as an adult decision.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Gay people are not monolithic as a demographic group and exhibit all the variety of thought and opinions that the country as a whole does. But like black people the only "representative sample" allowed in popular culture and News Incorporated is almost always of a type: the sassy witty guy with a flare for fashion and the beautiful "normal" woman who you only realize is gay when a scene with her kissing another of her type appears.

In real life few gay men and women are this way compared to the numbers who reflect America in all its beautiful variety. My take on the "left alone" question is that Vance is hinting at the radical transactivists which have become the type Big Media uses as exemplars. But they, like the commie wing of the D party, are the most extreme voices. And they have attacked lesbians who won't "date" a transwoman and dudes uninterested in trans dudes. There is no natural cohesion among the LGBT alleged "community."

Far from it, the gay people I know are definitely of the leave me alone variety with one exception, a really talented designer and artist who started a clothing company specifically for unisex and transgender people. But among dozens I know she is the one exception to the rest who just want to be who they are and not get drawn into the whole trans madness.

Former Illinois resident said...

Nice try. Also already acknowledged and confirmed as two photos taken at a Halloween party. Standard Ivy League grad school thing, seeing guys in women's clothing at Halloween parties, and at other parties. Attended several such parties myself, saw a lot of guys in drag but they always had girlfriends with them. Apparently a life-experience milestone for some men.
Didn't see any guy classmates ever in drag, at any occasion. Sorry.

BG said...

There are smaller Lutheran synods that are also conservative, such as the WELS, the ELS, and the CLC. They do not consider ELCA to be Lutheran. The ELCA gives Lutherans a bad reputation. When you read bad press about Lutherans, look up which synod is represented.

Richard Dolan said...

“The normal gay guy”

Andrew Sullivan has used the same idea (more or less) in criticizing the mania for so-called gender affirming care for minors. He says that gay kids can often be confused about gender and sexuality but if spared ‘gender affirming care’ will develop into normal gay guys. In a recent substack, Sullivan was so appalled by the evidence free and agenda driven craziness by advocates in the Biden administration pushing for radical gender affirming care of minors that it was almost enough to get him to vote for Trump. Almost, but not quite.

Craig Howard said...

That’s just ignoring history. For more than 1500 years homosexuality and homosexual acts were persecuted. There actually were roving bands of murderous homophobes. Even in England, homosexuality could land you in jail until 1967. And, funnily enough, until we eventually learned the cause of AIDS, gay sex was considered “safe” sex — no pregnancy, don’cha know.

Let's put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her said...

Ms Althouse writes: “Ivy League guys dressed as women is a big tradition, isn't it?”

According to the posts, Vance appears to be the only person in drag or “costume.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-photos-emerge-of-jd-vance-dressed-in-drag/