Being lucky enough to live in a progressive city and work with (and for) fellow progressives, I sometimes trick myself into forgetting just how deeply I, as an openly queer person, am hated by some folks. Here in the United States, these people are largely (though certainly not always) Republicans. LGBTQ+ people are so maligned, apparently, that plenty of people don't even want to risk being perceived as trying to get our vote. And this is how we end up in a head-scratching situation where Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel is stumbling over herself to reassure her committee of more than 150 conservatives that she wasn't really trying to create a safe space for LGBTQ+ people in the party… while launching an initiative aimed at recruiting LGBTQ+ voters. What? Exactly. On Nov. 6, McDaniel appeared at an event held at Mar-A-Lago (of course) and announced the launch of the RNC Pride Coalition, which in partnership with Log Cabin (a group for conservative LGBTQ+ people) would work on outreach for queer voters, as reported by Metro Weekly. The goal was that these LGBTQ+ voters would switch from voting Democratic to Republican, ideally in time for the midterms, and for things like canvassing and organizing for Republican candidates. You (literally) couldn't pay many queer people—including me—to help the Republican party, so it's largely moot, but that didn't stop far-right branches of the party from melting down over the potential of being remotely inclusive to LGBTQ+ voters. Read more