As a transgender woman, it is hard to go anywhere without being gawked at, fondled or even brutally harassed. Interestingly enough, these actions usually come from members of the far-right. Many Republican men have groped me at bars and clubs in New York City, displaying their strange, seemingly paradoxical affinity for trans women.
Nonetheless, I have had encounters with many Republicans by accident. I have spent significant amounts of time with men that I think I like — only to find out later that they are Republicans. While I do not believe in their politics, elephants can be better than donkeys in the sack. As an opinion columnist and transgender woman, I can confidently state that I do not support Donald Trump. I do not like the Republican Party, and although I voted for Kamala Harris, I am not down on my knees for the Democratic Party either. Although my perspective might skew far left on this issue, I still believe that conservatism is a coping mechanism for closeted bisexuality.
This is specifically about the sexually repressed, macho, Christian, heterosexual guy who cannot accept himself and takes it out on everyone else. Perhaps this is not always the case. Hate is taught. Some people genuinely believe the white supremacist, transphobic, misogynistic rhetoric that Trump has ignited in his base. However, I would like to analyze the closeted bisexual Republicans I have come across to see if there is a common denominator.
It was clear to me that he had some deep-seated repression and desire. I needed to emerge victorious in the end. I needed to conquer the person who hated me. Let’s just say that story came full circle.
My first relationship with a Republican was in my senior year of high school. He was the captain of two varsity sports teams at the rival school, and I was a twink. He now works for a prominent conservative news operation. We were star-crossed lovers. Recently, he tried to come back into my life, calling me multiple times late at night.
I wanted to know what was happening, and wanted inspiration for this column. Turns out he’s still struggling with his sexuality, and he wanted to talk to someone about it. He said, “I think I’m possibly into everything.” I told him, “You’ve thought you’ve been into everything for the last four years. Maybe it’s time to just be into everything.”
My only other long-term encounter with a Republican was also from my hometown. I grew up in a very conservative neighborhood. He was my bully in elementary school. We were friends, until he started calling me slurs. At lunch, he would take off his shoe and beat me with it. At a birthday party, he punched me across the face and gave me a bloody nose.
By the time senior year rolled around, we had forgotten about our childhood beef and decided to rekindle our friendship. It evolved into something more, but definitely nothing romantic. I knew this guy was not politically oriented toward his best interests as a queer person. It was clear to me that he had some deep-seated repression and desire. I needed to emerge victorious in the end. I needed to conquer the person who hated me. Let’s just say that story came full circle.
Is their whole belief system an attempt to cling to power while coping with being in the closet?
My other encounters with Republican men have been brief and few and far between. While I have an obsession with understanding the people who hate me, I do not want to have sex with them. Despite the inherent eroticism associated with guilt, I do not find joy in changing the minds of the people who hate me through sex. It does not work. I learned that the hard way.
Guilt can be at the root of that deep-seated desire. In the past, I was guilty of having sex with someone that hated me for my identity. Americans live in a guilt culture, constructed due in part to our Christian bedrock. Guilt informs how authority figures derive power and monetary advantages. If one can be guilty of less, one can remain in power. Christianity and Catholicism especially function on the principles of confession. Guilt culture is derived from these principles and informs American society.
The threat queer people pose to the “sanctity of marriage” and the “protection of the nuclear family” is based on the notion that these institutions are more virtuous than queer lives. Conservatives construct an inherently “guilty queer” in their rhetoric, and I wonder if they might be telling on themselves. Are Conservatives guilty of being queer? Is their whole belief system an attempt to cling to power while coping with being in the closet?
Back in May, Trump shared his concepts of a plan to block doctors who provide gender-affirming care from Medicare and Medicaid, forbid federal agencies from promoting “the concept of sex and gender transition at any age,” and investigate the medical industry to see if they “deliberately covered up horrific long-term side effects of sex transitions in order to get rich.”
Recently, I attended a Trump demonstration outside of the vice presidential debate as an unbiased student journalist. While partaking in unbiased student journalism, I did, in fact, notice some hotties. Yes, if I am being as unbiased in my reporting as possible, some Trump supporters are physically attractive. They were all dressed up to watch their idol, J.D. Vance, spew non sequiturs and fake news on national television. Something about their complete ignorance is special, like doting sheep on a prairie.
One of the Trump supporters came up to me and asked my pronouns. I responded, “Um. Well. As an unbiased student journalist, I cannot answer that question. I guess.” He was gangly and awkward, slyly analyzing my body, looking me up and down while I stuttered. He assured me he was not trying to be funny or make me uncomfortable. He was just trying to make conversation. He apologized if it came off as awkward or unnecessary. At the very least, he was displaying allyship?
As a bisexual, transgender woman, I believe that everyone is bisexual. Queerness is desirable because it is shameful and therefore something you should feel guilty about. Guilt is a turn on.
While I did not think he was attractive, I think that he shows hope for our young Conservatives. Maybe they will come to terms with the fact that there is a queer bone in their body. People often say that, “everyone’s a little bit gay,” but for the longest time, I did not think that was true.
Scientists at Cornell and sociologists at the University of Winchester and the Queensland Institute of Technology, have teased out hypotheses and conducted studies on the theory of universal bisexuality. Bisexuals make up the majority of queer adults at 57.3%. As a bisexual, transgender woman, I believe that everyone is bisexual. Queerness is desirable because it is shameful and therefore something you should feel guilty about. Guilt is a turn on.
Perhaps this is why Republicans are fascinated by trans women. In 2016 while bathroom bans were happening in North Carolina, transgender pornography was trending in that same state, reaching 64.3% on popular adult entertainment sites. In 2022, transgender porn was the third most popular category on Pornhub. In 2023, “femboy” and “trans” were among the top 30 search terms on Pornhub, and “transgender” was the sixth most popular category.
In spite of this, in 2022 and 2023 alone 778 anti-trans bills have been considered in the United States. 113 anti-trans bills were passed in those years. In 2024 alone, 662 anti-trans bills have been considered while 45 have been passed. Do Republicans feel guilty about the legislative attack on transgender people? Is that why they are watching so much transgender pornography?
Republicans believe that our transness makes us morally inferior. In their view, transgender people should learn to live as their assigned gender at birth or die trying. We should feel indefinite guilt about our trans identity, and they should feel endless guilt about finding us attractive.
If you are bisexual, be bisexual, be queer, or whatever you want to be — no one cares. It is okay to like boys and girls, someone, something and something else. You can like boys differently than how you like girls. You can like one thing differently than how you like another. You still like both things or all of the things or a specific few things. I think it’s time Conservatives came out of the closet.