this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
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I don't really understand why LGBTQ+ are always the target of extreme conservatives. Why the extreme preocupation with what people do in the bedroom. It's really nobody else's business.
Oooh, I think I can explain this. Conservatism demands adherence to a an extremely homogeneous model of living. They've constructed this giant house of cards that relies on it. Accepting deviations from these norms calls into question a variety of foundational conservative beliefs. They effectively can't question the status quo else everything falls apart.
The only option for them is to make LGBTQ people an unacceptable, dangerous other. Because if queer folk are normal people who just want to be allowed to exist, if there is no sweeping gay agenda, if maybe they read their holy book wrong ... they've been behaving like assholes, for decades, for no good reason.
Their core identities would take an unacceptably heavy blow, so they have no choice but to double down. Well, that's the case for the ones that care about internal consistency.
Some of them just want an excuse to be cruel to a group too small to fight back.
-Umberto Eco, Eternal Fascism
My personal take: conservative men are obsessed with a toxic concept of manliness, and hold it as a monolithic and primary value, which is why they like to fall in line under large, angry people.
LGBTQ+ people confuse them, there are women who act more like men, and men who act more like women, challenging their conceptions.
Since, as a whole, conservatives reject introspection the challenge is interpreted as a personal attack.
Yes you read that right, conservatives feel that gay people just existing is a threat to their identity and lash out.
Almost all of it boils down to 'How DARE you force me to question my worldview!?'