"First of all, one of the distinctions I make about a lot of Republican LGBT members is that we tend to identify ourselves as Americans. And they don't think the members of their community on the Democratic side feel the same way. One theme echoed across Trump-supporting members of the LGBT community who spoke with NPR: They define themselves by other identities and values before their sexual orientation.
"Generally, in 2017, it's a lot easier to be openly gay than to be openly Republican," said Vincent Foster, president of the Miami chapter of Log Cabin Republicans. Some supporters say they feel they're openly shamed for their political opinions - at times more than they're shamed for their sexual orientation. "I'm pretty damn sure there are more gays who voted for Trump but won't admit it." We're not some little small minority," he said. Other Trump-supporting members of the LGBT community have echoed Moran's opinions, including Gays for Trump President Peter Boykin, who suspects that Trump got closer to 25 percent of the LGBT vote. He added, " people are shamed into lying that they didn't vote for Donald Trump. "The beauty of a secret ballot is no one is going to know who you vote for except you," said Charles Moran, a gay Republican who voted for Trump. They cite the difficulty of not only coming out as LGBT but also coming out as a Republican. Politics 2016 Has Been A Mixed Bag For LGBT Politicsīut LGBT supporters of the president find this hard to believe.