Even when I’m being logical, not emotional, it’s difficult for me to understand a gay or lesbian Republican, and it is only slightly easier for me to understand a trans Republican. (Well, I personally don’t understand why anyone is a Republican, but with the way the Democrats have been acting, they may be my next curiosity.)
But between the two parties, the Democrats, in my recent lifetime, have leaned toward LGBT friendly, and the Republicans have often qualified as LGBT antagonistic. And in my mind, Republican LGBT people are voting against their own best interests. But I think that way because, like most people, I vote my identity – and my primary identity is trans, gay, and queer.
I am aware every minute of my life that I am trans, although I’m not always consciously thinking about it. But it informs my politics, my employment, my writing, my choice of friends, and quite a few of my activity choices. I am also aware that I am gay or queer, the two words that I use to define my sexual orientation. And these things feature extremely prominently in my identity and my everyday life.
I believe that we all vote our identity. But each one of us has a hierarchy with regard to our identity that influences our life, our politics, and our vote. And intellectually, I know that not everyone’s sexual orientation or trans experience is at the top of their identity hierarchy.
If your identity is tied strongly to your employment and to your ability to make and retain a lot of your money, then you may choose a fiscally conservative candidate or public policy, even if that candidate or policy is not LGBT friendly.
If your identity is tied strongly to a particular ethnic, religious, or community group, then you may choose a candidate or public policy that will benefit that group, even if that candidate or policy is not favorable to LGBT people.
There are certain social issues that people feel so strongly about one way or the other – public assistance programs, abortion, immigration, the death penalty, gun control, drug decriminalization, health care – that their identity is linked far more closely to that issue than it is to their LGBT status, and they will vote accordingly.
These people are voting their identity – they are just voting the identity that trumps all the others in their own personal hierarchy.
(Editor's Note: Despite the fact that Matt Kailey, one of my closest friends, passed away earlier this year I will continue to republish his writing on MileHighGayGuy.com - as I did when he was alive - as a resource for the gay community to know more about trans people. This post originally appeared on Matt Kailey's award-winning website Tranifesto.com)
