Black Gay Trump supporter leaves the GOP after figuring out he’ll never be accepted

Rob Smith is a gay and Black conservative who’s made a name for himself by flouting his seemingly conflicting identities.

But that was before the online commentator was heckled with antigay slurs last December at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona. Now three months later, Smith says he’s leaving the Republican Party… for good.

In a nearly 25-minute video posted on X Twitter, Smith says the ugly incident prompted him to reconsider his political identity.

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“I’m always going to be a right-leaning person, but I’m not going to identify as a Republican, conservative, etc because it’s whack. That’s what it is,” he said.

Now, the existence of homophobes and bigots in the Republican Party is hardly news. GOP party platforms across the country denounce gay people, with the Texas GOP calling homosexuality “abnormal.” With the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ backlash, gay Republicans are admitting failure in their quest to make the party more inclusive.

But Smith didn’t publicly express those views, until he was personally targeted. He says white nationalists, including Missouri state Rep. Chris Lonsdale, shouted homophobic and racial slurs towards him at the aforementioned December event.

Smith shared a fresh video of the episode Tuesday, which clearly shows Lonsdale, who was wearing a red tie and hideous plaid jacket, yelling “gay sex” and “f*****” towards him. (For what it’s worth, the recording didn’t capture any audible racial slurs.)

When Smith first posted the clip in December, he wasn’t greeted with a lot of sympathy.

“You got what you deserve. You chose to associate with a political party that is anti-black and anti-gay,” one person commented on his post.

“You chose to be a Republican despite knowing what they stand for. And now you want sympathy?” added someone else.

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People on social media had little sympathy for him.

Smith, an Iraq war veteran, says he thinks Trump’s 2020 election loss emboldened antigay extremists to take over the party.

“Unfortunately, Trump’s loss in 2020 opened up the door for a very far-Right fringe in the party that has become louder and more powerful over the past few years, and it’s clear that officials and others with very large platforms do not care to speak up about this because they think these types will bring them back to power,” he said.

At the start of his renouncement, Smith threatens the group that hosted the affair in Phoenix, Republicans for National Renewal. He says their leader, Nicholas Fuentes, is a “deeply closeted homosexual.”

“Oh boy, have there been a lot of things slid into my inbox about that organization. That stuff is going to come out whenever it comes out,” he added. “Let me tell you something: if you’re involved in that organization, you might want to sleep with one eye open.”

Smith may not sleep with one eye open, but he does sleep with men. He’s finally realized that alienates him from the rest of the party.

Smith tells the story of a “right-leaning” gay friend who’s also denounced the GOP.

“He’ll say to me, ‘I don’t identify as a Republican like I identify as a constitutionalist, because how can I identify with these people?'” he said.

In 2018, Smith, who often rails against identity politics while never missing an opportunity to broadcast his own intersectionality, said coming out as conservative was harder than coming out as gay.

“Honestly, coming out as conservative has been more of an earth-shattering, life-altering move for me, personally, than coming out as gay was,” he said.

Back in 2020, Smith was among 50 or so LGBTQ+ Trump supporters who marched through West Hollywood, one of the gayest cities in the U.S.

But now, Smith is distancing himself from the MAGA movement. He says identifying as a gay Black man and Republican is incongruous.

“If you’re some straight white dude, OK, I completely understand—and this is nothing against straight white dudes, because I don’t hate anybody—but if you’re that, I understand how you can wave the red flag for the Republican Party,” he said.

Later, Smith said he thinks it’s far more difficult for Black people of any orientation to represent the GOP.

“If you are heterosexual and Black, I can kind of see—now there is a lot of cognitive dissonance that you have to operate with as a Black person that’s really going to be riding for Republicans,” he said.

In an apparent effort to denounce Democrats, Smith said he thinks Black people, or anybody, who identifies with any single political party must check their beliefs at the ballot box.

“Honestly, I can say the same thing about a Black person who’s riding with Democrats hardcore,” he stated. “For you to really, truly, wrap yourself up into either of the political parties that exist right now in this country, you have to ignore so many things, and be silent about so many things, to make sure your team wins. For me, that is what I’m moving away from.”

Responses to Smith’s announcement indicate he won’t be missed.

“Not wаtching that. Good riddance,” someone replied.

Ouch.

Looks like the Log Cabin Republicans will have to make do with one less member.

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