‘Homophobic’ Gavin Newsom | The American Spectator

Leftists are melting down because Gavin Newsom is such a homophobe. Apparently, Newsom keeps making “homophobic” jokes that are deeply insulting to them, and, worse still, these jokes are just part of a broader pattern of bigotry.

Yes, Newsom — the man who almost single-handedly ignited the gay rights revolution in the United States via his decision to issue same-sex marriage licenses (illegally) in San Francisco in 2004, and who has gone on to sign a bevy of extremely radical LGBTQ laws — has somehow managed to develop a reputation amongst sensitive LGBTQ types of being a bigoted homophobe.

The latest harm Newsom has perpetrated against the “LGBTQ community” is insulting conservative activist Benny Johnson by joking that Johnson uses Grindr, a gay hookup app. Newsom’s office told Johnson on X last week: “We got a call from Grindr after this and said your team was their biggest users. Congrats!” Johnson is married (to a woman) and has four children. This is the third time in recent months that Newsom has accused a conservative of using Grindr.

Progressive columnist Rex Huppke scolded Newsom in USA Today for this joke, writing that it “uses a person’s sexuality as an implied insult.”

“Keep your low-brow, high-school-bigot nonsense to yourselves,” Huppke told Newsom, “and stop trying to pretend there’s some mythical ‘middle’ in American politics that wants a Democrat unafraid to make homophobic jokes.”

Huppke positions himself as a humor columnist, but he found Newsom’s joke humorless to the extent that he deemed it “homophobic online snark” that is in “the gutter.”

Huppke was joined in his disgust by James Factora of Them magazine, who, appropriately enough, goes by “them.” Factora accused Newson of “being weirdly anti-LGBTQ+” with his latest joke. “[C]alling people gay as an insult is, in fact, still bad no matter who says it or who it’s directed at,” Factora said.

LGBTQ Nation likewise deemed Newsom’s joke to be a “homophobic insult.” The outlet quoted a user on Bluesky who responded to Newsom’s joke by saying, “Solid plan to win dem voters … uh *checks notes* alienate dem voters by being homophobic?”

All of these progressives who are shrinking away in horror from Newsom’s homophobia see his joke as a continuation of his descent into bigotry.

“Newsom has certainly been supportive of the LGBTQ+ community in the past,” wrote Rex Huppke, “but more recently, he has made it obvious he’ll hang that community out to dry if he views it as politically expedient.” Factora, meanwhile, wrote that Newsom “has been increasingly promoting anti-trans talking points.”

This isn’t the first time this month that the “LGBTQ community” has erupted in outrage over Newsom’s homophobia. In March, after Newsom said the Democratic Party should be “more culturally normal” and talk less about pronouns and identity politics, the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus felt the need to issue a statement calling Newsom’s comments “deeply concerning.”

“It’s deeply concerning for anyone, especially our elected leaders, to be defining who or what is ‘culturally normal.’ By definition, it implies someone else is ‘not normal,’” said the caucus. “Every member of the LGBTQ+ community has been accused of not being ‘normal’ at some point in their lives, and dealing with that accusation is the essence of the struggle to come out, to take pride in oneself, and to be seen and treated as equal in America.”

On his book tour in March, Newsom also faced the ire of a podcast host, Kara Swisher, who said she believed his “culturally normal” quote was a “very dangerous statement.” Swisher told him, “And Governor, I think that’s a very dangerous statement because me, a very mouthy woman in a Bible-belt state, if I were culturally normal here, I would have to submit to my husband.” (RELATED: Gavin Newsom Will Regret His Book Launch)

The Los Angeles LGBT Center has also deemed Newsom’s decision to cut $40 million from the (useless) California Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity (amidst a budget crisis) “a betrayal of queer and trans Californians.”

Advocate magazine wrote this week that the LGBTQ “backlash” to Newsom “comes amid broader unease among LGBTQ+ leaders.”

This perception that Newsom, formerly gay rights activist extraordinaire, has become a raging homophobe first began when the governor told Charlie Kirk that it’s “deeply unfair” for boys to compete in girls’ sports. Yes, that’s all it took for the “LGBTQ community” to stab Newsom in the back and deem him to be their enemy.

This is the politician who instituted radical LGBTQ sex education in elementary schools, made California a “sanctuary state” for children to seek “sex change” treatments, poured money into Planned Parenthood for “gender-affirming care,” signed a law requiring “LGBTQ+ cultural competency training” for public school teachers, expedited the process for changing the sex that appears on one’s government documents, and at one point prevented state-funded travel to states where bathroom use is based on biological sex.

Yet, in the eyes of LGBTQ activists, Newsom is now a bigot.

This is part of a larger problem that Newsom is having with progressives. Despite Newsom’s extreme progressivism, his effort to signal that he has some centrist tendencies has enraged the Democratic Party’s left wing.

In January, California Rep. Ro Khanna called Newsom a “cookie-cutter Democrat” and a “Clintonite.” California state Sen. Caroline Menjivar recently told Newsom, “You’re clouded by what Arkansas is going to think.” In Salon, Newsom was accused of having a “political approach that has trended more and more corporate-friendly.” Newsom was also accused in the Guardian of being “wishy-washy” on reparations and providing healthcare to illegal immigrants. (READ MORE: The Growing Liberal Backlash Against Newsom)

Leftists, especially LGBTQ activists, are so touchy that any deviation from their orthodoxy demands excoriation. Newsom’s effort to court middle America after a lifetime of bowing down to the whims of the “LGBTQ community” seems certain to draw continued outrage.

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