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I am wondering exacatly how much social pressure conservative gays receive. We have made jokes before about David Brock's changing his mind due to not being able to get dates, but I am thinking there is some truth to this.

Imagine that you are single and NO ONE will date you because of your politics. Imagine that every restaurant and watering hole refuses to serve you, and that when you enter a gathering people turn their backs on you. Furthermore, imagine that you constantly receive threats and hate mail.

Now imagine that you are gay but keep your lifestyle private, maybe because of your job, maybe because of your parents, whatever. Those folks have the additional threat of blackmail hanging over them.

I wonder how many of the gay Republicans have been threatened?

Howlin, remember how Andrew Sullivan went bonkers and started attacking Bush? And look at what happened to Mary Cheney!

What I can tell you from first-hand witness? The pressure is absolutely utterly awful. My conservative gays friends were NOT for gay marriage; NOT for gay adoption. Two of them had their places of residence burgled, not once, but twice in obvious retaliation for speaking up at some event. Further, some of the most vocal were beaten up in mysterious "drive-by" beatings intended to look as "attempted robberies" or as "gay bashings". In San Francisco.

An old pal of mine has spent years defending a marine who had "relations" with an older gay male in San Francisco. Later, the older gay male was found dead. The marine, last I heard, is still in jail, despite the lack of evidence directly linking him to the crime.

The social pressure conservative gays receive is horrid.

Bless you for wondering what kind of pressures gay conservatives receive at the hands of their abusers. All that you have written and wondered, is exactly how it plays out. Plus they have to deal with "sneak" attacks -- Dem gays courting conservative gays, pretending to also be "conservative", but then compiling incriminating data against the conservative gay. Again, Miss Marple, thank you for wondering, aloud.

//caveat for those who no doubt will ask: NO, I'm not gay.