Gay Republican defends GOP even after conservatives surrounded him & shouted slurs

This past weekend, gay Republican podcaster Rob Smith was subjected to racist and homophobic slurs at AmericaFest, a conservative conference hosted by the far-right organization Turning Point USA.

Now he’s claiming that the people who shouted at him weren’t representative of the Republican party. Getting defensive in a CNN interview, he insisted that white supremacists have “infiltrated” both parties and that Trump supporters are generally kind to Black and gay and lesbian people.

Related:

Meet the gay black Army veteran who became a Republican

Rob Smith played a large role in ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but he refused to vote for Hillary Clinton.

“Last night in Phoenix, I was confronted and surrounded by some White Supremacists that don’t like gays or blacks in the Republican Party,” Smith wrote in a December 18 post on X. “They shouted ‘n****r’ and ‘f****t’ at me to make their point. However, I served in Iraq. I never back down. Ever.”

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Video showed people chanting “gay sex” as Smith sarcastically said, “I’ve got fans!” The group started chanting “fa***t” and “America First,” a slogan associated with Trump and his supporters.

Last night in Phoenix, I was confronted and surrounded by some White Supremacists that don’t like gays or blacks in the Republican Party.

They shouted “nigger” and “faggot” at me to make their point.

However, I served in Iraq.

I never back down.

Ever. pic.twitter.com/zbZbuFlObM

— Rob Smith (@robsmithonline) December 18, 2023

Smith appeared on CNN News Night this week to discuss the incident, and he insisted that the people chanting at him weren’t representative of Trump supporters. Instead, they were “actual neo-Nazis” and “actual white supremacists,” and there were about 20 to 25 of them.

He said that he has always been accepted by Republicans “as a gay man, as a Black man.”

“I had no idea that this really even existed out there, until I was confronted with this type of racial hatred,” he said.

Host Abby Philip stopped him there and asked if he really “had no idea that there was a faction of the Republican Party that espouses racist and anti-LGBT views?”

“If we want to have a conversation about white supremacy, let’s have a conversation about the white supremacy that happens on both sides, OK?” he responded defensively, also correcting Philip by saying that he uses “gay and lesbian,” not “LGBT.”

He then said that “every single day on social media” the left attacks him for being Black. He didn’t mention any specific examples.

Philip brought up how it’s not just a fringe part of the GOP that is anti-LGBTQ+ and racist, and Smith defended Trump, insisting that he has denounced hatred in the party in a way that no other prominent Republican has done.

“I’m looking at soulless, dead-eyed white supremacists that, by the way, I felt that these people could have bashed my brains in had they gotten the chance,” he said. “I deal with these people in real life, and I know for a fact where they’re coming from.”

“I know that a lot of these people have infiltrated these conservative organizations from top to bottom. There needs to be accountability, and I’m exploring options as how to do so right now. But do I think that this stuff is coming from the millions of people that voted for Trump? I do not. I do not.”

“Do I think that it’s something that the Trump campaign endorses or the Republican Party endorses? I do not.”

BREAKING: Full Rob Smith @RobSmithOnline interview on CNN. pic.twitter.com/5qIN5VjzB8

— Craig R. Brittain (@RealBrittain) December 20, 2023

The national Republican platform currently opposes same-sex marriage. The platform opposes the expansion of civil rights to include sexual orientation and gender identity and also supports Trump’s transgender military ban, conversion therapy, and the right for businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples.

Turning Point USA is an organization for young conservatives. Its AmericaFest gathering featured Roseanne Barr, a Holocaust denialist; Jason Whitlock, a man who thinks Jews are conspiring with LGBTQ+ and Black people for a “one-world government”; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a rabid transphobe; Tucker Carlson, the openly bigoted former Fox News host; Vivek Ramaswamy, the most transphobic Republican presidential candidate of all time; and Jack Posobiec, the promoter of the anti-gay #Pizzgate conspiracy theory that eventually morphed into QAnon, whose believers regularly accuse gay politicians and allies of sexually abusing kids.

Smith is a former contributor to LGBTQ Nation’s sibling site, Queerty.