Coming Out Republican: The Gay Right and the Politics of Belonging. A Conversation with Neil J. Young.

In this week’s episode of then & now, LCHP Assistant Director Dr. Rose Campbell is joined by Dr. Neil J. Young—historian, podcaster, and author of Coming Out Republican (The University of Chicago Press, 2024), which traces the history of conservative and libertarian gay figures in United States history and their influence on the modern Republican Party. In this episode, Neil examines the evolving relationship between these members of the LGBTQ community—predominantly white gay men–and the Republican Party in light of recent executive orders from the second Trump administration, which have sought to reinforce binary gender norms and curtail protections for LGBTQ individuals. Neil contextualizes this dynamic by tracing the history of conservative gay men as a persistent, though often marginalized, constituency within the party over the last century, and their struggle to make equality and gay rights a non-partisan issue. Despite the party’s increasingly exclusionary rhetoric and policies, gay Republicans have maintained loyalty and exerted significant influence, particularly through behind-the-scenes activism and policy shaping since the Reagan era. By interrogating the paradox of LGBTQ support for a party actively enacting anti-LGBTQ measures, Neil offers nuanced insights into the complexities of identity, political allegiance, and the construction of contemporary conservatism.

Neil J. Young is an award-winning historian, writer, podcaster, and author of Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right (The University of Chicago Press, 2024). Neil holds an A.B. from Duke University and a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. Neil formerly served as a contributing columnist for The Week and, before that, an opinion columnist for HuffPost. He writes frequently for leading publications, including the Washington Post, the Atlantic, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, Vox, Politico, Slate, and the New York Times.