CLEVELAND — LGBT conservatives gathered at the Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland on July 19 to party at “The Most Fabulous Party at the Republican National Convention.” The event had alcohol, music, Donald Trump coloring books and several speakers.
Geert Wilders, who is the leader of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands and considered to be a far-right politician, was the first to speak. He told the crowd he believes open border policies are making Europe implode. He said Europe has turned into “Eurabia,” and “jihadis” are coming in with refugees.
Pamela Geller — who sponsored the "draw the prophet Mohammad" cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, last year where two men inspired by ISIS fired shots at the entrance of the Curtis Culwell Center — was the second speaker. She warned the crowd about radical Islam by connecting it with the Orlando shooting, along with other terrorist related attacks that have recently happened in the United States.
The event's most anticipated speaker was Milo Yiannopoulos, who is part of the LGBT community and is outspoken against feminism, Islam and political correctness. Yiannopoulos is considered to be part of the "alternative right" and has recently been banned from Twitter after harassing Leslie Jones, who starred in the new "Ghostbusters" movie.
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David Griffin, a Trump supporter from Georgia and part of the LGBT community, attended the event because he is a big fan of Yiannopoulos and Geller. He said he believes members of the LGBT community should support Trump because “he is the most pro-gay candidate in the race.”
Griffin doesn’t support Clinton because of her stance on immigration.
“Hillary Clinton wants to bring immigrants from countries that are very hostile to the gay community,” Griffin said. “A lot of the countries where she wants to bring immigrants from are countries that throw gays off buildings, they stone them. And those aren’t the kind of values you want to bring in the US.”
The conservative Trump supporter said he would prefer someone else over Mike Pence for Trump’s running mate, but he thinks Pence is more on the ticket for fundraising and to appease the Republican base, and less to do with actual policy.
The Indiana governor signed off on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015, angering many in the LBGT community because they felt like it would make it legal to discriminate against them.
Tal Tamir, a Trump supporter from Ohio and part of the LGBT community, said he likes Trump because he has been known to be socially liberal in the past as well as being fiscally conservative.
“[Trump] has got the Republican base, but at the same time he is OK with gay rights, and I think that is reason enough itself [to vote for him],” Tamir said.
Tamir said he doesn’t care what people think about him for supporting Trump.
“I think that’s a 'them' problem, not a 'me' problem,” Tamir said.
Chris Barron, an organizer for the party and for "LGBT for Trump," said he thought the party went well and believed it was the “hottest” event during the RNC.
Barron said he believes Trump has a strong appeal to the LGBT community because the Republican candidate “understands the No. 1 most important problem facing LGBT people right now," which he believes is the threat against radical Islam.
Barron said he wasn’t happy with Pence overall, but he doesn’t believe Pence will have much effect on policy.
“At the end of the day, does Mike Pence excite me? No, but what’s important is that a presidential candidate picks a running mate he is comfortable with,” Barron said. “If Mike Pence is that guy that he’s comfortable with and Mike Pence is going to follow the policy that is set by Donald Trump, then I’m perfectly happy with it.”
Even though the event was primarily for gay conservatives that support Trump, there were partygoers who didn’t believe in the message.
Kyle Kysela, a member of the LGBT community from Cleveland and an undecided voter leaning toward libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, described the RNC as “Trump Mayhem.”
“This whole event is nuts,” Kysela said. “I like queer conservatives breaking the mold, and good for them [that] they have their own opinions, but I can’t get on board with them.”
Kysela cites xenophobia, hatred of Mexicans and anyone who wasn’t born in America as the primary reason why he won’t support Trump.
“If you are a gay conservative and you support Trump, I want to say to you that you are really f—king up,” Kysela said.
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